Legal education and the bar exam

"In just over a month, some 6,000 law graduates all over the country will take the bar examinations, considered to be one of the most difficult law licensure tests in the world. It will run for eight hours a day for four Sundays in October. In the past 20 years, the passing percentage has ranged from a low of 16.59 per cent in 1999 and 17.25 per cent in 1992 to a rare high of 32.89 per cent in 2001 and 31.95 in 2011.

The questions that play in the mind of the general public is, are law schools not doing enough to prepare their students to pass the bar exams? Is the bigger number of Filipino law graduates not good enough to make the cut?" By Rita Linda V. Jimeno | Manila Standard Today.Com ..READ MORE... Legal education and the bar exam

GUIDE AND RULES OF CONDUCT TO 2013 BAR EXAMINATIONS

Source: Supreme Court of the Philippines; Office of the Bar Confidant, Bulletin No. 5 
Link: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A//sc.judiciary.gov.ph/baradmission/bulletins/bulletin5.pdf, Accessed 29Aug2013

Alpha Phi Omega Of SERVICE

Image Taken From APO Pledge Manual 2013-2014

SERVICE

(Excerpt From APO Pledge Manual 2013-2014)

Our chapter service program provides many opportunities for the development of social awareness, friendships and leadership skills. Participation in our service program helps make Alpha Phi Omega the unique fraternal organization that it is. The Fraternity has established four fields of service in which chapters should be involved.

These are:

• SERVICE TO THE CAMPUS: Each chapter should carry out projects that benefit the campus and its students.

• SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY: Chapters should include projects, which benefit the community and its residents. Service to youth — especially the scouting movements — is a special area of consideration.

• SERVICE TO THE NATION: Each chapter should develop projects that have an impact beyond the campus and community.

• SERVICE TO THE FRATERNITY: Service projects that directly benefit the members of the chapter should be included. Through leadership workshops, conferences, fellowship events, and academic support groups, brothers can challenge and help each other. As a new brother, you have a responsibility to contribute ideas, interest and desire to the planning of the service program. “We’ve always done it that way” is not a reason to continue or drop a program or to refuse to add innovative projects. The needs of your chapter and its members and of your campus and the surrounding community are constantly changing. The chapter program must reflect these changes. Balance is the key to any great chapter service program. While service projects can provide both leadership development and fellowship opportunities, the benefits vary with the size and duration of the project.

Image Taken From APO Pledge Manual 2013-2014

As you develop a service program, there are a variety of factors to consider:

LARGE OR SMALL? Large projects, involving most of the chapter, provide a greater opportunity for your members to work closely with each other. They may also present a chance to involve members from other chapters or other organizations. Several small projects will increase the chapter’s diversity and meet the interests of a greater number of your brothers.

TRADITIONAL OR NEW? Traditional (repeated annually, quarterly, etc.) service projects give a chapter a sense of continuity and history. They must be evaluated periodically to determine if they still meet a real need. New projects often have a sense of challenge and excitement, which strengthens the chapter’s morale.

“PEOPLE” OR “TASK-ORIENTED”? Projects involving direct contact with people (visiting patients in a convalescent hospital or assisting a Girl Scout Troop) have a strong appeal to some members. Others are more interested in activities, which have more tangible results, such as creating a nature trail in a national park or constructing equipment for a community playground.

CHAPTER INITIATED OR ASSISTED? Service projects suggested, planned or carried out by chapter members provide a variety of leadership opportunities and a way of using the individual talents and resources of the brothers. Assisting the projects planned by other groups is usually less challenging but does promote APO and enhance opportunities for cooperation. In addition to the above, APO encourages every chapter to participate in several national activities, which

are designed to enhance our impact on the nation. Each national convention selects a program of emphasis for National Service Week, which focuses service activities on a particular area.

The 2012 National Convention chose “APO Shows Respect to All” as the 2013-14 program

of emphasis. Each chapter’s annual program should include at least one project focused in this area.

