The legal profession in Puerto Rico is practiced at both commonwealth and Federal levels. Thus, legal professionals in Puerto Rico must study both the law of Puerto Rico and the law of the United States.
There are presently three law schools in the commonwealth: [1]
Facultad de Derecho Eugenio Maria de Hostos was established in 1995, but closed in 2013.
After completing a Juris Doctor Degree lawyers have to pass the Puerto Rico General Bar Exam in order to practice law. Lawyers that graduated from ABA accredited schools may also practice in Puerto Rico, but they must also take the bar exam.[ clarification needed ]
Until 2010[ citation needed ] all lawyers had to be associated to the Puerto Rico Bar Association in order to practice law.
A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separate the area in which court business is done from the viewing area for the general public.
Legal education is the education of individuals in the principles, practices, and theory of law. It may be undertaken for several reasons, including to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for admission to legal practice in a particular jurisdiction, to provide a greater breadth of knowledge to those working in other professions such as politics or business, to provide current lawyers with advanced training or greater specialisation, or to update lawyers on recent developments in the law.
Admission to the bar in the United States is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in the jurisdiction. Each U.S. state and jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules and standards for bar admission. In most cases, a person is admitted or called to the bar of the highest court in the jurisdiction and is thereby authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction. Federal courts, although often overlapping in admission standards with states, set their own requirements.
A Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subjects and jurisprudence to provide a comprehensive understanding of the legal system and its function. The LLB curriculum is designed to impart a thorough knowledge of legal principles, legal research skills, and a sound understanding of the roles and responsibilities of lawyers within society. This degree is often a prerequisite for taking bar exams or qualifying as a practising lawyer, depending on the jurisdiction. Additionally, the LLB program also serves as a foundation for further legal education, such as a Master of Laws (LLM) or other postgraduate studies in law.
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is the controlling government document of Puerto Rico. It is composed of nine articles detailing the structure of the government as well as the function of several of its institutions. The document also contains an extensive and specific bill of rights. It was ratified by Puerto Rico's electorate in a referendum on March 3, 1952, and on July 25, 1952, Governor Luis Muñoz Marín proclaimed that the constitution was in effect. July 25 is known as Constitution Day.
A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction.
A law school is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a judge, lawyer, or other legal professional within a given jurisdiction. Depending on the country, legal system, or desired qualifications, the coursework is undertaken at undergraduate, graduate, or both levels.
An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are distinct practising certificates.
The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico School of Law is the law school of the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, a private Catholic university with its main campus in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It was established in 1961.
Legal education in the Philippines is developed and offered by Philippine law schools, supervised by the Legal Education Board. Previously, the Commission on Higher Education supervises the legal education in the Philippines but was replaced by the Legal Education Board since 1993 after the enactment of Republic Act No. 7662 or the Legal Education Reform Act of 1993.
The University of Puerto Rico School of Law is a law school in Puerto Rico. It is one of the professional graduate schools of University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, the only law school in the University of Puerto Rico System and the only public law school in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1913 at its present site in Río Piedras, which at the time was an independent municipality and is now part of the City of San Juan. The School of Law has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1945 and by the Association of American Law Schools since 1948.
Charles Cuprill Oppenheimer was a lawyer, Rotary International District Governor for Puerto Rico, a war veteran, and a retired major general in the Puerto Rico National Guard.
Santos Primo Amadeo Semidey, a.k.a. "Champion of Hábeas Corpus," was an attorney and law professor at the University of Puerto Rico, a Senator in the Puerto Rico legislature, and counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union branch in Puerto Rico, established in 1937.
Puerto Rico is an island in the Caribbean region in which inhabitants were Spanish nationals from 1508 until the Spanish–American War in 1898, from which point they derived their nationality from United States law. Nationality is the legal means by which inhabitants acquire formal membership in a nation without regard to its governance type. In addition to being United States nationals, persons are citizens of the United States and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico within the context of United States Citizenship. Miriam J. Ramirez de Ferrer v. Juan Mari Brás. Citizenship, the rights and obligations that each owes the other, once one has become a member of a nation. Though the Constitution of the United States recognizes both national and state citizenship as a means of accessing rights, Puerto Rico's history as a territory has created both confusion over the status of its nationals and citizens and controversy because of distinctions between jurisdictions of the United States. These differences have created what political scientist Charles R. Venator-Santiago has called "separate and unequal" statuses.
The Facultad de Derecho Eugenio Maria de Hostos was a law school located in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The School was founded by Fernando Bayrón, Juan Mari Brás and Carlos Rivera Lugo in 1995. The institution lost its ABA accreditation, and then the Puerto Rico Supreme Court also withdrew the accreditation due to school's economical difficulties. After having granted degrees to 900 alumni, Hostos closed in 2013, when the last commencement ceremony had only eight graduates, out of ten students in their final semester. The Eugenio Maria de Hostos Law School aspired to achieve the development of a legal professional who was also responsive to the needs of their communities and who would embrace the Hostos educational philosophy.
Manuel Rodríguez Ramos was a Puerto Rican writer and law professor.
David M. Helfeld is the longest-serving dean of the University of Puerto Rico School of Law (UPR), he was a professor emeritus. He taught law until age 87. He also served as a close advisor to long-time UPR Chancellor and President Jaime Benítez.
The Bar Association of Puerto Rico (BAPR) or Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico (CAPR) is the bar association of Puerto Rico. It is the oldest professional association in Puerto Rico, and among the oldest bar associations in the world.
The Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Faculty of Law is the school of law of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, a private co-educational corporation accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the Puerto Rico Council of Higher Education, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Department of Education. The School of Law is approved by the American Bar Association (ABA) and is located in San Juan, the capital city of Puerto Rico. Since its founding, the School of Law has succeeded in meeting the needs of the legal profession, in particular, and Puerto Rico's society in general.
