The University of Southeastern Philippines School of Law was established in 2019 as the first state-run law school in the Davao region. With a focus on quality and affordability, the School of Law offers the Juris Doctor (JD) Degree, enabling students to develop holistically and contribute to the less-privileged. Aligned with USeP's vision of becoming a premier research university in the ASEAN, the JD program includes a thesis course aimed at influencing local and national policies. Furthermore, an internship in government agencies or non-government organizations allows students to apply their classroom learning in practice.

In 2019, pursuant to Republic Act No. 7662 or the Legal Education Reform Act of 1993, the Legal Education Board (LEB) granted the University a Government Permit to conduct and operate first year level classes of the Juris Doctor Thesis Program in its Obrero Campus for academic year 2019-2020 [Resolution No. 114-07 adopted during the 114^th Meeting of the LEB on 4 June 2019]. Thus, the University of Southeastern Philippines School of Law (USeP SoL), the first state-run law school in the Davao region, was established [https://www.usep.edu.ph/sol/about/].

The Juris Doctor Thesis Program of the USeP School of Law is designed to teach students how to understand and critically analyze the rules and institutions which society establishes to secure and promote justice, order, and peace. It emphasizes an understanding of law in context. It also aims to encourage a broad outlook on legal issues, to understand the functions of law and the legal system, and to appreciate the place of rules of law in the construction of politics and society. Further, it seeks to explore key issues of fundamental importance to society using the lens of conflict-sensitivity and conflict transformation to generate new and actionable knowledge [10.5 Program Structure - Annex 13; Revised 2024].

Particularly, the Juris Doctor Thesis Program of the USeP SoL has the following program objectives:

            i.                  To impart among law students a broad knowledge of law and its various fields and of legal institutions;

          ii.                  To enhance the legal research abilities of law students to enable them to analyze, articulate and apply the law effectively, as well as to allow them to have a holistic approach to legal problems and issues;

       iii.                  To prepare law students for advocacy, counselling, problem-solving and decision-making, and to develop their ability to deal with recognized legal problems of the present and the future;

       iv.                  To develop competence in any field of law as is necessary for gainful employment or sufficient as a foundation for future training beyond the basic professional degree, and to develop in the law students the desire and capacity for continuing study and self-improvement;

          v.                  To inculcate in the law students the ethics and responsibilities of the legal profession; and

       vi.                  To produce lawyers who conscientiously pursue the lofty goals of their profession and to fully adhere to its ethical norms [10.5 Program Structure - Annex 13; Revised 2024].

In addition, consistent with the outcomes-based education framework of the University [USeP Philippine Quality Awards Application Report under Organizational Description; 2023], the Juris Doctor Thesis Program of the USeP SoL has program graduate outcomes mapped across its curriculum related to the following program attributes:

            i.                  Knowledge and Understanding;

          ii.                  Critical Thinking;

       iii.                  Communication, Leadership and Collaboration;

       iv.                  Research Skills and Contemporary Tool Usage;

          v.                  Ethical Values and Professional and Global Competence;

       vi.                  Service-Oriented;

     vii.                  Self-Management and Life-long Learning; and

  viii.                  Development of Conflict-Sensitive and Conflict-Transformative Solutions [10.5 Program Structure - Annex 13; Revised 2024].

The USeP School of Law provides a different approach in learning and unlearning to be at the forefront of the standards in legal education. Its Juris Doctor Thesis Program includes a thesis that would eventually feed into government agencies or to local or national Congress to become a policy. The curriculum is also replete with elective subjects that are meant to increase the law students’ understanding of, exposure with, and commitment to social justice principles. Moreover, the law program includes an internship to afford a contextualized legal education. In line with USeP’s core values – unity, stewardship, excellence, and professionalism – the School of Law hopes to produce law graduates who are both adept in using the law as a tool for peace-building and problem-solving, and champions of the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized [Message of the Dean; https://www.usep.edu.ph/sol/about/] or “the last, the least, and the lost” [Atty. Jesus A. Villardo III, first Dean of the USeP School of Law].