The Fraternity has designated the first week of November as “NATIONAL SERVICE WEEK” to unify chapters with a national theme and to inspire expansion of chapter service programs. During this week every chapter is encouraged to carry out a new, high profile service project related to the program of emphasis by involving other chapters and the community. The 2012 National Convention specified, “Respect for Self ” during November 3-9, 2013 and “Respect for Others” during November 2-8, 2014. Each year the Fraternity dedicates the fall pledge class on a national level. In conjunction with this dedication, the fall pledge class of every chapter is asked to conduct a service project in an area selected by the Fall Pledge Class Namesake Honoree. In addition, many chapters select a honoree for their spring pledge class who also completes a project in an area selected by the local honoree.

In developing and executing a chapter service program, both the brothers and those being served should benefit. Brothers should feel good about the quality of volunteer work they have done. They should feel challenged and should have the opportunity to learn new skills and strengthen friendships. There will be many opportunities to exchange service project ideas at sectional and regional conferences and National Conventions, in various Fraternity publications, and through various websites.

Reference: Alpha Phi Omega- Pledge Manual 2013-2014, Retrieved https://www.apo.org/Support, Accessed 23August2013

N.B. : Blogger Do Not Claim Ownership of this Article. Ownership remain to the Author of APO Pledge Manual 2013-2014

Alpha Phi Omega As "A Friend"

Image Taken: APO-USA Pledge Manual

FRIENDSHIP
(Excerpt from APO Pledge Manual 2013-2014)

Alpha Phi Omega seeks to develop friendship. What do we mean by this? It is not possible to establish a meaningful relationship with the thousands of brothers across the nation or even with every brother in a single chapter. We believe it is possible, however, for all of our members to develop a sense of brotherhood. Shared experiences and an understanding of fraternal history and goals provide a basis for our brotherhood. Brotherhood is the spirit of friendship. It implies respect, honesty and dependability. It means that we overlook differences and emphasize similarities as we join together in unselfish service. It means listening to brothers whose views on issues might differ from our own. It means working closely with people whom under other circumstances we might not choose as our friends.

Being a friend is not easy. It takes work. Every day we must challenge ourselves to be a better friend and to be more understanding, compassionate, welcoming and trusting. A chapter fellowship program provides opportunities for social interaction among all brothers. The goal is to strengthen the chapter by bringing all of the members closer together. Fellowship activities range from structured events, such as formals and dinners, to informal gatherings after a service project. Each chapter has developed its own way of reaching our common goal: making friends through fellowship in the spirit of brotherhood. A successful fellowship program is essential to keep brothers actively involved in APO. That success starts with each of us, for the surest way to have a friend is to be a friend.

Reference: Alpha Phi Omega- Pledge Manual 2013-2014, Retrieved https://www.apo.org/Support, Accessed 23August2013

N.B. : Blogger Do Not Claim Ownership of this Article. Ownership remain to the Author of APO Pledge Manual 2013-2014

Alpha Phi Omega As A Leader

Image Source: Pledge Manual- APO USA

LEADERSHIP
(Excerpt From APO-USA, Pledge Manual)

Alpha Phi Omega teaches us through our principles of Leadership, Friendship and Service that we are the architects of our own ambitions and that each of us has the opportunity to develop ourselves to be whatever we seek to be. In the area of leadership, from within our own fraternity, people are transformed from followers to leaders sometimes without really being aware of the development. It can happen gradually, or it might happen overnight – today a follower, tomorrow a leader.

The Fraternity has several programs to help brothers become better leaders by developing their own personal skills as well as learning more about chapter operations.

APO LEADS: At the completion of the APO LEADS series of courses, you will have a set of transferable skills that are applicable to the work world and to other organizational leadership. APO LEADS is not just for pledges and actives; alumni are welcome to take or retake the courses as well. Following are

descriptions for each component: The APO LEADS program, a personal odyssey of learning, leading and serving, consists of five components of leadership development – LAUNCH, EXPLORE, ACHIEVE, DISCOVER and SERVE. Each of the five components focus on skills that will help you become a successful leader and team member in APO and in life. 

