Effective Date: September 14, 2026 · Version 1.1
LEGAL NOTICE: We show you these Terms from time to time so that you keep actual notice of them. Your access to lsaf.review binds you to these Terms, as the preamble below explains. If you keep using LSaF after we show you these Terms, you accept them by conduct under Articles 1319 and 1320 of the Civil Code, even if you never click “I Accept These Terms.” If you do not agree to these Terms, leave this site now by clicking “I Do Not Accept: Leave This Site” below.
Welcome to LSaF (at lsaf.review), a commercial legal studies research platform. Its website owner and codebase author operate it under the trade name Hellaw International ("we," "us," or "our"). In these Terms, "Hellaw International" means the website owner, operator, and codebase author of LSaF, individually and in any capacity. It also includes any One Person Corporation or other legal entity later formed to operate LSaF. Every reference to Hellaw International carries this meaning, whether or not a corporate entity has been registered when you accept these Terms. By accessing or using LSaF, you ("User," "you," or "your") agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, stop using the website now.
Showing you these Terms through this notice gives you actual notice of their existence and content. We show them again from time to time so that you stay aware of them and keep consenting to them. Each showing renews your actual notice. If you keep using LSaF after each showing, you accept these Terms again by conduct. Under Articles 1319 and 1320 of the Civil Code, acceptance may be express or implied. Under Republic Act No. 8792 (the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000), your electronic acceptance has the same legal effect, validity, and enforceability as a written contract you have signed. This is true whether your acceptance is express (by clicking “I Accept These Terms,” which is your electronic signature under Section 8 of RA 8792) or implied (by accessing, browsing, or continuing to use LSaF after receiving actual notice). If you do not agree to these Terms, stop using LSaF now and leave this site by clicking “I Do Not Accept: Leave This Site” at the bottom of this notice.
1. Nature and Purpose of the Service
LSaF is a commercial legal studies research platform. Hellaw International operates it as a for-profit enterprise. LSaF provides:
- a collection of actual Philippine Bar Examination questions from 1997 to 2024, which the Supreme Court of the Philippines publicly released;
- original suggested answers written for legal studies and bar review; and
- AI-powered evaluation, analytics, and feedback on your answers, measured against established Philippine legal doctrine.
LSaF is meant for law students, lawyers, legal researchers, and the general public. Its purposes are legal studies, research, and bar review. LSaF does not give legal advice. Your use of the service creates no attorney-client or consultant-client relationship.
LSaF may show reviews or feedback from legal consultants. These reviews are supplemental study material only. They are not legal advice or professional consultation, and they create no professional duty of care. Consultant reviews reflect the personal opinions of their authors. Hellaw International does not endorse them as authoritative legal guidance. No consultant-client, advisor-advisee, or fiduciary relationship arises between any consultant and any user.
2. Independence from Government Institutions
LSaF is an independent bar review tool that Hellaw International developed and operates. LSaF is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, authorized by, or licensed by the University of the Philippines, the UP Law Center, the UP Law Center Bar Review Institute, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, or any government agency or educational institution. We refer to these institutions on the platform only for factual, descriptive, and research purposes in the context of Philippine legal education and bar review. We do not use their names, seals, or marks to suggest any endorsement of or association with LSaF.
3. Originality of Content and Suggested Answers
All suggested answers, evaluations, feedback, analyses, and supplemental study materials on LSaF are original content. Hellaw International and its contributors wrote them, or artificial intelligence systems generated them under a human-designed and human-curated evaluation framework. Hellaw International keeps authorship, development, and version records of this content so that it can prove originality.
LSaF's evaluation framework measures your answers against the doctrinal substance of Philippine law. That substance is drawn from statutes, Supreme Court decisions, and publicly available bar review references, including the suggested answers that the UP Law Center publishes. LSaF uses these references only to identify the legal doctrines and principles that an answer should cover. LSaF does not display, reproduce, distribute, or transmit any third-party publication to you. AI-generated evaluations are original outputs that reflect creative and analytical input. They are not reproductions of any copyrighted or government-owned material.
