How MMSU law built its first ๐ค๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ
By Ian Paul Villanueva
In the 14-year history of the Mariano Marcos State University โ College of Law (COL), no Juris Doctor graduate has ever attained a general weighted average worthy of a Latin honor. This year, it produced a first.
When the Class of 2026 marched across the iconic Sunken Garden on June 10, one name quietly made history: Ms. Maxime Pomoy, the first graduate of COLโs Juris Doctor program to earn a Latin honor.
As historic and celebration-worthy as the achievement is, Ms. Pomoy has chosen to remain focused on a different goal. She politely declined to be interviewed for this feature as she starts preparing for the bar examinations this September.
Her choice to retreat to her books tells much about the discipline required in the study of law, that it does not end upon graduation. Just as importantly, it tells of the kind of academic environment that the MMSU College of Law fosters, which allowed it to produce its first ๐ค๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ graduate.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ผ๐ฟ
Law school is truly rigorous. Between codals, bulky textbooks, and an endless list of Supreme Court cases, one must have a mind capable of sustaining focus for long periods if one were to master the law.
COL Dean Atty. Brian Jay Corpuz described the law degree as โnot for the soft-hearted.โ He said the โmastery of the law is not for skim readersโyou need to devote full and deep reading of sadistic books at least six hours a day.โ
The grading system and exams in law school are also different. There are no transmutation tables or adjustments. Dean Corpuz explained that in a 100-item essay test, a studentโs raw score is their raw grade.
Besides the fact that the universityโs admission and retention policies are rigid, these are what make scoring high, let alone attaining Latin honor-worthy grades in MMSUโs law school, all the more remarkable.
๐ข๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐
๐-๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐น ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐
As exceptional as Ms. Pomoyโs feat is, it did not come by chance. Rather, it is in many ways a reflection of an improving quality of legal education cultivated over the years to yield exceptional law practitioners.
โThe university had invested much for the improvement of the collegeโs infrastructure and instructional framework,โ Dean Corpuz noted. He emphasized that the COL curriculum was made adaptive to changes and pragmatic enough to meet the demands of the legal community.
This commitment to quality is seen in how the college implements a โbonfireโ principle, where class sizes are kept between 15 and 20 students, since crowding classes, the dean remarked, is โnear to pedagogical tragedy in legal education.โ
Complementing this is a roster of dedicated faculty members composed of active judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and top-caliber private practitioners.
Acknowledging that while there are other pathways to becoming a lawyer, quality remains paramount for MMSU, Dean Corpuz stated, โOur admission and retention policies are rigid. We only want the best.โ
๐ ๐ต๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐๐ฟ๐ฑ๐น๐ฒ
Ms. Pomoy set a high bar for COLโs present and future students. In the words of Dean Corpuz, she โhurdled the almost impossible arch.โ Undoubtedly, her victory in becoming COLโs very first ๐ค๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ graduate will go down in MMSUโs history as a record that might take years before another can gain a similar honor.
Apart from her ๐ค๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ recognition now, she is also a trailblazer for her home department at the MMSU College of Arts and Sciences. In 2022, she graduated at the top of her class of 2,424 graduates, the first in the department.
Department of Sociology chair Prof. Weena Franco described her as a โquiet and intelligentโ student, one whose intellect showed in the quality of her work and, most importantly, her character.
Prof. Franco, who was Ms. Pomoyโs thesis adviser, fondly shared that her undergraduate thesis was one of the first full-blown qualitative studies from the department. Just in March of this year, they turned over to the University Library a copy of the thesis, already published in a well-known Sociology journal. The study was one of only 10 that were published out of about 500 submissions.
Replicating this level of sustained, eight-year excellence will be a monumental task for anyone who dares to try. But the true bar that must be hurdled is not that which Ms. Pomoy set, but the one that awaits her and her batchmates in September, in what will be the ultimate test of their rigorous legal education.
And the true feat for the COL, as it has always been, is less about producing Latin honor students but more about ensuring its graduates can trust the quality of the school that forged them.
Jun, 10, 2026 06:37:pm
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