Public has right to know law schools’ passing rates – magistrate

LAW schools and their passing rates should be made public to give aspiring law students the idea if their school of choice would put them at risk of failing the bar examinations, Associate Justice Arturo Brion said in a speech on Thursday.

Out of 130 law schools which fielded candidates in the 2015 bar exam, 28 schools had zero passing rate while another 28 schools registered a 10 percent or less passing rate.

In the best performing school bracket, only three law schools had passing rates of 70 percent and above while 10 law schools fell within the 50 percent to 69 percent category.

“Can we call this law school performance satisfactory? What should the concerned agencies do with these non-performing law schools,” Brion said.

Brion, who was the chairman of the 2013 bar examination and a bar exam topnotcher himself, said there should be a public inquiry “into this matter…so that the public would be aware and concrete and holistic actions can be taken.”

“For example and at the very least, the law school passing rates should be given the widest publication so that the public can at least be informed that enrolling in a given law school poses an 80 percent, 90 percent or even a 100 percent hazard of failing the bar exams,” he added.

Out of 6,605 examinees, 1,731 passed the 2015 Bar examination./rga