Without a doubt the Graduate School of Juridical Science and Justice Studies (Graduate School of Law) of San Beda College is the country’s foremost institution of advanced legal education. At its inception, at which the former Rector-President, Fr. Anscar Chupungco, OSB, played an initiatory role, the aim was to maintain standards to allow it to compare favorably with graduate schools of law abroad so that those desirous of furthering legal education would not have to leave home and engagements but could enhance their professional education right in the Philippines.

The graduate school rightly boasts of its programs as well as of its faculty. The Master of Laws (regular) program is designed for those who can attend school once a month at the Mendiola campus. Classes are likewise held at the University of San Carlos in Cebu by virtue of an agreement entered into between San Beda and USC. In Davao City, classes are held at a venue arranged by Prof. Edison Batacan. Class sessions are limited to one per month because our delivery system – as our Academic Policies provide – allows for diverse modes of instruction: tutorial classes, mentoring, on-line sessions, and guided research.

We are the first in the country to offer an on-line Master of Laws degree. Students meet with their instructors in a virtual conference room each week, at a scheduled time. Classes sessions (albeit virtual) are therefore held more frequently for the on-line program than for the regular program. Whether regular or on-line however, the same standards are maintained, and the presentation of a thesis and its successful public defense are requisites for obtaining the degree.

The Master of Laws program is totally unrelated to membership in the Philippine Bar. While, as a general rule, membership in the Philippine Bar is a requisite for admission, the Dean may allow the admission of non-lawyers into the program in meritorious cases. There are presently three tracks: civil law, commercial law and international law – depending on the preponderance of subjects the student chooses to take.

For non-lawyers such as deans of colleges of criminology, law-enforcers and all interested in the administration of criminal justice, the graduate school has a degree-program: Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration. Though law-based, we are proud of the excellent instruction we provide in forensic science and in other aspects of criminalistics.

The highest rung of the academic ladder is the doctorate degree. We offer two doctoral degrees. The DPhil in Public Law is open to lawyers, law graduates who meet the quality point index and those who have finished masters degrees in such areas as public administration, governance, criminal justice administration and governance. The program reaches its culmination in the presentation and defense of a dissertation that should constitute an original contribution to the field of public law.

The Doctor of the Science of Jurisprudence (S.J.D.) degree is a research-based degree. The student is required to attend seminars of the highest levels given by the most reputable of institutions, to submit an approved reading list, to author and to lecture and then to submit and defend a doctoral dissertation.

Unique to our graduate school is a consortium with the Philippine Judicial Academy of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Not only does the consortium constitute an endorsement by the highest court of the land of our program; it also subjects our programs constantly to the strict scrutiny of the court.

Under this program, courses offered by the Philippine Judicial Academy are credited towards the award of a degree, when coupled with compliance with the requirements of the graduate school.