Law School Days: First Semester, First Year
Came across this blog called "The Law and Economics of Lust, Love and Life..." by an Ateneo freshman law student who goes by the name Li'l Miss Eunice.
Of course it has some personal stuff, which presumably is fair game considering it's published in a blog. Suffice it to say that it's an interesting read.
But that is not the point of this entry. In legal parlance, it's merely an obiter dictum. Her blog is just the starting point. It has been 10 years since I graduated from the Ateneo School of Law.
That blog made me remember my law school days. And with this, I decided on a series of blogs on how my own law school days went, for the benefit of would-be and present Ateneo Law School students. In this way, they would have an idea on what to expect. I will do it on a per semester basis, every week.
So here goes:
Unlike other law schools, the degree conferred upon a successful Ateneo Law School graduate is a J.D. (Juris Doctor or Doctor of Jurisprudence) degree instead of an Ll.B. (Bachelor of Laws) degree.
What's the difference? I have not seen the curricula of other schools but I guess a J.D. degree is just an Ll.B, degree with a thesis requirement.
The Ateneo Law School was still located at H.V. Dela Costa, Makati that time.
1. Criminal Law I- 3 units; The Late Judge Ruperto Kapunan, Jr.
2. Persons and Family Relations- 4 units; Atty. Mel Sta. Maria
3. Constitutional Law I- 3 Units; Atty. Sedfrey Candelaria
4. Introduction to Law- 1 Unit; Atty. (now Dean) Andres Bautista
5. Legal Profession- 1 Unit; Atty. Christopher Lim
6. Legal Research- 1 Unit; Atty. Rey Geronimo
7. Philiposphy of Law- 2 Units; Fr. (Atty.) Artemio Ferrer, S.J.
8. Statutory Construction- 2 Units; Atty. (Dean?) Jose Jesus Laurel
9. Labor Law I- 3 Units; The Late Dean Marcos Herras
1. As I have seen the present curriculum, we had 3 more units (we had Labor Law I and II during our first year instead of third year), which means we have 4 major subjects instead of 3. As such, we really had a hard time, probably way harder than what freshmen are having now.
2. Of these subjects, we had our share of "terrors." Actually, all our major subjects were handled by, to put it mildly, "slave drivers." (eg., Attys. Sta. Maria and Candelaria). But don't worry, these are nice people, once you got through them. We got Atty. Sta. Maria again for Public International Law and he will do a metanoia on you, believe me.
3. I've heard from Fr. Bernas that faculty now are given a "terror rating" by the student body. We did not have the luxury of a warning at the time.
4. Introduction to law is integrated in a week-long freshman orientation seminar. But don't overlook it. It is still one unit.
5. The first year afternoon section would actually have classes finish in the afternoon. As you progress, all sections become night sections.
6. We only met Atty. Geronimo twice for Legal Research. He just gave us "homework" and then had a practical exam for the finals. He was even there for the finals.
7. The centralized notes bank started during our freshman year in an effort to take the out the advantages of the fraternities.
1. It was a very rough period for me because of all the adjustment I had to make. Imagine, I was used to study intermittently in college and was still in the dean's list. During law school, I had to study for at least six hours everyday. The power crisis was already looming at that time so, I had to continue studying by candlelight. I was forced to cut back, if not stop completely, watching TV just to keep up with the daily study load.
How hard was law school (particularly the firs semester)? Let me put it this way. In college (when I still was not in law school), I knew law school was hard. In law school, I never knew it was that hard.
Try to imagine your hardest day in college. In law school, you can still watch a movie with that kind of day.
When I was in college, a reading assignment of 20 pages is already considered a heavy day. In law school, people went out to the mall with that kind of a day because we could cram that assignment in 5 minutes.
2. Met the people who would become my companions for my entire law school stay. You see, we had this car pool (consisting of one car only) where 6 of us rode going home. I took the bus going to law school. I went home to the same house I am living right now.
I spent a lot of my law school time with these guys on the road because all the flyovers were being built at the time. Traffic was horrendous to the point that I could already study in the bus without developing a headache. I can still read while on the road without getting dizzy.
3. They say when you're in law school your present habits will double and if you don't have a vice, you'll develop one. In our case, it was food because the group I was with were non-smokers and non-drinkers (I learned to drink way after law school).
But we used to pig out at Hong Ning, a panciteria (literally a noodle shop but a general term for a Chinese restaurant) along Aurora Blvd. every Saturday. Then we tried other places when we had breaks.
Then, we had a dream of starting a lawfirm and panciteria.
4. The building where I attended was just one closed structure, with closed hallways. So if you walked across the hall during breaktime, you just smoked a pack of cigarettes even before you got to your classroom.
