About Us

Jurists Bar Review Center was born out of the dream of Professors Gafar E. Lutian and Manuel R. Riguera to found a bar review center that would offer not only bar-review lectures but more importantly establish a system of coaching and performance-monitoring that would better prepare the reviewees for the bar examinations. In late 2004, after a series of extensive brain-storming sessions, in which Professors Riguera and Lutian were joined by their respective spouses Attys. Hazel and Gina, the core group designed a review and training regimen that was quite unique in that it was the first and so far only bar review program that involved individualized coaching, mock-bar examinations, and performance monitoring. In 28 January 2005, Jurists Review Center, Inc. was incorporated with Professor Manuel R. Riguera as the President and Atty. Hazel R. Riguera as the Chief Financial Officer.

2005 was Jurists’ initial bar review season, and 82 reviewees enrolled for the program. When the bar results came out in March 2006, Jurists obtained an overall passing percentage of 41.38% as against the national passing percentage of 27.20%. For those Jurists reviewees who faithfully followed and adhered to the Jurists training protocol of mock-bar examinations and attendance in one-on-one coaching sessions, the passing percentage was an astounding 85%. And Gladys Gervacio, a Jurists Reviewee who faithfully followed the Jurists protocol, copped 6th place in the bar examinations and scored a perfect 100% in Labor Law and Legal Ethics, a feat unparalled in the annals of the bar examinations.

Jurists’ impressive results caught the attention of the academe, the law studentry, and even the national media. Ms. Mary Ann Ll. Reyes, in her widely-read column “Hidden Agenda” in the Philippine Star, said: “For a bar review center set up only last year, the Jurists Bar Review Center in Las Pinas is gaining quite a reputation.” (Philippine Star, 17 May 2006). Ms. Reyes wrote that Ms. Gervacio’s “remarkable performance she attributes largely to the preparation she received from the Jurists Bar Review Center … with its unique bar review program that features coaching with multi mock bar exams.” (Philippine Star, 14 May 2006).

In the 2006 Bar Review season, the number of enrollees increased to 108. The 2006 season was also notable for the introduction of an English for Bar Reviewees program and the implementation of various refinements to the coaching program.

Organizational Structure and Key Personnel