Facing the Klieg Lights: Understanding the "Good Moral Character"
Facing the Klieg Lights: Understanding the "Good Moral Character"
Facing the Klieg Lights: Understanding the "Good Moral Character"
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CLEMENSFINAL.DOC<br />
3/30/2007 12:51:01 PM<br />
300 AKRON LAW REVIEW [40:255<br />
candor.” 451 Due to <strong>the</strong> bar’s vast amount of discretion, an applicant<br />
should fully disclose, take responsibility, and establish rehabilitation.<br />
The bar takes umbrage at ineffective excuses. 452 Dissembling is illadvised,<br />
453 arguing with <strong>the</strong> bar is far beyond <strong>the</strong> pale of acceptable<br />
conduct, 454 and lack of candor can sink an o<strong>the</strong>rwise approvable<br />
application. 455<br />
All correspondence or communication from <strong>the</strong> bar must be<br />
answered politely and precisely. 456 Even a decorated veteran with a<br />
blemish-free record and impeccable references 457 can be rejected for<br />
failing to answer invasive questioning properly. 458 For example, if<br />
admission is <strong>the</strong> aim, do not argue with bar about whe<strong>the</strong>r “whenever <strong>the</strong><br />
particular government in power becomes destructive of <strong>the</strong>se ends, it is<br />
<strong>the</strong> right of <strong>the</strong> people to alter or to abolish it and <strong>the</strong>reupon to establish<br />
a new government.” 459<br />
Failure to reveal criminal history on a law school application is a<br />
problem. 460 However, some courts have found that prompt correction<br />
451. Id. at § 3 (citing In re J.H.K., 581 So.2d 37 (Fla. 1991); In re L.M.S., 647 So.2d 838 (Fla.<br />
1994)).<br />
452. In re Vanderperren, 661 N.W.2d 27, 30 (Wis. 2003).<br />
453. Blum, supra note 241, § 19 (citing In re Greenberg, 614 P.2d 832, 834-35 (Ariz. 1980)).<br />
454. Id. (citing In re Kapel, 717 N.E.2d 704, 704-05 (Ohio 1999)).<br />
455. Id. (citing In re Carroll, 572 N.E.2d 657, 658 (Ohio 1991)).<br />
456. Blum, supra note 252, §16(b) (citing In re N.W.R., 674 So.2d 729 (Fla. 1996)).<br />
Understandably, a bar committee would see an applicant’s failure to diligently pursue admission as<br />
raising a concern of potential future misconduct. See Charles M. Kidd & Dennis K. McKinney,<br />
Survey Of 1996 Developments In The Law Of Professional Responsibility, 30 IND. L. REV. 1251,<br />
1252 (1997) (“Far and away, <strong>the</strong> most common misconduct dealt with in disciplinary actions is a<br />
lawyer’s failure to exercise reasonable diligence in pursuing matters with which clients entrust<br />
<strong>the</strong>m.”).<br />
457. In re Anastaplo, 366 U.S. 82, 109 (Black, J., dissenting) (“The majority opinion even<br />
concedes that Anastaplo was correct in urging that <strong>the</strong> questions asked by <strong>the</strong> [Bar] Committee<br />
impinged upon <strong>the</strong> freedoms of speech and association guaranteed by <strong>the</strong> First and Fourteenth<br />
Amendments.”).<br />
458. Id. at 111. But see Keeley, supra note 24, at 854 (citing In re Stolar, 401 U.S. 23, 27-28<br />
(1971) (noting that “[t]he Court held that Ohio’s questions that required Stolar to first list <strong>the</strong><br />
organizations of which he had been a member since <strong>the</strong> age of sixteen and since joining law school<br />
were too broad.”)).<br />
459. Anastaplo, 366 U.S. at 99. But see Konigsberg v. State Bar of Calif., 353 U.S. 252, 273<br />
(1957).<br />
A bar composed of lawyers of good character is a worthy objective but it is unnecessary<br />
to sacrifice vital freedoms in order to obtain that goal. It is also important both to society<br />
and <strong>the</strong> bar itself that lawyers be unintimidated—free to think, speak, and act as<br />
members of an Independent Bar.<br />
Stolar, 401 U.S. at 27-28.<br />
460. 7 AM. JUR. 2D Attorneys at Law § 26 (2nd ed. 2006) (citing In re Piro, 613 N.E.2d 201<br />
(Ohio 1993)).