The Bar examination questions appear on LSaF as the Supreme Court of the Philippines administered and publicly released them. LSaF adds only the year of the examination. These questions are official texts of a legal and administrative nature that the Supreme Court issued in an official government proceeding. They are works of the Government of the Philippines and matters of public record. No copyright subsists in them under Sections 175 and 176.1 of the Intellectual Property Code, and anyone may reproduce them. The Supreme Court has not endorsed, sponsored, or approved LSaF.
4. Legal Basis: Reference Materials and Intellectual Property
LSaF's content is original, as Section 3 explains. LSaF sells its own original content and services, not any third party's work. The following Philippine laws also support LSaF's operations:
4.1. Republic Act No. 3870: The UP Law Center Charter
Congress created the UP Law Center as a government institution through Republic Act No. 3870. Under Section 3 of RA 3870, the legal materials the UP Law Center gathers "shall be open to all researchers, whether in the government service or otherwise." Under Section 1(4), the UP Law Center distributes its publications "to government agencies, judges, lawyers, government administrators and other interested parties." Hellaw International accesses these materials as a researcher and an interested party under these provisions, subject to the Intellectual Property Code.
Section 3 of RA 3870 also conditions copyright in legal works on the filing of two copies with the UP Law Center. Hellaw International notes this condition. It does not rely on it, because LSaF's content is original.
4.2. Intellectual Property Code (RA 8293), Section 176: Government Works
Section 176.1 of the Intellectual Property Code provides that no copyright subsists in any work of the Government of the Philippines. It also requires the prior approval of the government agency concerned before anyone exploits such a work for profit. LSaF charges only for its own original content and services, namely its suggested answers and AI-powered evaluation. LSaF does not charge for access to the Bar examination questions themselves, and those questions are official texts that Section 175 places outside copyright altogether. If any government agency's approval is ever required for any other use LSaF makes of a government work, Hellaw International will seek that approval.
4.3. Intellectual Property Code (RA 8293), Section 175: Unprotected Subject Matter
Section 175 of the Intellectual Property Code excludes from copyright "any idea, procedure, system, method or operation, concept, principle, discovery or mere data." It also excludes "any official text of a legislative, administrative or legal nature," such as statutes, Supreme Court decisions, and the Bar examination questions the Supreme Court releases. The legal doctrines, principles, statutes, and jurisprudence that a bar answer should cover are therefore free for anyone to state in their own words. LSaF's evaluations assess whether your answer covers that unprotected substance.
4.4. Intellectual Property Code (RA 8293), Section 185: Fair Use
Where LSaF refers to published legal scholarship, it does so for research, benchmarking, and transformative educational feedback. Hellaw International recognizes that courts weigh the commercial nature of a use under Section 185. LSaF therefore does not rely on fair use alone. It relies first on the originality of its content (Section 3) and on the unprotected nature of legal doctrine (Section 4.3).
5. User Eligibility and Accounts
By accessing or using LSaF, you represent and warrant that:
- you are at least 18 years old;
- you have legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement under the Civil Code of the Philippines;
- you have read these Terms in full and voluntarily agree to them;
- your acceptance is free from duress, fraud, mistake, or undue influence, under Articles 1319 and 1330 of the Civil Code and Section 16 of Republic Act No. 8792; and
- every right you waive in these Terms is yours to waive, and you waive it knowingly and voluntarily, under Article 6 of the Civil Code.
You may create an account through OTP-based email authentication to access additional features. You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential and for all activity under your account.
6. Acceptable Use
You agree not to:
- use LSaF for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any law;
- disrupt, interfere with, or compromise the integrity or security of the platform, or attempt to do so;
- scrape, mine, or automatically extract content without authorization;
- reverse-engineer, decompile, or try to derive the source code of any part of LSaF;
- reproduce, redistribute, or commercially exploit LSaF's original content without our written permission;
- misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person or entity; or
- use the platform in any way that could damage, disable, or impair the service.