5. I think the key subject for this semester is this "small" one called Statutory Construction. It was my favorite subject. This subject is key in understanding how to think like a lawyer and may dictate one's understanding of legal thinking.
6. Had my first girlfriend during this semester. Looking back, I never thought I could go through the first semester of law school and maintain a love live at the same time. And fortunately, I even managed to be in the Dean's list.
The next semester, next week.
Of course it has some personal stuff, which presumably is fair game considering it's published in a blog. Suffice it to say that it's an interesting read.
But that is not the point of this entry. In legal parlance, it's merely an obiter dictum. Her blog is just the starting point. It has been 10 years since I graduated from the Ateneo School of Law.
That blog made me remember my law school days. And with this, I decided on a series of blogs on how my own law school days went, for the benefit of would-be and present Ateneo Law School students. In this way, they would have an idea on what to expect. I will do it on a per semester basis, every week.
So here goes:
Unlike other law schools, the degree conferred upon a successful Ateneo Law School graduate is a J.D. (Juris Doctor or Doctor of Jurisprudence) degree instead of an Ll.B. (Bachelor of Laws) degree.
What's the difference? I have not seen the curricula of other schools but I guess a J.D. degree is just an Ll.B, degree with a thesis requirement.
The Ateneo Law School was still located at H.V. Dela Costa, Makati that time.
First Semester, First Year (SY 1991-1992):
Subjects/Units/Teachers:
1. Criminal Law I- 3 units; The Late Judge Ruperto Kapunan, Jr.
2. Persons and Family Relations- 4 units; Atty. Mel Sta. Maria
3. Constitutional Law I- 3 Units; Atty. Sedfrey Candelaria
4. Introduction to Law- 1 Unit; Atty. (now Dean) Andres Bautista
5. Legal Profession- 1 Unit; Atty. Christopher Lim
6. Legal Research- 1 Unit; Atty. Rey Geronimo
7. Philiposphy of Law- 2 Units; Fr. (Atty.) Artemio Ferrer, S.J.
8. Statutory Construction- 2 Units; Atty. (Dean?) Jose Jesus Laurel
9. Labor Law I- 3 Units; The Late Dean Marcos Herras
General Highlights:
1. As I have seen the present curriculum, we had 3 more units (we had Labor Law I and II during our first year instead of third year), which means we have 4 major subjects instead of 3. As such, we really had a hard time, probably way harder than what freshmen are having now.
2. Of these subjects, we had our share of "terrors." Actually, all our major subjects were handled by, to put it mildly, "slave drivers." (eg., Attys. Sta. Maria and Candelaria). But don't worry, these are nice people, once you got through them. We got Atty. Sta. Maria again for Public International Law and he will do a metanoia on you, believe me.
3. I've heard from Fr. Bernas that faculty now are given a "terror rating" by the student body. We did not have the luxury of a warning at the time.
4. Introduction to law is integrated in a week-long freshman orientation seminar. But don't overlook it. It is still one unit.
5. The first year afternoon section would actually have classes finish in the afternoon. As you progress, all sections become night sections.
6. We only met Atty. Geronimo twice for Legal Research. He just gave us "homework" and then had a practical exam for the finals. He was even there for the finals.
7. The centralized notes bank started during our freshman year in an effort to take the out the advantages of the fraternities.
Personal Highlights/Thoughts:
1. It was a very rough period for me because of all the adjustment I had to make. Imagine, I was used to study intermittently in college and was still in the dean's list. During law school, I had to study for at least six hours everyday. The power crisis was already looming at that time so, I had to continue studying by candlelight. I was forced to cut back, if not stop completely, watching TV just to keep up with the daily study load.
How hard was law school (particularly the firs semester)? Let me put it this way. In college (when I still was not in law school), I knew law school was hard. In law school, I never knew it was that hard.
Try to imagine your hardest day in college. In law school, you can still watch a movie with that kind of day.
When I was in college, a reading assignment of 20 pages is already considered a heavy day. In law school, people went out to the mall with that kind of a day because we could cram that assignment in 5 minutes.
2. Met the people who would become my companions for my entire law school stay. You see, we had this car pool (consisting of one car only) where 6 of us rode going home. I took the bus going to law school. I went home to the same house I am living right now.
I spent a lot of my law school time with these guys on the road because all the flyovers were being built at the time. Traffic was horrendous to the point that I could already study in the bus without developing a headache. I can still read while on the road without getting dizzy.
3. They say when you're in law school your present habits will double and if you don't have a vice, you'll develop one. In our case, it was food because the group I was with were non-smokers and non-drinkers (I learned to drink way after law school).
But we used to pig out at Hong Ning, a panciteria (literally a noodle shop but a general term for a Chinese restaurant) along Aurora Blvd. every Saturday. Then we tried other places when we had breaks.
Then, we had a dream of starting a lawfirm and panciteria.
