When the Bar results speak beyond numbers

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When the results of the 2025 Bar Examinations were released, they did more than announce who had passed. They revealed how the next generation of Filipino lawyers is being shaped – by different schools, different paths and increasingly, by a shared understanding that law is not merely a profession, but a responsibility.

This year’s passers came from across the academic spectrum: graduates of universities across the country, and professional backgrounds as varied as accountancy, engineering, medicine and education. Some arrived in the legal profession straight from school; others brought with them years of work, family life, or service.

What united them was not pedigree alone, but a clarity of purpose – one articulated again and again in conversation: that the law must be practiced with discipline, humility and care, because it deals not in hypotheticals, but in people’s lives.

One young lawyer, Janessa Kudera, trained in human rights research and moot court, put it plainly: “We are no longer dealing with hypothetical cases. We are dealing with people’s liberty, property and lives. We have to be extra careful now.”

When law school performance becomes a signal

Bar statistics are often read as personal milestones, relevant mainly to examinees and their families. Yet law school performance carries implications that ripple outward – into the profession, the economy and public life.

Lawyers help move commerce forward by structuring transactions and resolving disputes. They safeguard rights, interpret regulation and give form to governance. When law schools perform well, they do more than produce passers; they replenish the ranks of those entrusted with these responsibilities.

Among the institutions that stood out this year was the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law, whose strong showing signaled not only academic achievement, but continuity – of standards, of values, of preparation. Such results point to leadership that understands legal education as a long-term investment in people rather than a single season of outcomes.

A generation that chose the hard way

Listening to the new lawyers speak, a pattern emerges. Many rejected shortcuts – even when technology made them tempting. One recalled how relying on summaries or automated tools never matched the depth gained from reading full cases and doing the work “the hard way,” a habit she now intends to carry into practice.

Top 3 Alaiza Adviento spoke of discipline learned over time: consistency across subjects, equal effort regardless of prestige, and showing up daily even when progress felt invisible. “What sustained me,” she said, “was consistency and discipline, giving my best no matter the case, no matter the client.”

This ethos – effort without arrogance, excellence without entitlement – was echoed across interviews. It is also where many traced the influence of mentors who modeled these values long before the Bar.

The quiet reach of a teacher

Across schools and stories, one name surfaced repeatedly: Nilo Divina.

To some, he was a professor whose classes demanded clarity of thought. To others, the UST Faculty of Civil Law dean who emphasized preparation over performance. Those familiar with his leadership at UST describe it as steady rather than showy, rooted in fundamentals, respect for the law and the discipline to work through complexity. Improvement, under such guidance, tends to be cumulative rather than dramatic, built quietly over time.

That philosophy, it turns out, does not end at the university gates.

From school to practice

Beyond the classroom, Divina brings the same values to his role as founder and managing partner of DivinaLaw, which recorded a 100 percent passing rate among its Bar takers this year. The achievement is mentioned by the new lawyers almost in passing. What they speak about more readily is culture.

“DivinaLaw is family,” one said simply. Another, described it as “overflowing” – a place where generosity from leadership creates generosity in return. Senior partners are approachable. Drafts are refined, not dismissed. Clients are answered promptly. Mark Santos, Top 5, explains that dynamic lawyering, the firm’s guiding phrase, is understood not as clever strategy, but as the willingness to find ethical solutions when the law seems rigid.

It is the kind of environment that produces lawyers who are not merely competent, but composed – trained to find a way when the law does not offer easy answers.

Father, a son, a continuum

Among the new lawyers is Josemaria Gabriel Divina, son of Nilo Divina – a detail that adds a gentle, human dimension to an otherwise institutional story.

Growing up, he watched his father take risks – leaving a secure banking position, starting anew, trusting faith and work in equal measure. Divina once shared that on his son’s first birthday, he offered a simple wish: that one day, the child would become a lawyer. Decades later, that prayer has been fulfilled.

In a profession often defined by ambition and hierarchy, the story stands out for its quietness. It is not about legacy in the grand sense, but about continuity – of values, of discipline, of belief in the law as a calling.

Another legacy, another voice

This Bar year also welcomed Maria Franchesca Gonzales, daughter of senior DivinaLaw partner Alden Gonzales. Like many of her peers, she spoke not of pressure, but of responsibility – of humility as the strength to admit there is still much to learn, and grit as the resolve to stand up when the work becomes heavy.

Her most vivid memory of passing the Bar unfolded not in a hall or at home, but on a plane – her family huddled quietly at the back, refreshing a single screen, trying not to wake other passengers, until relief finally arrived. Later, she recounted closing her first client referral while on a bus in the Austrian mountains, walking outside in the cold to find signal. “The joy of the mountains,” she reflected, “did not compare to the pride of that moment.”

Beyond passing

Taken together, the voices of the 2025 Bar passers tell a story larger than any single institution. They speak of law schools strengthening their foundations, of mentors who understand their influence, and of young lawyers stepping into a profession that continues to matter deeply to Philippine society.

Perhaps this is why the country still pauses when the Bar results are released. Not merely to count who passed, but to glimpse who is stepping forward and how they have been prepared to carry the work of justice.