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 />
304 AKRON LAW REVIEW [40:255<br />
can provide <strong>the</strong> advice needed. This Article, while intended to provide a<br />
comprehensive overview of issues related to good moral character,<br />
cannot substitute for or compare with specific advice from experienced<br />
counsel. In particular, <strong>the</strong> expense of hiring a former bar prosecutor<br />
needed to gain bar admission can easily be justified when comparing <strong>the</strong><br />
earning power of bar members versus non-members.<br />
Anyone who represents herself has a fool for a client and an idiot<br />
for a lawyer. 492 To <strong>the</strong> extent that lawyers should not represent<br />
<strong>the</strong>mselves, 493 it is even more ill-advised for a bar applicant to represent<br />
herself. Self-representation demonstrates that an applicant is not<br />
intelligent enough to realize when counsel is necessary. Even though<br />
lawyers often cannot actively assist during bar hearings, impartial advice<br />
is invaluable for many applicants who may testify before bar examiners.<br />
An applicant facing a bar investigatory hearing should consider<br />
Scott v. State Bar Examining Committee before attending without<br />
counsel. 494 Scott involved a man who had been unanimously<br />
recommended for admission, but was rejected after his testimony at that<br />
hearing. 495 Proper counsel will prepare an applicant to avoid <strong>the</strong>se<br />
problems. Sage advice can save time and money, preventing fur<strong>the</strong>r bar<br />
proceedings by mitigating prior misconduct.<br />
B. Honesty is <strong>the</strong> Best Policy: Avoid Lame Excuses, Take Responsibility<br />
Honesty to law school and bar is required. 496 Always avoid levity<br />
or sarcasm to <strong>the</strong> bar. 497 Applicants should accept responsibility, not<br />
deflect it. 498 Do not correct witnesses, fail to show remorse for victims,<br />
or blame counsel. 499 Fill out an application correctly. If mistakes are<br />
492. Chris Tisch, Defendants, Don’t Try This in Court, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, April 17,<br />
2005, available at http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/17/Tampabay/Defendants__don_t_try.shtml<br />
493. Id.<br />
494. Scott v. State Bar Examining Comm. 601 A.2d 1021, 1023-24 (Conn. 1992).<br />
495. Id. at 1022-1024.<br />
496. Honesty does not guarantee admission. See Avi Brisman, Book Note, Rethinking The<br />
Case Of Mat<strong>the</strong>w F. Hale: Fear And Loathing On The Part Of The Illinois Bar Committee On<br />
Character And Fitness, 35 CONN. L. REV. 1399, 1401-04 (2003).<br />
497. In re Rippl, 639 N.W.2d 553, 560 (Wis. 2002) Applicant said she received “enough<br />
parking tickets . . . to ‘wallpaper a room.’” Id. Applicant paid each ticket and “intended that<br />
comment as a ‘sarcastic, off-<strong>the</strong>-cuff remark . . . meant for comic effect.’” Id. The court held that<br />
“[h]er comment may have been ill advised in <strong>the</strong> context of this proceeding, but we cannot agree<br />
[with <strong>the</strong> Board] that numerous paid parking tickets, without more, necessarily evince a ‘continuing<br />
disregard for <strong>the</strong> law.’”. Id.<br />
498. Blum, supra note 241, §17 (citing In re Easton, 692 P.2d 592, 596 (Or. 1984)).<br />
499. In re Bagne, 808 N.E.2d 372, 374 (2004).