4. The building where I attended was just one closed structure, with closed hallways. So if you walked across the hall during breaktime, you just smoked a pack of cigarettes even before you got to your classroom.
5. I think the key subject for this semester is this "small" one called Statutory Construction. It was my favorite subject. This subject is key in understanding how to think like a lawyer and may dictate one's understanding of legal thinking.
6. Had my first girlfriend during this semester. Looking back, I never thought I could go through the first semester of law school and maintain a love live at the same time. And fortunately, I even managed to be in the Dean's list.
The next semester, next week.
transcription by Punzi @ 7:08 AM
7 Objection(s):
Punzi,
I will piggyback on your reminiscenses thru the professors:
1. Judge Kapunan - In Crim Law I, I asked him what crime would I commit if I hacked the wooden leg of a victim. He answered: Impossible crime. I told him. No, you're wrong. He asked: what crime then? I said: Illegal logging. And he promptly gave me a 70 for being petulant.
2. Mel Sta. Maria (Baliks) was just starting to teach then. He taught us a lousy subject called Banking. Boring subject.
3. Sedfrey Candelaria (Baliks)- he ushered me into Balikatan. He was taking the bar when I entered first year. Nice guy. I dont know why he morphed into a terror prof. Hopefully, he is still nice.
4. Andres Bautista - Bote as we called him. He was one batch lower. His GF in law school was our batch match.
5. Christopher Lim (Utopia) - worked together in Quisumbing Torres and Evangelista. Head of IP Practice Group. Good guy. Smoked too much then. Now, he is clean living.
6. Rey Geronimo (Utopia) - the original terror triumvirate, along with Baste and Tesoro. Is he teaching Legal Research na lang then? Used to teach Taxation and Labor. Recitation grades were only 1 or 5. Had a case before the Sandiganbayan. I think he has been cleared.
7. Fr. Ferrer - same subject. My father confessor. Nice guy but nobody listens to him while he lectures.
8. JJ Laurel (Aquila) - This guy boxed one of our classmates, who drew a caricature of him, when he was teaching SEC. Talk about the famous Laurel temper. We were about to file a complaint against him when he apologized to our classmate. And the latter asked us to desist from filing a complaint against him.
9. Bobby Gana (Baliks) - Nice guy from Baliks. He was 4th year when I was freshman entering Baliks. Became thinner over the years. Asked me to handle an intra-union conflict with the Mandarin Hotel Union since Saligan, which he was head, was the retainer of the union.
Punz, I hope you dont mind me commenting on the professors we both know. Makes studying in Ateneo law a more humane(?) place to be in.
Punz,
A little correction. Bobby Gana was our second sem labor relations teacher. The first sem labor standards teacher was the late Deam Marcos Herras. The only thing I remember from that class is the report I made after the first session. Law profs shouldn't fool themselves into believing that class reporting works in a bar subject.
The best story I remember from those years is our classmate who went by the nickname "Mullah". Poor guy prayed so hard that he pass Kapunan's criminal law class and vowed to go bald if he did. Guess what? He passed. The next sem. he came to class an egghead. Rumor had it that Dean Castillo got terrified upon seeing him, and thought he was an assassin hired by the fratmen to kill her. Suited her right.
And our dear friend survived through law school each year having to appeal his grades to make it to the next.When the bar exams came, he still had to file an appeal to the Supreme Court to allow him to take the exams, because he had pending cases like "Tumults and Alarms" which he got for his activist student days.
And Mullah was the first to start working on the thesis requirement in fourth year, and the last to finish, which earned him the Thesis Writer of the Year Award during the Blue Roast. And his speech said it all, "Mga P. I. nilang lahat. Naka-graduate din ako!"
Sorry for the flash forward post. Coouldn't help it.
Marvin
Punz,
A little correction. Bobby Gana was our second sem labor relations teacher. The first sem labor standards teacher was the late Deam Marcos Herras. The only thing I remember from that class is the report I made after the first session. Law profs shouldn't fool themselves into believing that class reporting works in a bar subject.
The best story I remember from those years is our classmate who went by the nickname "Mullah". Poor guy prayed so hard that he pass Kapunan's criminal law class and vowed to go bald if he did. Guess what? He passed. The next sem. he came to class an egghead. Rumor had it that Dean Castillo got terrified upon seeing him, and thought he was an assassin hired by the fratmen to kill her. Suited her right.
And our dear friend survived through law school each year having to appeal his grades to make it to the next.When the bar exams came, he still had to file an appeal to the Supreme Court to allow him to take the exams, because he had pending cases like "Tumults and Alarms" which he got for his activist student days.
And Mullah was the first to start working on the thesis requirement in fourth year, and the last to finish, which earned him the Thesis Writer of the Year Award during the Blue Roast. And his speech said it all, "Mga P. I. nilang lahat. Naka-graduate din ako!"