Violating these rules may be an offense under Republic Act No. 10175 (the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012), including illegal access (Section 4(a)(1)), data interference (Section 4(a)(3)), and computer-related fraud (Section 4(b)(3)), and under Section 33 of Republic Act No. 8792. Hellaw International may report suspected violations to law enforcement and will cooperate fully with any resulting investigation or prosecution.
7. AI-Generated Content Disclaimer
LSaF uses artificial intelligence to evaluate your answers. AI-generated evaluations are original outputs of automated systems that Hellaw International designed, curated, and guided. We provide them for legal studies and research only.
AI-generated content is not legal advice, official guidance, or an authoritative statement of law. An AI evaluation may contain errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. You must verify every AI-generated output against primary legal sources, such as statutes, Supreme Court decisions, and official publications, before you rely on it. You agree not to treat any AI output as a substitute for the judgment of a licensed lawyer.
We do not guarantee that AI-generated evaluations are accurate, complete, or reliable. We disclaim all liability for your reliance on them, subject only to Section 11.
8. Payments and Premium Access
LSaF offers a free tier ("lax mode") and a paid tier ("Bar Mode"). You pay for Bar Mode per use, and each payment gives you a 90-day access period. There is no auto-renewal or recurring subscription. You pay by scanning a QR code. We grant access once we verify your payment.
Payments are non-refundable once we activate your premium access, except where the law requires a refund. No refund is due if you change your mind, or if you do not use your access before it expires. We may change our prices at any time. Price changes apply only to future purchases.
If we fail to provide the access you paid for, your remedy is restoration of that access for the unused period or a refund of the amount you paid for it. Nothing in this Section excludes any liability that Republic Act No. 7394 (the Consumer Act of the Philippines) does not allow us to exclude.
9. Intellectual Property Rights
All original content on LSaF is the exclusive property of Hellaw International, and intellectual property laws protect it. This content includes suggested answers, AI-generated evaluations, supplemental materials, user interface design, branding, and software. AI-generated evaluations are original works produced under Hellaw International's human-designed evaluation framework, and Hellaw International owns them. Before Hellaw International is formally incorporated, these rights belong exclusively to the website owner, code author, and creator of LSaF in their individual capacity. They are the original creators and authors under Sections 172 to 179 of Republic Act No. 8293. Upon incorporation, these rights pass to the new entity, or are deemed held by it, without reducing the protections these Terms give the original creators.
We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use LSaF for personal legal studies and research. This license does not let you reproduce, distribute, publicly display, or create derivative works from LSaF's content without our written consent.
10. Data Privacy and Protection
Hellaw International respects your privacy. We comply with Republic Act No. 10173 (the Data Privacy Act of 2012), its Implementing Rules and Regulations, and the issuances of the National Privacy Commission.
What we collect. We collect your email address when you sign in with a one-time password. We collect payment reference numbers and related details when you claim a payment. We keep session data, such as your sign-in state and exam progress, and records of your acceptance of these Terms. Your email address is personal information under RA 10173, and we protect it as such.
Why we process it. We process this information to create and secure your account, to send one-time passwords, to verify payments and grant premium access, to run and improve the platform, to send you announcements about LSaF, and to keep records of your acceptance of these Terms. Our legal bases are your consent and the performance of this contract under Section 12 of RA 10173. You may unsubscribe from announcements at any time.
Who receives it. We share personal information only with service providers that process it for us, such as our email delivery, hosting, and backup providers, and only as needed to run LSaF. We do not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for marketing.
How long we keep it. We keep your account information while your account is active, and afterward for as long as the law or a legitimate business need requires. We keep consent records for as long as needed to prove your acceptance of these Terms.
