Bar Admission and a past drug arrest

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I am not sure if anyone here is familiar with the "character fitness" requirements for being admitted to the Bar in each state, but seeing as there are some legal people here, I though I would try my luck. Here's the situation -- a person is arrested in a Northeast state for a first-time marijuana and parpaphenelia posession in 1999 and is handed a "probabtion without conviction" sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. Probation ends six months later, all fines are payed, and the person's record is expunged. (However, there is still a municipality and county arrest record.) This person goes to law school and eight years later applies for admission to the Bar in the same state in which he or she was previously arrested. One of the character fitness questions for admission to this particular state's bar requires respondents to disclose all prior arrests, convictions, and incarcerations. Now being a moral and upstanding citizen, this person fully discloses the 1999 arrest and plea to the Bar. I guess my question would be if anyone here is aware of a case similar to this and how stringent the character tests are for admission to a state's bar. Would this person generally have a tough time becoming licensed to practice law?
 
yeah i'm bumping this one because i too am curious as to how strict they are on a person, and if someone has a prior conviction is ones lawyer career down the drain......
 
To the best of my knowledge, a situation of this nature is unlikely to be a problem if disclosed. :)
 
Character questions asked to sit for the Bar are an attempt to find a pattern of behavior. That is, if you have one MIP or one small marijuana possession charge in your younger days, you are not going to be hurt. If, however, you are involved more deeply in your crimes, say, selling heroin or you are caught with 1000 pills, you might be looking at some problems.

If you have proof of your true character, evidenced by your successful completion of law school, for example, that the indiscretion was an isolated incident, you'll be fine.

And, as Jillian alludes to, if you fail to disclose something and then they find out about it, you'll be in much worse shape than if you had come clean at the beginning.
 
I knew ppl in NY and Florida who had 1 possession conviction a peice. Each got in (one with a month or two delay, the other with no delay) after pleading stupidity and changed ways.

The real prob is 4 ppl who do not tell the bar about these things and it also really varies from state to state. (Florida is pretty strict and still only a 2 month delay in admission for a hearing and NY is a joke and the person was admitted in the ordinary course).
 
guest said:
I am not sure if anyone here is familiar with the "character fitness" requirements for being admitted to the Bar in each state, but seeing as there are some legal people here, I though I would try my luck. Here's the situation -- a person is arrested in a Northeast state for a first-time marijuana and parpaphenelia posession in 1999 and is handed a "probabtion without conviction" sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. Probation ends six months later, all fines are payed, and the person's record is expunged. (However, there is still a municipality and county arrest record.) This person goes to law school and eight years later applies for admission to the Bar in the same state in which he or she was previously arrested. One of the character fitness questions for admission to this particular state's bar requires respondents to disclose all prior arrests, convictions, and incarcerations. Now being a moral and upstanding citizen, this person fully discloses the 1999 arrest and plea to the Bar. I guess my question would be if anyone here is aware of a case similar to this and how stringent the character tests are for admission to a state's bar. Would this person generally have a tough time becoming licensed to practice law?
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RU absolutely certain that there is a requirement to disclose any and all prior arrests which did not lead to a conviction?

If so, IMHO, this is a violation of your Constitutional rights. I.E., when something is expunged you should not be required to disclose it.

Having said that, I would agree with our excellent mod. Dr. J., there should not be a "problem" for the reasons he stated.

Lastly, I concur with miamitsu that the stringentness of the process tends to vary from locale to locale.
 
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