Supreme Court allows publication of list of lawyers noncompliant with MCLE

The Supreme Court has authorized the publication of the list of lawyers who fail to comply with their obligation to undergo continuing legal education.

The tribunal has approved a resolution of the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Governing Board allowing the names of noncompliant lawyers to be published in alphabetical order in at least two newspapers of general circulation, according to the notice of an October 8 en banc resolution.

"The noncompliant lawyers shall be given 60 days from the date of publication within which to provide proof of compliance, otherwise, they shall be considered as delinquent and shall not be permitted to practice law," the SC resolution states.

In a separate but similarly dated resolution, the Court approved another MCLE resolution automatically exempting all incumbent and retired members of the judiciary from the MCLE requirement starting on the seventh compliance period.

The exemptees will no longer be required to file attestations of exemption, and the MCLE office will automatically issue certificates of exemption to all incumbent and retired judges for every compliance period starting with the seventh, the SC said. 

The names of those exempted will be based on the records of the Office of the Court Administrator.

Members of the Philippine bar, with several exemptions, must complete at least 36 MCLE credit units every three years, according to the MCLE website.

The first compliance period was from April 15, 2001 to April 14, 2004. All succeeding compliance periods begin the day after the end of the preceding period. — Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/RSJ, GMA News