Your rights. Under RA 10173, you may access or correct your personal information, ask us to delete it, object to its processing, and file a complaint with the National Privacy Commission. To exercise these rights, email us at the address in the Contact section.
Security. We use reasonable organizational, physical, and technical measures to protect your personal information. No internet transmission is completely secure, and you accept the risks that Section 22 describes. By using LSaF, you consent to the processing described in this Section.
11. Limitation of Liability
In these Terms, “Protected Parties” means each of the following, individually and collectively, and each independently of the others:
- the website owner, operator, and maintainer of LSaF;
- the code author, codebase maintainer, and developers of LSaF;
- the creator and founder of LSaF;
- Hellaw International, as defined in the preamble, whether or not formally incorporated;
- any person who, at Hellaw International's request, contributes content, infrastructure, hosting, legal compliance, or financial services to LSaF, but only for acts done in that role; and
- the officers, directors, members, partners, shareholders, employees, agents, independent contractors, consultants, legal counsel, successors, and assigns of each of the above.
Each Protected Party is an intended beneficiary of these Terms. Each may enforce these protections independently, in their individual and personal capacity. This right does not depend on whether Hellaw International has been formally incorporated, is in good standing, or still exists as a legal entity. The protections for each Protected Party are several, not joint. If a protection is invalid or unenforceable as to one Protected Party, the protections for every other Protected Party remain in effect.
To the fullest extent Philippine law allows, the Protected Parties are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages arising from your use of LSaF or your inability to use it. This includes damages from:
- errors, inaccuracies, or omissions in content or AI-generated outputs;
- your reliance on materials available through LSaF;
- unauthorized access to or alteration of your data;
- loss of data, revenue, or expected savings; or
- any matter beyond our reasonable control.
The total liability of any one Protected Party will not exceed the lower of: (a) the total amount you paid Hellaw International in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim; or (b) One Thousand Philippine Pesos (PHP 1,000.00). This cap applies to each Protected Party individually and severally. The combined liability of all Protected Parties will not exceed this cap either. The cap applies regardless of the theory of liability, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, intellectual property infringement, or otherwise.
This cap is proportionate. LSaF's paid tier costs a modest fixed fee, a free tier is available to everyone, and LSaF is a study aid that promises no examination result. The parties intend this cap as the equitable measure of liability under Articles 1306, 1172, and 2227 of the Civil Code. This Section does not limit liability for fraud (Article 1171 of the Civil Code) or any other liability that the law does not allow the parties to limit.
LSaF is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied. This includes implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
12. Indemnification
You will defend and indemnify the Protected Parties (as defined in Section 11) against all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees and litigation costs, that arise from:
- your use of LSaF or your inability to use it;
- your violation of these Terms;
- your violation of any law, statute, ordinance, or regulation;
- any content you submit, post, or transmit through LSaF;
- your infringement of the intellectual property or other rights of any third party;
- any dispute between you and a third party arising from your use of LSaF;
- any act or omission by you that gives rise to a claim against a Protected Party; or
- any claim, action, or proceeding (including intellectual property, copyright, or data privacy claims) that you or a third party brings against a Protected Party in connection with LSaF's operations, content, or services, to the extent the claim conflicts with the acknowledgments and waivers you made in these Terms.
Procedure. If a claim covered by this Section is made against a Protected Party, the Protected Party will notify you at the email address on your account. The Protected Party may control the defense and settlement of the claim, and you will cooperate with the defense. You will not settle any claim in a way that admits fault by, or imposes an obligation on, a Protected Party without that party's written consent.
This indemnity does not apply to the extent a court or arbitral tribunal finds that the Protected Party's own fraud caused the loss (Article 1171 of the Civil Code). This indemnity survives the end of these Terms and your stopping use of LSaF, under Articles 1159 and 1306 of the Civil Code.
13. Termination
We may suspend or end your access to LSaF at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice. When we do, your right to use the service ends immediately. Provisions that by their nature should survive will survive, including Sections 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28.
