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HISTORY

The Lyceum of the Philippines opened in 1952 with the School of Law intended as its vanguard. The first enrollees were mostly from this department who accounted for more than half (six hundred twenty eight [628] students) of the Lyceum’s initial population of one thousand one hundred twenty four (1,124) students. With its size, the School of Law was then the biggest academic department in the Lyceum community. It was then one of the biggest law schools in the entire Philippines. The impressive public response to the School of Law was brought about by the prestige and promise of the original law faculty which was then like reading the who’s who in the legal profession.

Senator Claro M. Recto, a nationalist leading figure was its first dean with Senator Ambrocio Padilla as its vice-dean. The Lyceum Trustees themselves headed the various departments in the School of Law. Thus, Senator Pedro Sabido took charge of Remedial Law and Mercantile Law; Senator Padilla took charge of Civil Law and Criminal Law; and former President Jose P. Laurel handles Political Law and International Law.

Among the professors of the Remedial Law Department were legal luminaries such as: Antonio P. Barredo who became Solicitor-General and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court; Jovito Salonga, author of several law books who became senator; Bienvenido Tan, Sr., who became CFI Judge; Eusebio Lopez who became Judge of the People’s Court, and; Antonio Canizares, who became Justice of the Court of Appeals.

Professors of Mercantile Law were Ramon T. Oben, who became Dean of the University of Santo Tomas’ Faculty of Civil Law; Jovito Salonga; Teodorico Martin; who became Dean of San Sebastian College of Law; Luciano Salazar, who became Dean of the Lyceum School of Law; and Aguedo F. Agbayani, former Governor and Representative of Pangasinan and a respected text writer in Mercantile Law.

Under the Civil Law Department were another set of top caliber professors: Arturo M. Tolentino, an authority on civil law who became Senator; Magno Gatmaitan, who became Justice of the Court of Appeals: Eduardo Caguioa, who was a CFI Judge and a well-known bar reviewer in Civil Law; Mariano H. Laurel, who was an expert in Credit Transactions; and Jose Zafra who became a member of the House of Representatives.

Under the Criminal Law Department were luminaries who were later on appointed to the Court of Appeals – Luis B. Reyes, a respected text writer in Criminal Law and Ruperto Kapunan, First Assistant Solicitor General who later became a judge.

President Jose P. Laurel, who headed the Political Law and International Law Department, had the following as faculty members: Jose Bayani Laurel Jr., who became Speaker of the House of Representatives; Felixberto Serrano, who became Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of Foreign Affairs; and Sotero H. Laurel. Armando C. Gustilo, then a member of the House of Representatives taught Jurisprudence together with Sotero.

Private International Law was handled by former Philippine Ambassador to India Leon Ma. Guerrero. Labor Law was taught by former Philippine National Bank President Roberto Benedicto.

Francisco Ventura, former delegate to the 1934 Constitutional Convention, taught Land Registration while Legal Forms and Brief Making was handled by former Commissioner of Land Transportation Antonio Noblejas.

Dean Claro M. Recto taught Trial Technique.

Lyceums’ original law faculty was so exceptional that Neptali Gonzales, Dean Marcos Herras and Supreme Court Justice Isagani Cruz taught only minor subjects then. Gonzales started teaching Legal Bibliography and Statutory Construction while Herras and Cruz started with Roman Law.

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion, former Supreme Court Associate Justices Conrado V. Sanchez and Ruperto Martin, former COMELEC Chairperson Gaudencio Garcia, former Congressman Mario R. Bengson and Dean Jaime Nuevas also taught in the School of Law during the early years of the law school.

With the exceptional caliber of the then faculty of law, Lyceum of the Philippines’ rise in the field of legal education had become inevitable. The training and expertise that the faculty provided to its students had distinguished Lyceum – School of Law as one of the best law schools in the Philippines. This distinction was reflected in Lyceums’ successes in the bar examinations.

or many years, the School of Law had remained the premier school – the flagship of the Lyceum of the Philippines. Quality law students – the school’s frontliners, complemented by brilliant and dedicated academicians and able administrators had immensely contributed to Lyceum – College of Law’s formidable rise in the field of legal education. For once, the Lyceum had offered a post-graduate course in law leading to a degree in Masters of Laws in 1953.

In the early part of the 60s, due mainly to the growing popularity of the foreign service course – not to mention Lyceum’s rise in the classical courses of Humanities, the Arts and Journalism – the School of Arts and Sciences (formerly Liberal Arts) finally dislodged the School of Law in its flagship position. Be that as it may, it had remained vibrant and continued to receive accolades through the successes of its students and alumni.

Despite the reduction in its population as compared to the 1950s, the College of Law remains as promising and vibrant as it had been in the past decades. It is still living up to the founder’s vision of having an institution founded with on principles of nationalism.

In 2003, with the aim of preserving the College of Law’s past gains and glory, it was transferred from its original home in Intramuros to the Central Business District of Makati. The college is presently housed in a seven-storey building at the corner of Rufino and Leviste streets in Salcedo Village, just three short blocks away from Ayala Avenue. The campus now provides a more serious academic atmosphere that is suited to the rigors of law studies.

The College of Law has been growing since its inauguration and is now gradually claiming the premier position that the School of Law of the 60s had enjoyed. In June of 2003, the college had received hundreds of applications from interested students and professionals. The fifty-five (55%) percent increase in its population that year is almost similar to the impressive public response the college had enjoyed when it opened in 1952.

Lyceum President Roberto P. Laurel, in his speech delivered before the distinguished guests and alumni during the inauguration of the new law campus said: “The transfer of the law school in Makati fashions a covenant with its students; it is a commitment to preserve the gains of the past and to surpass the achievements that our college had etched in the field of legal education and a promise to exert all efforts to fulfill the vision of its founder, Dr. Jose P. Laurel. For we may have changed our home, our campus, but one thing remains the same and will always remain the same – the College of Law will always be committed to produce lawyers who will uphold the highest ideals of truth, justice, courage and fortitude in the service of God, country and humanity.”

“The study of Law”, Atty. Laurel added, “…is different from the study of other disciplines. The demand for the student’s devotion is higher, the stress greater. It is therefore imperative for every law school purporting to forge would be lawyers to have a campus that is more conducive to the passionate study of the law. Lyceum has seen the challenges and the opportunities that Makati offers and had decided to take it.”

As to the choice of the Central Business District as the site of the new campus, he stressed that as the undisputed business hub of the Philippines, Makati “is undoubtedly a fertile ground to sow the seeds of legal education. A lot of young professionals training their sights on professional development will certainly be interested to know that there is now a school that is within walking distance from their offices.” He also noted the advantages of being “doorsteps away from the country’s most prestigious law firms were a number of experienced and brilliant legal minds are so eager to impart their own expertise to students were it not for the hassle of travelling through traffic clogged thoroughfares to different law schools in Metro Manila.

True to its commitment, the College of Law has been consistently included among the top five law schools in Metro Manila. Likewise, it has been rated as one of the top ten best performing law schools in the Philippines. Over the years, it has remained a bastion of Philippine legal education. With Dean Pacifico Agabin at the helm, the college commits itself to revive the enthusiasm which the school’s founding fathers had exhibited during its formative years. In January 2005, the College of Law filed its petition with the Supreme Court to open a Legal Aid Clinic, which will serve as a training unit for third and fourth year students in handling actual cases in the trial courts under the supervision of law professors. It will continuously strive to surpass he feats it has so far received.