Daven Tamayo

2024 Bar Chair: Passing grade lowered because justices 'want more lawyers'

Article (news)

Adrian Ayalin

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — The passing grade for the 2024 Bar Examinations was adjusted to 74 percent from 75 percent to allow more applicants to pass, Associate Justice Mario Lopez said.</p><p>Lopez, Bar Examinations chair, said the adjustment meant 953 more examinees passed.</p><p>A total of 3,962 bar-takers passed the exams, a passing rate of 37.84 percent.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2024/12/13/full-list-2024-bar-exam-passers-1457">FULL LIST: 2024 Bar exam passers<br/></a></div><p>&quot;The justices would like to have more lawyers. Ayaw nilang 3,000 lang, they want more, and there are several reasons,&quot; Lopez said.</p><p>&quot;One reason, perhaps, is the scarcity of lawyers in some areas... the provinces may not have enough lawyers and, at this time, I wish lawyers will also decongest Metro Manila and serve the people there in the rural areas.&quot;</p><p>Lopez said the lowering of the passing grade was also the reason there was a delay in the announcement of the topnotchers and bar passers.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2024/12/13/up-law-grad-tops-2024-bar-exams-1350">READ: UP Law grad tops 2024 Bar exams</a></div><p>He noted that the decision to lower the passing mark was a decision that went through the en banc.</p><p>&quot;I was prevailed upon by the generosity of the justices, hence I cannot do otherwise,&quot; Lopez said.</p><p>He also explained that the advance information that some examinees received individually was due to a new technology that the Supreme Court used for the 2024 Bar Exams.</p><p>&quot;We will know better. Of course, with this new technology, we can prevent this [from happening] again. But the integrity, I will assure you, of the Bar Examination was never diminished. There is total confidentiality and nobody had an access with the sensitive issue of the questions and answers from the bar examiners.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2024/11/22/lawyers-must-render-60-hours-of-pro-bono-work-every-3-years-under-new-sc-rules-1738">Lawyers must render 60 hours of pro bono work every 3 years under new SC rules<br/></a></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R0JE3hYVwTg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>"The justices would like to have more lawyers. Ayaw nilang 3,000 lang, they want more, and there are several reasons," Lopez said.</p>

"The justices would like to have more lawyers. Ayaw nilang 3,000 lang, they want more, and there are several reasons," Lopez said.