14. Modifications to the Terms
We may update or change these Terms at any time. Changes take effect when we post the revised Terms on the platform with a new effective date and version number. If you keep using LSaF after a change, you accept the new Terms. We show you these Terms from time to time so that you learn of any changes promptly and your actual notice of the current Terms is renewed.
15. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
The laws of the Republic of the Philippines govern these Terms, without regard to conflict of law rules. Section 20 requires arbitration. Any dispute arising from these Terms that the Section 20 process does not resolve, and any court action that Republic Act No. 9285 allows, falls under the exclusive venue of the proper courts in Cebu City, Philippines, to the exclusion of all other venues.
This is an exclusive venue agreement under Rule 4, Section 4(b) of the Rules of Court. It does not deprive any court of jurisdiction over the subject matter. You irrevocably consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue of the courts in Cebu City, Philippines. You waive any objection based on inconvenient forum (forum non conveniens), lack of personal jurisdiction, or improper venue.
16. User Acknowledgment
By accessing and using LSaF, you acknowledge that:
- you have read and understood these Terms of Service and agree to them;
- LSaF is an independent platform with no affiliation to any government institution or university;
- all suggested answers and evaluations are original content or AI-generated outputs, not reproductions of copyrighted or government-owned material;
- LSaF's legal basis for referring to legal doctrinal standards rests on Philippine statutes, including Republic Act No. 3870 and the Intellectual Property Code (RA 8293), as Section 4 explains;
- AI-generated evaluations are not legal advice and may contain inaccuracies, and you must verify them against primary legal sources;
- you take full responsibility for how you use the information LSaF provides;
- you know of no fact that makes LSaF's operations unlawful, and LSaF's operations are presumed lawful as Section 25 explains;
- you assume all risks of using LSaF, including the risk of inaccurate AI-generated outputs, as Section 22 explains;
- you consent to the processing of your personal information as Section 10 describes;
- you had adequate opportunity to review these Terms and accepted them voluntarily, without duress, fraud, or mistake;
- you were free to reject these Terms in full, and you waive any claim that these Terms are unconscionable, oppressive, or an invalid contract of adhesion;
- you agree to the dispute resolution and mandatory arbitration provisions of Section 20 and the covenant in Section 19;
- we show you these Terms from time to time, each showing renews your actual notice under RA 8792, and your continued use of LSaF after each showing renews your acceptance by conduct under Articles 1319 and 1320 of the Civil Code;
- the protections for each Protected Party apply independently and do not depend on the formal incorporation or continued existence of Hellaw International, as Section 27 explains;
- before Hellaw International is incorporated, the natural persons who operate LSaF are the contracting party and are bound by these Terms, so the absence of a corporation does not make these Terms void for want of a party;
- the website owner, code author, and creator of LSaF validly hold the intellectual property rights in LSaF's original content, software, and branding in their individual capacity before incorporation, and that ownership supports the protections in Section 9;
- each Protected Party is shielded from copyright, intellectual property, and all other civil claims and liabilities to the fullest extent the law allows, regardless of the corporate status of Hellaw International;
- the electronic records of your notice and acceptance are admissible evidence, as Section 28 explains; and
- you were given a clear and conspicuous option to reject these Terms and leave the site, and your choice to keep using LSaF after seeing that option is voluntary, informed, and uncoerced acceptance.
17. Severability
If a court or arbitral tribunal holds any provision of these Terms invalid or unenforceable, the rest of these Terms stay in full force. The invalid or unenforceable provision will be modified only as much as needed to make it valid and enforceable, consistent with Articles 1306 and 1409 of the Civil Code. The protections of the Protected Parties are severable from one another and from every other provision.
