The 2005 Bar Results

The nailbiting, constant praying and serious anxiety have all given way to either cheers or tears.  At around 8PM last night, the Supreme Court released the results of the 2005 Bar Examinations.  A student of mine, Joan De Venecia (a niece of the Speaker of the House) topped the bar dispelling a long-held view that UP Law valedictorians are cursed never to top this most watched professional exam in these islands — a strange phenomenon since we should actually honor engineers, entrepreneurs and technical people, who create value, more than lawyers, who merely reallocate value.

A colleague of mine in the faculty confided to me that he had a reliable barometer in predicting who will not top the bar — those who hang out at the college during bar review.   I guess the theory goes, time spent in the college is time taken away from studying. This prompted me to tell Ms. De Venecia on numerous occasions to “get lost.”  She always gamefully agreed but never complied.  While debunking an obviously flawed theory, I’m glad she held up the time-honored tradition of UP topnotchers having unflattering photos in the newspapers. 

One other topnotcher from U.P., Claudine B. Orocio-Isorena, is the wife of a high school classmate.  This was a bonus which I promptly announced in our high school mailing list.

Well, now it’s over.  I have heard of a few upsets and I can only imagine how terrible the experience must be.  But since the results were released early, they have about 2 weeks to get it out of their system before the 2006 bar review starts.

To all the rest who crossed the bar into becoming lawyers and those who spent the night either in or under a bar,  CONGRATULATIONS!