Top 10 Best Law Schools in the Philippines
Whether you're looking to build a career as a corporate lawyer, public defender, or a human rights advocate, the quality of your education will shape your path forward. The Philippines has a range of universities and colleges known for their solid law programs, rigorous training, and impressive track records when it comes to the bar exam and alumni success.This list highlights some of the best law schools in the country, from institutions with decades-long reputations for legal excellence to those that bring fresh perspectives to the study of law. For students fresh out of high school who are set on becoming a lawyer, or professionals looking to pivot careers and earn a law degree, knowing where a school stands in terms of bar passage rates, faculty expertise, and quality of education is key.
UP Law runs the country. Seven Philippine presidents and most of our country's senators and lower house representatives are UP Law alumni. Also, more than half of those who have sat as Chief Justice are UP Law graduates.
UP lawyers aren't just competent but also have honor and compassion for public service. That is learning the law in the grand manner.
One of my dream law schools. If I had the confidence and time to study here, I would.
USC is obviously one of the top law schools in the Philippines. Though they do not produce many topnotchers, their passing percentage is always high, even higher than some well-known and large law schools in Luzon. This is the number one law school in the Visayas region.
USC continuously delivers by contributing competent law graduates and excellent board passers year after year.
Obviously, not to compare with any others, almost all of the law graduates are very capable and competent.
San Beda is very strict with their academics and maintains high standards to produce globally competitive and topnotcher students. San Beda has produced many notable alumni, especially in the fields of law and politics.
San Beda College of Law's Justice Florenz Regalado holds the record for the highest average in the Philippine Bar Examinations, with his 1954 mark of 96.7%. Can you beat that?
I'm not a graduate of San Beda College, but based on my research, San Beda College is the best law school in the Philippines.
The oldest university in the Philippines and in Asia, the University of Santo Tomas was founded in 1611 by Manila Archbishop Miguel Benavides. The Faculty of Civil Law was founded shortly after, in 1734, and is arguably the first law school in the Philippines.
The Universidad de Santo Tomas Facultad De Derecho Civil has produced 10 revolutionary heroes, 4 presidents, 3 vice presidents, 7 chief justices, and countless senators, congressmen, and notable justices and judges.
My son graduated here in 2011 and passed the BAR exam in 2012. One of the hardest BAR exams with a 17% passing rate.
Ateneo now has the largest number of top 10 topnotchers among all colleges of law in the Philippines. It has also been ranked #1 by CHED in terms of passing rate over a 10-year period.
UP remains #1 only in the number of first placers, but this is mainly because UP Law (the school of my brother) is more than 30 years older than Ateneo. Let us see what will happen in the next 20 or so years.
In this administration, the Ateneo Law School has dominated the Supreme Court for the first time. Government appointees are mostly Ateneans too. Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra (Ateneo for both college and law school) leads the legal luminaries from Ateneo. Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, the Ombudsman, and others are also Ateneans. Duterte has appointed more Ateneo lawyers than those from his alma mater, San Beda.
The University of the Visayas is an educational institution located at Cebu City, Philippines. It is billed as the first school in the entire province of Cebu who gained a university status. We are the best law school because we have Teodoro Almase, Dean of the University of the Visayas, who placed 4th in the bar exams.
Known for being the school of the working-class intelligentsia, FEU Institute of Law is home to working students who, while taking up law, already contribute to national and social development. They work in the academe, business, finance, accountancy, government, media, and various other sectors in both the private and public branches of society.
Graduates of the FEU Institute of Law are not novice lawyers when they begin their law practice. They have already been immersed in the challenges of life, making them formidable warriors in litigation, arbitration, contracts, collective bargaining for both management and employees, commercial transactions, banking, finance, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy, persons and family relations, and all other branches of practice and human relations.
Since its first attempt at the bar exams in 2006, the PUP College of Law has steadily performed above par in the bar examinations, achieving passing percentage rates well above the national passing rates.
The Newcomers
Well, I'm a student of Ateneo de Davao University Junior High School. My elder cousin (Kuya) Lorenz is currently studying at the University of Mindanao, and he's really good at his course right now. I bet it's also GOOD there.
The best school for people who have to juggle work and law school. Very flexible as all the subjects are offered every semester, with summer classes included.
Definitely one of the best law schools in the field of law!
Definitely the best for working students!
It's not just a home of board topnotchers but also an alma mater of competent professionals from different fields.
One of the best law schools in the Visayas.
PLM's College of Law is definitely a newcomer in this field compared to the well-known law powerhouses (UP, Ateneo, UST). However, it has a good percentage of passing graduates every year, which adds to the prestigious status of PLM.
As another comment mentioned, PLM's College of Law is definitely a newcomer, and there is no doubt about it. However, there is a big "but" regarding PLM being a "newbie."
I am an undergraduate from the university itself (Social Work), and I highly praise the College and its passers for their performance in the recent examinations. The professors and instructors are not just teachers. They are prominent figures in their respective fields, including some distinguished lawyers and even active and former Supreme Court Justices.
What caught my attention is Atty. Jose M. Roy III (not sure if he's still the Dean of the College), and it's just wow.
Silliman, which offers a Juris Doctor program, has remained one of the country's superior law schools. It boasts a faculty that includes some of the country's legal luminaries, distinguished practitioners, and foreign law professors.
Over the past ten years, it has produced two topnotchers at ranks fifth and seventh.
The best for working students. Law professors are from UP and Ateneo, and it is budget-friendly as well.
It is the only university in the City of Pines that can match the big and old schools in Manila. The school is the choice of many clever students in the north.
SLU produces a lot of lawyers every bar examination. Strength in numbers!
ADDU has been cited by CHED (before the creation of the LEB) and Justice Panganiban as the top 4 law school in the country from 2000-2010, considering the number of first-time takers who passed the bar. No other official list came out after that.
Great professors and excellent passing rates! It also has its own review center.
Even in its young existence, UC-Banilad has already proven that it can produce quality lawyers in the country by consistently achieving high passing percentages and producing topnotch lawyers.
The best law school in the north, UC is the only law school in the region to have produced topnotchers. It made history as the only law school outside Metro Manila to produce two top 1 placers within 10 years.
The only provincial school with more than one number one bar topnotcher.
I graduated from this school. It is undeniably one of the best in the North!
Home of the best and humble yet great lawyers of our country. I've known local leaders who graduated from this reputable university.
Our current legal notables include Atty. Abelardo T. Domondon, who placed 4th in the Bar Exams and is a member of the Legal Education Board today.
One of the promising law schools in the country. It offers a Juris Doctor in Law degree.