Law School Applicants and Disciplinary Issues

Graduate School Law School
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"A SKELETON IN YOUR closet is no reason to give up on a dream of practicing law.

Every year’s crop of law school graduates includes many who interacted with the justice system, were subject to disciplinary procedures at their college or workplace, or were put on academic probation. Some even committed felonies and served time in prison. Overcoming such setbacks might have shaped such individuals into extraordinarily committed and caring lawyers.

Nevertheless, it can be tricky and unsettling to decide how to disclose past disciplinary incidents on your law school application.

Severe infractions may indeed jeopardize your chances of admission to either law school or the bar, particularly those that reflect poorly on your personal integrity. Examples include fraud, abuse of authority, sexual misconduct, plagiarism or ethical violations. Law school applicants unsure of whether their past troubles may disqualify them from legal practice should consult a lawyer specializing in disciplinary matters, as this article is not intended as legal advice." …

https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/law-admissions-lowdown/articles/how-law-school-applicants-can-address-criminal-disciplinary-incidents

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Some–very few–who have been convicted of killing another and served time in prison have been accepted to law school and admitted to a state bar.

Yet, others who have no criminal record & graduated law school were denied character & fitness clearance for the practice of law by a state bar due to unpaid bills that are more than 90 days past due. (In at least one highly publicized matter in the state of Ohio, the unpaid debts were student loans. The individual passed the bar exam but was denied a license to practice law by the state supreme court because he had not paid enough on his student loans which were now past due. The applicant was caught in a Catch-22 because he passed the bar and had a job offer which would pay enough to enable him to make payments on his student loans, but the job offer required bar membership.)