Supreme Court suspends rule on pro bono legal aid

The Supreme Court (SC) has suspended the implementation of the rule governing the requirement for lawyers to render pro bono legal aid services to qualified litigants.

The SC suspended the rule on Community Legal Aid Service (CLAS) because of, among other reasons, the implementation of the revised law student practice rule in the Rules of Court, according to a September 3 resolution.

The justices ordered the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to refer back the cases that are currently assigned to CLAS-covered lawyers to the supervising IBP lawyers.

The revised law student practice rule states that "a law student must now be certified to be able to engage in the limited practice of law," according to the SC's Public Information Office. It was promulgated last June 25 and will take effect at the start of the academic year 2020-2021.

This was part of a larger revision of the Rules of Court that Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin said he initiated after leading a delegation in a trip to study legal aid clinics in the United States last year.

Meanwhile, the suspended CLAS rule requires covered lawyers who have passed the Bar exams and signed the Roll of Attorneys to render 120 hours of pro bono legal aid services to qualified parties, including indigent clients, within the first year of their admission to the Bar. — Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/RSJ, GMA News