SC allows law students to represent poor

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has expanded the rule allowing law students to practice law and represent indigent clients in courts, Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin has bared.

During a testimonial dinner last Friday, Bersamin revealed to The STAR that the SC has approved his proposal to amend the existing law student practice rule to cover second and third year law students.

The current rule under Rule 138-A of the Rules of Court allows a law student “who has successfully completed third year of the regular four-year prescribed law curriculum” to “appear without compensation in any civil, criminal or administrative case before any trial court, tribunal, board or officer to represent clients accepted the legal clinic of the law school.”

“A lot of our countrymen are still underserved in the needs for legal services. Even the current number of lawyers are not enough,” the SC chief lamented as he explained the need to amend this rule.

Bersamin said the proposal was already approved by the SC full bench last week and Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo has been tapped to draft the formal order for this purpose.