The USC College of Law registered a remarkable 98% passing rate for its first-time takers while two of its graduates, Jani G. Omamalin and Geremae M. Mata, were named as excellent passers in the 2020-2021 Bar Examinations administered on February 4 and 6, 2022.

Omamalin is the Class Valedictorian, while both Mata and Omamalin are scholars of the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity.

For its overall passing rate, USC Law is 4th best in the country in Category One Law Schools with at least 100 examinees. USC Law is also 2nd best among law schools with excellent passers. Excellent passers are those who scored more than 90% in the Bar Exams.

In another category, USC is 4th best in the country in terms of the most number of exemplary passers with 57 of its examinees obtaining 85 to 90% ratings.

These achievements came just days after USC Law was named Best Overall Respondent Team in the Global Rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, the world’s largest, oldest, and most prestigious mooting competition.

Consistent high performance

The University of San Carlos College of Law is among the law schools in the country conferred by the Legal Education Board with an Award for Excellence in Legal Education.

USC Law’s passing percentages in past Bar Examinations are consistently high. The USC College of Law also produced the most number of topnotchers in the last seven years.

In 2015, USC Law graduates placed 2nd and 8th in the Bar Exams. In 2016, USC Law registered a 100% passing mark for its 2016 graduates, who placed 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 8th.

Again, in 2017, USC Law graduates took the 2nd, 4th, and 7th places in the Bar. In 2018, USC Law graduates placed 2nd, 3rd, 9th, and 10th.

This year, the Supreme Court only named the top 14 excellent performers in lieu of the usual top 10 placers.

Most challenging exam

According to USC Law Dean Jose Glenn C. Capanas, this year’s Bar is one of the most challenging in the history of bar examinations, not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but primarily because the Carolinian Bar takers had to endure both the physical and psychological strain of the long wait after the exams were postponed several times.

Added to this stress is that a negative COVID-19 test result was required as a condition to take the bar. Indeed, this bar exam was not only a test of one’s intellectual competence but also of discipline and endurance. Surpassing all these challenges and still achieving high passing percentage is anything but ordinary. Dean Capanas is extremely proud of the stellar performance of the Carolinian bar takers.

Another first

This year’s Bar Examinations also marked a first for USC Law as former Law Dean and now USC Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Joan S. Largo was tapped as one of the Bar Examiners in Remedial Law, the first USC Law Professor and Carolinian to be named as a Philippine Bar Examiner.