Over 3,992 law graduates passed the 2022 Bar exams and will be sworn in with a new Lawyer’s Oath, as part of a new Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability. The University of the Philippines had the most topnotchers and among the top-performing schools with an overall passing rate of 94.27% and a 95.02% passing rate among first-time takers. The new oath aims to promote the rule of law in a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, and to ensure access to justice. The bar exam is considered one of the toughest professional board exams.

The results of the November 2022 Bar Exams in the Philippines were released on April 14, 2023, with 3,992 law graduates passing and the top five coming from the University of the Philippines (UP). UP, along with Ateneo de Manila University and San Beda College Alabang, were among the top performing schools, and the overall passing rate for the exams was 43.47%. The successful examinees will be the first to be sworn in under the new Lawyer’s Oath, which is part of the new Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA). The revision of the oath is intended to address weaknesses in the previous version, which did not mention a lawyer’s primary duty to do justice or ensure access to justice. The CPRA also consolidates regulations on the discipline of lawyers, abbreviates administrative proceedings, and focuses on the punitive aspect of unethical legal practice. While passing the bar is an important milestone in a lawyer’s career, it is not the measure of their decency, honesty, integrity, or intelligence, which are essential values for upholding the ethical and moral fabric of society.