New IBP Lifetime Membership Requirements for Philippine Lawyers (UPDATED)
Have you heard the New IBP Lifetime Membership Requirements for Philippine Lawyers effective May 2, 2018. Before this plan was implemented it was so easy to become a lifetime member of the IBP. Before 2018, All you need to do to become a lifetime member is pay the lifetime membership fee of Php12,500.00 exclusive of the annual IBP chapter fee. Now, there are certain requirements before you can become a lifetime member:
Section 1 – Any lawyer, at the time he files his application for life membership, should have met the following qualifications:
a. Be a member in good standing;
b. Had at least ten (10) years continuous membership in the IBP;
c. Should have attendes at least five (5) conventions of the IBP, eithee national or regional, or combinarion thereof;
d. Must have rendered at least One Hundred Twenty (120) hours of free legal aid service with the IBP.
e. PHP25,000 lifetime fee as of January 2019
“Continuous membership” means that the applicant must have paid all the dues without arrears and without missing any year of payment.
Aside from the said requirements, we Section 2, to wit:
Section 2 – The application for life membership shall be approved by the National President upon favorable recommendation by the National Secretary, National Treasurer, and the Director of the National Center for Legal Aid (NCLA) and a clearance of no pending case from the Commission on Bar Discipline (CBD).
Adding these requirements makes the Lifetime membership more difficult at the same time more privileged. I understand that new lawyers will be irritated considering that they have to wait for Ten (10) years before they could become lifetime members. The good thing about this is that the new lifetime members will be considered privileged because of all the requirements they complied.
The benefit of being a Lifetime Member is freedom from increase of IBP fees in the future. There will be a time when the IBP dues will increase, maybe Ten to Fifteen years from now.
Effective January 10, 2019, the IBP increased the IBP membership fee to Php2,000.00 while lifetime membership fee is Php25,000. The guideline can be accessed here.
New IBP Lifetime Membership Fee and Requirements for Philippine Lawyers.
Author: Richelle Josephine Juanbe
I am willing to pay my annual dues for lifetime membership