Sorry for the flash forward post. Coouldn't help it.
Marvin
@Marvs: Oo nga pala, si Dean Herras nga pala ang Labor Standards natin with his Blas Ople voice saying "O sige palakpakan na yan..." I stand corrected then
@Dawin: Thanks for sharing. Next week second sem naman...
I'm going back to review...again. Only took the bar exam once, and missed it by that much. Since then work and other concerns sort of took centerstage. I hope and pray to ace it this time. Wish me luck. I have your tips and lectures bookmarked. I'm sure they'll come in handy. :-)
Cheers Atty.! :-)
Hello. I'm a fresh graduate of Ateneo Law and am currently studying for the bar (Prof. Balane hates using the word barrister to describe people like me, so I'll refrain from it for now).
I'm the guy responsible for the first batch of "terror" ratings. They weren't as much a gauge of how horror-inducing a teacher was, but of how much his actual study load really was. Anyway, the ratings were compiled from a survey given to the outgoing freshmen, AY 2003-2004.
My friend JC (also a fresh Ateneo Law graduate) pointed me toward your site when you first wrote this entry (I think I was a sophomore then). Back then, I told myself I'd contribute to this entry when I actually had something to say (baka kasi maudlot - if there's one thing we're taught, it's that you can get kicked out at any time, even your last semester). Now that I'm out, I guess that counts for something. :)
Here's my story:
1. Introduction to Law - Deam Jose Roy III: He tries to run the gamut from straight intimidator to genial lecturer. Be prepared to read three hundred cases in two days. We tried forming digest pools but some of the digests were really worthless (hey, we were freshmen!)
2. Criminal Law I - Atty. Lorenzo Padilla: He's quite understanding for someone teaching freshman law, if you're one of the first people to recite. Be prepared to recite for an hour on several cases, and on the most obiter of lines. He relies on his modules, which actually work in the long run.
3. Persons and Family Relations - Atty. Mel Sta. Maria: We didn't experience the metanoia until we had him for Civil Law Review I, but it was apparent every time we passed him by in the halls. I failed the first time, but I blame that on me adjusting to the study of law. It would be the last time I failed a law class. We also had a mock moot court on a Persons issue, with several faculty of Ateneo and UP sitting in as judges. We lost the round, but got best memorial and best speaker.
4. Constitutional Law I - Fr. J.G. Bernas, SJ: I went to the afternoon class (because I was working nights at the time), and I had the pleasure of having him when Oakwood happened. Since he was on the Feliciano Commission, our classes under him had to be moved to the evening - and I had to resign from work.
5. Legal Profession - Justice Sundiam: Our first lecture-only class. He eats paper every semester to demonstrate the value of keeping your files to yourself on the trial table.
6. Legal Research - Atty. Mavic Cardona: She got her LL.M. from Oxford (I think) and returned to help with the Human Rights Center. That being said, I protested vigorously at the idea that the first law in the Philippines is the Code of Kalantiaw. The Code of Kalantiaw is a FORGERY, and everyone but the Supreme Court knows it. If Congress is the repository of the people's wisdom, then Congress should pass a law doing something about this travesty.
7. Philosophy of Law: Fr. Artemio Ferrer, SJ: I believe we used the same Men of Law textbook that you had to rent from the library. It would be the last time he prescribed that book. Oddly enough, although he never called recitation, he knew every one of us in class. We had this group session where four of us would enter his room and discuss someone from the book. Some of us had the audacity to sleep in his room while this was going on. I was too afraid.
8. Statutory Construction - Atty. JJ Laurel: A really nice guy by the time he came to us. I still remember most of what he taught us from his mini textbook (it's really just a reviewer compiled into something useful). He had a case list that told you to skip some of the cases he listed in the book. It read: "Skip Matabuena v. Cervantes". Stupid me, I looked at my cases looking for a certain Skip Matabuena. Also, my wife (also my classmate - we married before entering law school) and I made one-sentence digests of all the cases. I believe it helped.
9. Labor Law I - Atty. Cesario Azucena: He of all the teachers aside from Atty. Sta. Maria was responsible for making my freshman block a really solid group of friends. We had to do presentations on selected Labor Law I topics, and we although started doing overhead projector slides, we ended up doing short videos for the class. Not one of us would do a Powerpoint presentation ever again (unless required by the teacher). Aside from Labor Law, I learned how to properly edit video. Not bad.
Of the forty five of us who entered law school, six left because of grades, and two left of their own choice. One of the two is now a senior in UP Law.
Francis,
Thanks for the visit. And the patience to wait until you passed laws school before you posted your experience. I, myself, would have been as prudent, especially if I's still reviewing for the bar...
Good luck with the review...
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