Justice Mario Lopez to Law Student Practitioners: Rise up Towards a More Just and Equitable Society
May 9, 2024
Supreme Court Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez addresses the students of the Arellano University School of Law who accomplished the Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP) levels 1 and 2 certification at their Oath Taking as law student practitioners on May 7, 2024 at the Arellano University in Pasay City. Justice Lopez highlighted that through the CLEP under Rule 138-A or the Law Student Practice Rule, law students are exposed to the “real world” as they interact with different people with various types of cases, equipping them with the knowledge and practical skills needed for the practice of law. He likewise stressed that the CLEP prepares law students morally and emotionally as they deal with clients, especially the underprivileged, urging them to “rise up to the challenge in establishing a more just and equitable society.” (Photo Courtesy of the Arellano University School of Law; Caption Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
“Your legal strategy will greatly affect the remedies available to your clients. In [Clinical Legal Education Program] CLEP, the study of law will take a completely different form. There is no clear path to the answer, perhaps no clear answer to begin with. But may your answer and your ways always be towards justice, truth, and equity,” said Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez as he addressed the students of the Arellano University School of Law who accomplished the CLEP levels 1 and 2 certification at their Oath Taking as law student practitioners on May 7, 2024 at the Arellano University in Pasay City. (Photo Courtesy of the Arellano University School of Law; Caption Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
Arellano University School of Law students who successfully finished the levels 1 and 2 certification of the Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP) take their oath before Executive Judge Edilwasif T. Baddiri of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Pasay City (not in photo) as law student practitioners during an oath taking on May 7, 2024 at the Arellano University in Pasay City. Under Rule 138-A or the Law Student Practice Rule, law schools must develop a CLEP, establish at least one law clinic, and endorse qualified students for certification as law student practitioners. (Photo Courtesy of the Arellano University School of Law; Caption Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
Supreme Court Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez (center) poses for posterity with Executive Judge Edilwasif T. Baddiri of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Pasay City, Judge Irma B. Panahon-Abad of RTC Branch 113, Pasay City, and Clinical Legal Education Program (CLEP) 1 and 2 students of the Arellano University School of Law at their oath taking as law student practitioners on May 7, 2024 at the Arellano University in Pasay City. Section 8 of the Rule 138-A or the Law Student Practice Rule requires students who successfully completed the levels 1 and 2 certification of the CLEP to take an oath before engaging in law student practice allowed under the Rule. (Photo Courtesy of the Arellano University School of Law; Caption Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)