Power of the Legal Education Board to regulate legal internship is not an

encroachment of the power of the Supreme Court to regulate free legal aid services
to under-privileged
It is important to note that legal internship and legal aid services are different in
many aspects, such as the nature of work required, scope and coverage, and the person
required to perform such work. As such, the power of the Legal Education Board to
regulate legal internship is not an encroachment of the power of the Supreme Court to
regulate free legal aid services to those persons who are under-privileged.
Nature of work required
Section 11, Article III of the Constitution guarantees that justice is served to all,
especially to the poor, to wit:
Sec. 11. Free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies and adequate
legal assistance shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty.
As such, Section 5 (5), Article VIII of the Constitution mandates that the Supreme
Court ensures that the right of access to justice is provided to any person by giving the
Supreme Court the power to promulgate rules concerning the protection and
enforcement of legal assistance to under-privileged.
Pursuant to the mandate of the Constitution, the Supreme Court issued Bar
Matter No. 2012 or known as the Proposed Rule on Mandatory Legal Aid Service for
Practicing Lawyers requiring all practicing lawyers to render free legal aid services in
all cases involving indigent and pauper litigants where the assistance of a lawyer is
needed.1
B.M. No. 2012 defined free legal aid services as the appearance in court or quasi-
judicial body for and in behalf of an indigent or pauper litigant and the preparation of
pleadings or motions. It shall also cover assistance by a practicing lawyer to indigent or
poor litigants in court-annexed mediation and in other modes of alternative dispute
resolution (ADR). 2
On the other hand, an internship is a training program offered by an employer to
students within a limited period of time. The objective of an internship is to provide
students the opportunity to gain practical experience relating to their field of study. In
relation to legal internship, its purpose is to introduce law students to the legal
profession under the guidance and supervision of duly accredited private or public law
office or firm or legal assistance group.
As provided under Section 7 (g) of R.A 7662, the LEB is given the power to
regulate and prescribe guidelines for law practice internship, to wit:
(g) to establish a law practice internship as a requirement for taking the Bar
which a law student shall undergo with any duly accredited private or public law
office or firm or legal assistance group anytime during the law course for a

1 Section 3, B.M. No. 2012

2 Section 4 (d), B.M. No. 2012
 specific period that the Board may decide, but not to exceed a total of twelve (12)
months. For this purpose, the Board shall prescribe the necessary guidelines for
such accreditation and the specifications of such internship which shall include
the actual work of a new member of the Bar.
Scope and coverage
As defined above, free legal aid services is where a practicing lawyer represents
an indigent person before the court in relation to any actions, disputes, and
controversies that are criminal, civil and administrative in nature in whatever stage
wherein indigent and pauper litigants need legal representation.3
The practicing lawyer is required to render a minimum of sixty (60) hours of
free legal aid services to indigent litigants in a year. 4 Failure to comply with this
requirement, the practicing lawyer will be required to explain why he was unable to
meet the requirements. Otherwise, he will be declared a member of the IBP who is not
in good standing.5
On the other hand, legal internship is an on-the-job training of law students in
courts, quasi-judicial agencies, or with duly accredited private or public law office or
firm or legal assistance group. The work of an intern may include doing a legal research,
organizing and maintaining documents in a proper filing system, assisting in the
gathering of information and/or evidence for a case, drafting of legal documents,
participating in client interviews and consultations and the like.
Legal internship has to be rendered by the law student during the law course for
a specific period but not to exceed a total of twelve (12) months. 6 Since legal internship
is part of the curriculum of the law school and it is considered as a subject, failure on the
part of the law student to enroll his internship subject will bar him from graduating.
Person required to perform such work
The person who is required to render free legal aid services is a practicing lawyer
or one who is admitted to the practice of law, to wit:
(a) Practicing lawyers are members of the Philippine Bar who appear for and in behalf of
parties in courts of law and quasi-judicial agencies, including but not limited to the
National Labor Relations Commission, National Conciliation and Mediation Board,
Department of Labor and Employment Regional Offices, Department of Agrarian Reform
Adjudication Board and National Commission for Indigenous Peoples. The term
"practicing lawyers" shall exclude:

(i) Government employees and incumbent elective officials not allowed by

law to practice;
(ii) Lawyers who by law are not allowed to appear in court;

3 Section 4 (d), B.M. No. 2012

4 Section 4 (a), B.M. No. 2012
5 Section 7(a), B.M. No. 2012
6 Section 7 (g), R.A 7662
 (iii) Supervising lawyers of students enrolled in law student practice in
duly accredited legal clinics of law schools and lawyers of non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) and peoples organizations (POs) like
the Free Legal Assistance Group who by the nature of their work already
render free legal aid to indigent and pauper litigants and
(iv) Lawyers not covered under subparagraphs (i) to (iii) including those
who are employed in the private sector but do not appear for and in
behalf of parties in courts of law and quasi-judicial agencies. 7
A few law schools, such as the University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila
University, offer legal aid services wherein volunteer lawyers are assisted by law
students in handling cases of indigent persons. It must be noted, however, that it is still
the lawyers who appear before the court and not the law students.
On the other hand, in legal internship the person required to perform such work
is a law student and not a practicing lawyer. It has been a common practice in the
Philippines that legal internship be taken up during the summer of their third year in
law school. This is to ensure that the law students has already taken up the required
remedial law subjects so as to aid them in their internship.

7 Section 4(a), B.M. No. 2012