By Alyanna Joyce S. Abadejos |The Red Chronicles
San Beda College Alabang School of Law prides itself on being the happiest law school in the country. Its unique title can be gleaned from how its student organizations give much of their priority to ensuring the welfare of bartakers.
One such organization is the school’s Centralized Bar Operations. These volunteers dedicate their efforts to helping Bedan barristers confront perhaps the most daunting test of their lives, the Bar Examinations.
In doing so, they developed a series of initiatives, with the Bar Mentorship Program being a product of such endeavors since 2015.
A few of SBCA’s current bar mentors shared a glimpse into how they continue guiding their bartakers:
For Atty. Paulino Ungos III, the mentoring program, focuses more on equally important aspects such as spotting issues and avoiding pitfalls in answering bar questions.
His strategy involves providing mentees with activities to look into bar questions and answers. They are shown previous bar questions to detect why a certain question is crafted as such. Furthermore, mentees are shown several versions of answers so that they will be reminded to be constantly conscious of the rubric in Bar Bulletin No. 25, Series of 2021.
They try to meet once a week via Microsoft Teams for the activities. The atmosphere during such meetings is light. Mentees are encouraged to ask questions and share their observations.
Likewise, Atty. Julienne Therese Salvacion keeps it lighthearted, preferring to be a friend to her mentees and someone they can open up to.
As someone with siblings who also took up the bar, she readily accepted CBO’s request to become one of their bar mentors. She views it as her own way to give back to the community.
In fact, she and her mentees met a week after they were assigned to each other, understanding how precious time can be within a limited schedule.
Her strategy consists of providing tips on how to best answer the questions presented at the bar. Then, they would conduct mock tests, and she would suggest potentially better ways of answering the questions. She also encourages her mentees to voice out their needs and problem areas to find remedies in time for the bar. Finally, she offers practical advice on preparing for the actual day.
Atty. Salvacion also emphasized that while the bar exam itself is a one-man show, the long journey towards that room does not have to be faced alone.
Through CBO’s mentorship program, barristers can meet with lawyers who have been in the same position as them in the past. For that reason, they are well-equipped to offer words of motivation, advice, or any other kind of support one may need before the test.
At the same time, barristers are given an opportunity to be better prepared in claiming “ATTY.” to one’s name.
Note: This article was first published in the 2024 Bar Issue print issue of The Red Chronicles last September 26, 2024.