P.R. Laws tit. 4A, § 10
(a) Rights of applicants who fail to pass the examination. — All applicants who fail to pass the bar examination shall be entitled to:
(1) See his answers to the essay questions.
(2) Have access to the grading guidelines.
(3) Obtain a certified copy of his answers to the test and a copy of the grading guidelines.
To issue said copies, the Executive Director will charge the following fees in internal revenue stamps: fifteen (15) dollars for the answers to the general examination; five (5) dollars for the answers to the examination on notarial law; and ten (10) dollars for the grading guidelines. For the issuance of a certified copy of any other document used by the Board or which is part of any of its records, the Executive Director will charge the same fee provided for the issuance of certified copies of any document that is part of a court record. Every application for issuance of a certified copy shall be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
Any applicant who wishes to examine or obtain a certified copy of his answers to the essay questions of the bar examination or of the grading guidelines shall make such request to the Executive Director through a fill-in form prepared for such purposes, which shall be sent to all applicants who have failed to pass the examination together with the score reports, within ten (10) days after the date of notice of said report.
The Executive Director shall forthwith set a date for the applicants who asked to see the examination, to appear at a place and time the Director sets for these purposes. On that date, which cannot be later than thirty (30) days from the date of notice of the score report, each applicant will have from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. to examine his answers. On or before the above-mentioned period, the Executive Director shall mail or otherwise make available to the applicants who timely applied therefor copies of their answers to the examination.
When the applicant who failed the examination has had the opportunity to examine his answers or obtain certified copies thereof, he will be entitled, within thirty (30) days from the date of notice of the above-mentioned score report, to seek reconsideration of the score he obtained in the examination on the grounds that manifest error was committed and that said error was the cause of his failure. Any allegation of corruption or fraud must be directly brought before the court en banc.
(b) Petition for reconsideration. — The petition for reconsideration shall be filed on legal-sized paper, shall be double-spaced, and shall follow the directives of the Executive Director and contain the number of copies determined by him. The Executive Director may also formulate any other requirement he deems necessary or convenient to carry out the reconsideration procedure. Likewise, the Executive Director may take the initiative to reject any application that does not meet the requirements or the procedure provided for by this rule or by the Executive Director himself, but in that case he must set down in writing the grounds for his decision. Every petition for reconsideration shall be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
The petition for reconsideration shall specify which questions and answers have been allegedly graded erroneously. It shall set down in detail what was the mistake and the way in which said error, if committed, affected the applicant. The applicant may include legal citations and citations from any authority he thinks should be considered by the Board. The assignment of manifest error may include errors in the addition of the score and clear grading mistakes that may be verified by comparing the answers with the grading guidelines. Mere differences of opinion are not enough.
The Board shall not consider general claims or claims not containing specific assignments of error.
The petition for reconsideration may not refer to the candidate’s legal education, social or financial situation, work, personal sacrifice or hardship, scores of prior examinations taken by him, or to any other circumstances extraneous to the merits of the petition.
No candidate may communicate directly with the Board members in relation to his performance at the examination or to any other related matter.
Any violation of this rule may result in the automatic denial of the petition for reconsideration.
When an applicant alleges an error in the calculation or computation of his questions it shall not be necessary, unless otherwise determined by the Board, to present an application for reconsideration. It shall be sufficient for the applicant to notify the Board, orally or in writing, of said error. The Executive Director may, [at] his discretion and after considering the case, [m]ake a decision.
(c) Reconsideration procedure by the Board. — Once the petition for reconsideration is filed, a reviewing committee composed of not less than three (3) Board members appointed by its Chairperson shall weigh it and submit its recommendation to the Board. However, petitions for reconsideration may be considered directly by the full Board if the Chairperson or Executive Director deems it necessary or convenient.
Every petition for reconsideration shall be decided by the Board at least twenty (20) days before the deadline for filing the application for admission to the next bar examination.
(d) Review by the court. — The Board’s decisions shall be final, except that they may be examined by the court, at its discretion, as a result of a petition filed within the next ten (10) days after the notification of the Board’s decision.
History —Mar. 17, 1983; Feb. 23, 1984; Jan. 16, 1987.