Misdemeanors / Law School Application / Character & Fitness

[Dave Killoran]

Earlier, I received the following question:

Dave,

Hope all is well, I have a few quick questions that I hope you can provide me some clarity on. I had two misdemeanors on my record, one in 2003 and one in 2008. The 1st I was in high school young and dumb, the second I was unemployed looking for work. Do you think that these will prevent me from law school or later getting a license from the bar association?

Hi,

Thanks for the questions! The good news here is that the answer is a strong No, I don't think it will be an issue. These are both minor incidents, and by the time you hit the Character & Fitness check from the ABA, these will be well in the past (which makes a difference to the ABA). You'll be able to argue these were youthful indiscretions that are far behind you and not representative of who you are now or of your current character. Shouldn't be an issue at all, and I've seen many people with far worse charges get through the C&F review just fine.

With your law school applications, I'd write an addendum that addresses what happened, and that focuses on explaining that these were the mistakes of a young person and that you've since changed the course of your life and learned form your errors. Don't avoid responsibility, but handle it by indicating you know what you did wrong, and that the circumstances that lead to those incidents are gone. The mantra with things of this nature is: take responsibility, show you learned from it, talk about why it will never happen again. I've seen a number of these where the writer is able to successfully argue that these problems actually turned out to be positive since the person learned so much from what happened and that they became better people.

Thanks and good luck!