18. Entire Agreement
These Terms, including the data privacy provisions in Section 10, are the entire agreement between you and Hellaw International about your use of LSaF. They supersede all earlier or contemporaneous communications, proposals, and agreements, whether oral or written. A waiver of any provision is not a continuing waiver of that provision or any other. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
19. Covenant Not to Sue in Court; Exclusive Remedy
The process in Section 20 is your exclusive remedy for any civil claim against a Protected Party (as defined in Section 11) arising from your use of LSaF or from LSaF's operations, content, or services. You therefore agree not to file or prosecute any civil action in court against a Protected Party, except: (a) a small claims action as Section 20 allows; (b) an action to enforce, confirm, vacate, or set aside an arbitral award, or to obtain interim relief, as Republic Act No. 9285 allows; and (c) any other action that the law does not allow the parties to waive. This covenant rests on Article 1306 of the Civil Code (freedom to contract) and Republic Act No. 9285.
This covenant covers claims in contract, tort, quasi-delict, strict liability, statutory violation, consumer protection, intellectual property (including copyright infringement under RA 8293), and data privacy (including RA 10173), to the extent the law allows these claims to be arbitrated. It protects each Protected Party in their individual and personal capacity. It does not depend on the existence, incorporation, or good standing of Hellaw International.
Carve-Outs: Under Articles 6, 1171, and 2034 of the Civil Code, this covenant does not waive: (a) future criminal liability; (b) any action for future fraud; (c) your right to file a complaint with a government regulator, including the National Privacy Commission; or (d) your right to take part as a witness or complainant in criminal or regulatory proceedings.
Non-Assistance: You agree not to voluntarily finance, solicit, or encourage a third-party civil action against a Protected Party in connection with LSaF, and not to voluntarily act as a paid consultant or advisor in such an action. This applies to claims by any person or entity, including government agencies, educational institutions, and other intellectual property holders. It does not restrict you from complying with a subpoena, court order, or legal duty, from testifying truthfully, or from cooperating with a government regulator or law enforcement.
If you breach this Section, you will pay the reasonable defense costs, attorney's fees, and litigation expenses that the affected Protected Parties incur. Any action filed in breach of this Section must be dismissed or referred to arbitration under Section 24 of RA 9285.
20. Dispute Resolution and Mandatory Arbitration
Every dispute, controversy, or claim arising from these Terms or your use of LSaF must go through this process:
Step 1: Informal Resolution. You must first send a written notice of the dispute to Hellaw International at the email address in the Contact section below. The parties will negotiate in good faith for 30 days from receipt of the notice.
Step 2: Mediation. If the dispute is not resolved within 30 days, either party may start mediation under Republic Act No. 9285 (the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 2004).
Step 3: Binding Arbitration. If mediation fails, binding arbitration will finally settle the dispute under the arbitration rules of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRCI). A single arbitrator will conduct the arbitration with its seat in Cebu City, Philippines, in English or Filipino. To keep costs low, the arbitration may proceed online, by video conference, or on written submissions where the arbitrator allows. The arbitrator may grant interim measures under Section 28 of RA 9285. The award is final and binding on both parties under RA 9285. Judgment on the award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Class Action Waiver: All disputes will be resolved individually. You waive any right to start, join, or recover under any class, collective, representative, or consolidated proceeding against any Protected Party. If this waiver is held unenforceable as to a claim, that claim must be decided in court under Section 15, and not in arbitration on a class basis.
Small Claims Exception: Despite the above, either party may bring an individual action in the proper first-level court under the Rules on Expedited Procedures in the First Level Courts for disputes within the small claims limit.
21. Release of Claims
You release the Protected Parties (as defined in Section 11) from all civil claims, demands, causes of action, suits, debts, obligations, liabilities, and damages of every kind that arise from your use of LSaF. This release applies to the fullest extent the law allows. It covers claims known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed, matured or unmatured, and contingent or fixed. It covers claims you have now, have had, or may have in the future, under Articles 1270 to 1274 and Article 2028 of the Civil Code.
