Atty. Julius Gregory Delgado
IBP BOHOL CHAPTER TO HOLD FIRST ONLINE MANDATORY CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION SEMINAR
Every three (3) years, the Supreme Court requires lawyers to undergo the so-called Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (“MCLE”). MCLE is intended to keep lawyers updated with the most recent legal developments, such as but not limited to new legislation, recent jurisprudence or rulings of the Supreme Court, and special topics both in substantive and procedural aspect of lawyering. On or before 22 April 2022, lawyers need to comply with the Seventh (7th) Compliance Period. Lawyers who do not comply with the MCLE exposes themselves from administrative sanctions by the Supreme Court.
Because of the pandemic, the usual or traditional face-to-face MCLE Seminar was temporarily suspended by the Supreme Court’s MCLE Governing Board. Instead, the MCLE Governing Board approved several private MCLE providers offering Online MCLE Seminars. At the early part of the pandemic, the MCLE Seminars offered were at hefty cost because usually, the providers developed a software wherein you can listen and finish the lectures at your own pace with the computer program providing random snapshots to ensure that lawyers and not their assistants or proxies will be the ones listening the lectures.
Later on, several Chapters of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (“MCLE”) offered MCLE Seminars as providers albeit in a new system called Online Synchronous MCLE. Synchronous means all lawyers will be attending the lectures simultaneously in a Webinar Format. For every twenty-five (25) participants, there will be a monitor who will ensure that lawyers will be listening to the lectures. Among the stringent rules is that the participants will not be allowed to be absent or not visible on screen for more than fifteen (15) minutes, otherwise, deductions will be made from his or her MCLE credits. Lawyers need to comply thirty-six (36) units or lectures for 36 hours for every compliance period.
On 19-20 November 2021 and 26-27 November 2021, IBP-Bohol Chapter will be sponsoring an Online Synchronous MCLE Seminar. For the first day, the following are the topics: Pre-Trial (Atty. Aliakbhar Jumrani); Cybercrime Law (Deputy Commissioner Erickson Balmes); Updates in Legal Ethics (Dean Cecilio Duka); Latest Jurisprudence in Labor Law (Judge Tiburcio Adrian Umbac); and Labor Arbitration (Dean Cecilio Duka). For the second day, the following topics will be discussed: Effective Legal Writing (Dean Cecilio Duka); Land Titles and Deeds (Atty. Aliakbhar Jumrani); Recent Court Decision on Taxation (Atty. Rhenier Mora); Alternative Dispute Resolution in Intellectual Property (Atty. Jose Maria Clint B. Fabiosa); and Defining Relationship Between Bench the Bar, Proper Decorum of Lawyers during Trial (Justice Gabriel Ingles). For the third day, the topics are: Hearings thru Videoconferencing: Challenges and Suggestions (Atty. Aliakbhar Jumrani); Updates in Remedial Law (Dean Christian Villasis); Towards a Powerful Legal Advocacy (Judge Marivic Trabajo-Daray); Privacy Torts (Dean Joan Largo); and International Criminal Law and the International Criminal Court (Judge Marivic Trabajo-Daray). Finally, for the fourth and final day, the topics are: Challenges and Pitfalls in Legal Writing (Atty. May Aguilar a.k.a. May S. Pono); Basic Etiquette in Online Hearings and Meetings (Atty. Mae Elaine Bathan); The Virtual Lawyer: Maximizing the Technology in Legal Practice (Atty. Ethelbert Ouano); and The Critical Role of Environmental Rule of Law in Addressing Current Environmental Challenges (Atty. Rose Liza Eisma-Osorio). The Online Synchronous MCLE Seminar is open to all lawyers even from other IBP Chapters. To register, please visit https://www.ibpbohol.com/mcle. Registration fees are as follows: Early Registrants (01-08 November 2021) – Php6,000.00; Regular Registrants (09-16 November 2021) – Php6,500.00; and Per Unit – Php300.00/Unit.