The following are descriptions of each component:

LAUNCHING your leadership development is an introductory leadership session. 

It is the launching point in your personal odyssey of leadership development and is a prerequisite session for the remaining four APO LEADS components. LAUNCH helps you learn what leadership is, what the differences are between leadership and management skills, how to deal with change and much more.

EXPLORING personal leadership strengths and potential is presented as a full-day session, providing an opportunity to expand your personal odyssey into leadership development by increasing your understanding

of individual leadership skills, values, ethics, morals, qualities, effective problem-solving and conflict management.

ACHIEVING success through teams is a session focusing on the interaction between chapter members,

the leaders, and the factors that lead to team success. This learning process will energize, empower and

recognize the respectful roles people may play on the team, as well as celebrate team success.

DISCOVERING management strengths and skills offers opportunities to learn strategies and skills needed to effectively operate a chapter, which will lead to success in your personal odyssey.

SERVING the Fraternity and the world as a leader is the final phase to utilize your skills of effective leadership. Upon completion, you can make the commitment to seek out opportunities at the chapter, sectional, regional or national levels, which will help lead APO to unlimited success.

Image Source: Pledge Manual- APO USA

APO IMPACT: This program’s goal is to build a national officer training program that will produce

better and well-run chapters. The IMPACT program is envisioned as a unique hybrid of sorts, as it borrows

from the best of our current programs and resources. Not all chapters operate the same way nor do they have the same officer positions. However, there are certain skills and concepts that are universal. 

The APO IMPACT courses are designed to ensure the successful administration and stewardship of Alpha Phi Omega’s chapters. APO IMPACT’s courses are divided into two sections: APO IMPACT Guides and APO IMPACT Live. The APO IMPACT Guides are a series of dynamic documents aimed to lay a foundation for every member of a chapter. Whether a brother holds an appointed, narrowly-focused position of leadership or is an officer with broader responsibilities, he/she can utilize the information contained in the guides. Each APO IMPACT Guide will have assigned skills in order to fulfill the needs of each respective position.They are a set of guides that provide a, “how to,” for the usual duties of the most

common chapter offices. If you don’t see a booklet titled with your office, look through the ones that are there. The information you are seeking may still be included To complement this, APO IMPACT Live is a series of courses for conferences and live webinar sessions. These courses will reinforce the knowledge found in the APO IMPACT officer manuals. APO IMPACT Live provides real-time, interactive workshop-format seminars for the development of solid chapters. These seminars will focus on officer-specific responsibilities and the application of certain skills. Because these are offered in a webinar format all anyone needs to participate is a computer with a good internet connection and speakers. A schedule of upcoming APO IMPACT Live webinars can be found on www.apo.org. The Chapter Assessment and Planning Session (CAPS) is a tool to help chapters identify goals and begin to plan programs for the coming year, based on an assessment of the past year. It is not designed to be a comprehensive, point-by-point analysis of chapter operations. It is also not designed to plan every activity or to set the calendar in stone for the coming year. However, it should identify areas the chapter wants to improve and key events or activities the chapter wants to see happen. The end result of the CAPS is documentation of goals and desires in a form that will help the chapter officers develop and implement plans for the coming year in a manner that represents what the chapter sees as most important. Further, it helps to think of planning as a cycle, not a straight-through process. Approaching planning as a cycle will help the chapter to ensure that plans are fully considered, focused, flexible, practical and effective. It will also provide an opportunity to evaluate and learn from any challenges that occur and then feed this information back into future planning and decision making.

Please visit www.apo.org for more information about APO’s Leadership Development Program. If you have any questions or suggestions about leadership development, please e-mail the Leadership Development Director at leadership.director@apo.org. 

Reference: Alpha Phi Omega- Pledge Manual 2009-2010, Retrieved https://www.apo.org/Support, Accessed 23August2013

N.B. : Blogger Do Not Claim Ownership of this Article. Ownership remain to the Author of APO Pledge Manual 2009-2010