You may later discover facts that add to or differ from what you now know or believe about the subject of this release. This release stays in full force even if you discover such facts.
Carve-Outs: Under Articles 6, 1171, and 2034 of the Civil Code, this release does not waive future criminal liability, any action for future fraud, or any right that the law does not allow you to waive. Liability for negligence remains subject to the cap in Section 11 and to the court's power under Article 1172.
22. Assumption of Risk
You expressly assume all risks of using LSaF, including:
- the risk that AI-generated evaluations are inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading, because artificial intelligence can produce wrong results;
- the risk of relying on LSaF to prepare for the Bar examination, with no guarantee of any examination result or of which topics will appear;
- the risks of electronic data transmission, including interception or corruption of data;
- the risk of service interruptions, downtime, or technical failures; and
- any financial loss from your use of paid features or your reliance on platform content.
By using LSaF, you voluntarily assume these risks. You agree that the Protected Parties are not liable for any resulting damages, whether the claim is based on contract (Articles 1170 to 1174 and 1306 of the Civil Code) or, where applicable, on quasi-delict (Articles 2176 to 2194).
23. Force Majeure
The Protected Parties are not liable for any failure or delay in performing their obligations under these Terms if circumstances beyond their reasonable control cause it. These circumstances include acts of God, natural disasters, epidemics or pandemics, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government actions or orders, labor disputes, third-party service failures, internet or telecommunications failures, power outages, and cyberattacks.
The affected party's obligations are suspended while the force majeure event lasts, under Articles 1174 and 1266 of the Civil Code.
24. Third-Party Beneficiaries
Each Protected Party (as defined in Section 11) is an express third-party beneficiary of these Terms. This is a stipulation in favor of a third person (stipulation pour autrui) under Article 1311, paragraph 2 of the Civil Code, which provides that a third person may demand fulfillment of a stipulation made in their favor once they communicate their acceptance to the obligor before its revocation. Each Protected Party accepts this stipulation by these Terms. It applies to each Protected Party independently, in their individual capacity and because of their role in LSaF. It does not depend on any corporate or organizational tie to Hellaw International.
Each third-party beneficiary may directly enforce Sections 9 (Intellectual Property Rights), 11 (Limitation of Liability), 12 (Indemnification), 19 (Covenant Not to Sue in Court; Exclusive Remedy), 20 (Dispute Resolution and Mandatory Arbitration), 21 (Release of Claims), 22 (Assumption of Risk), 26 (Interim and Provisional Relief), and 27 (Independent Applicability of Protections; Pre-Incorporation) against any user, as if the beneficiary were a named party to these Terms. This right is several and independent. It does not require the consent, joinder, or participation of Hellaw International or any other Protected Party.
These third-party beneficiary rights become irrevocable when you accept these Terms, whether expressly or by conduct. They survive the dissolution, non-formation, or cessation of Hellaw International as a legal entity, under Article 1311 of the Civil Code.
25. Compliance and Lawfulness
Hellaw International undertakes to operate LSaF in good-faith compliance with applicable Philippine law. This includes Republic Act No. 7394 (the Consumer Act), Republic Act No. 8792 (the Electronic Commerce Act), Republic Act No. 10173 (the Data Privacy Act), Republic Act No. 8293 (the Intellectual Property Code), and the applicable rules of the Department of Trade and Industry, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the National Privacy Commission.
By using LSaF, you acknowledge that:
- operating LSaF as a commercial legal studies research platform is a lawful enterprise;
- the commercial, for-profit nature of Hellaw International and LSaF is a lawful form of business under Philippine law;
- using and displaying Philippine Bar Examination questions that the Supreme Court publicly released is lawful, as Sections 3 and 4 explain;
- creating and distributing original suggested answers and study materials infringes no intellectual property rights, as Section 4 explains;
- providing AI-powered evaluation of your answers is a lawful service; and
- the payment system and premium access model in Section 8 is a lawful commercial arrangement.
