SC issues rule on mandatory legal aid service for lawyers

The members of the Supreme Court again demonstrated their concern for the poor when it approved BM 2012 entitled "Proposed Rule on Mandatory Legal Aid Service" requiring practicing lawyers to render at least 60 hours of mandatory free legal service for each year. The move is aimed at improving access to justice for the less privileged of our society.

Section 2 of the Rule specifically states that "This Rule seeks to enhance the duty of lawyers to society as agents of social change and to the courts as officers thereof by helping improve access to justice by the less privileged members of society and expedite the resolution of cases involving them. Mandatory free legal service by members of the bar and their active support thereof will aid the efficient and effective administration of justice especially in cases involving indigent and pauper litigants."

You may read the full text of the Rule at www.sc.judiciary.gov.ph.