LSaF's operations are presumed lawful. Anyone who asserts otherwise bears the burden of proving it before a court or arbitral tribunal of competent jurisdiction. Nothing in this Section waives any right that Articles 6, 1171, or 1409 of the Civil Code do not allow you to waive.
26. Interim and Provisional Relief
Any request for interim or provisional relief in a dispute covered by Section 20, such as a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction, must first be made to the arbitrator under Section 28 of Republic Act No. 9285 once the arbitrator is appointed. Before then, either party may ask a court for interim relief only as Section 28 of RA 9285 and the Special Rules of Court on Alternative Dispute Resolution allow. A request for interim relief from a court is not a waiver of arbitration.
You agree that money damages, capped as Section 11 provides, are an adequate remedy for any claim you may have against a Protected Party. You therefore agree not to seek an injunction that would suspend or shut down LSaF's operations, unless a court or arbitral tribunal finds that such relief is needed to prevent irreparable harm that money cannot compensate. This Section does not remove any court's power under Rule 58 of the Rules of Court; it records the parties' agreement on where and when such relief should be sought.
27. Independent Applicability of Protections; Pre-Incorporation
The protections, limitations, waivers, covenants, indemnities, and releases in these Terms, including Sections 9, 11, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, and 26, are meant to benefit and protect each Protected Party independently and in their individual capacity. They protect each Protected Party as a natural person, not merely as an agent or representative of an entity. These protections are fully effective and enforceable regardless of whether:
- Hellaw International has been formally incorporated, registered, or organized as a One Person Corporation or any other legal entity;
- Hellaw International is in good standing, active, dissolved, or no longer exists;
- a natural person, an unincorporated enterprise, or a later-formed corporation operates LSaF;
- LSaF's operations have been reorganized, restructured, assigned, or transferred; or
- a natural person rather than a corporate entity holds the intellectual property rights in LSaF's content, software, or branding.
Before incorporation, the natural persons identified in the preamble are the contracting party on behalf of LSaF, and they are bound by these Terms. They do not use the absence of a corporation to avoid any obligation these Terms impose on them. Their exposure to you is limited as Section 11 provides, regardless of corporate status. They personally hold all rights, title, and interest in LSaF's intellectual property, and all contractual protections in these Terms run directly to them as natural persons.
If Hellaw International is later incorporated and adopts or ratifies these Terms, the corporation also becomes bound by, and entitled to, these Terms, without reducing the protections of any existing Protected Party. This follows Article 1311 of the Civil Code and Philippine jurisprudence on the adoption of pre-incorporation contracts under the Revised Corporation Code (RA 11232).
You agree that the absence of a corporate entity when you accepted these Terms does not make these Terms void or unenforceable for want of a contracting party, because the natural persons operating LSaF are that party. You also agree that the protections for Protected Parties apply to them in their individual capacity and are not reduced because they acted without a corporate entity.
28. Electronic Records and Evidence
Your acceptance of these Terms, whether by clicking “I Accept These Terms” or by continued use after actual notice, is recorded electronically. Records may be kept in your browser, on our servers, and in emails we send you that refer to these Terms. Server records may include the date and time, your IP address, browser details, session identifier, the Terms version shown, and the action you took. Each time we show you these Terms again and you keep using LSaF, a new record of renewed acceptance is created.
Clicking “I Accept These Terms” is your electronic signature under Sections 5(e) and 8 of Republic Act No. 8792. You agree that these records are electronic documents under Section 7 of RA 8792 and the Rules on Electronic Evidence (A.M. No. 01-7-01-SC), that they are admissible to prove notice of and acceptance of these Terms, and that you will not object to their admission solely because they are in electronic form, consistent with Section 12 of RA 8792.
Contact Us
If you have questions or concerns about these Terms of Service, or wish to exercise your data privacy rights, contact us at:
Hellaw International
Email: hellaw.contact@lsaf.review
