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Thursday, March 08, 2007

Courts - WSJ features felon who became a law grad seeking NY State bar admission

The lengthy, front-page Wall Street Journal story today by Paul Davies is headed "The High Bar
For Redemption: Inside One Felon's 12-Year Campaign To Practice Law in New York State." A side-bar sumarizes:

• The Issue: A twice convicted felon completed law school after serving time in prison, but has been denied admission to the New York bar nine times by state justices.

• The Dilemma: What counts as redemption and who gets to decide?

• The Bottom Line: Bar admission standards vary from state to state, and within states are often subjective.
From the story itself:
Bar admission standards vary from state to state, and can be applied differently within the same state. The issue gets especially thorny with ex-convicts. Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oregon and Texas prohibit felons from practicing law. Alabama allows felons to practice only if they've received a full pardon. Like most states, New York requires bar applicants to demonstrate good "character and fitness." Those standards evolve continuously.
Unfortunately, the story currently is not freely available online. Check back.

Recall this Feb. 21st ILB entry quoting a story from the NY Law Journal, which reported:

The former chief judge of New York state's highest court who suffered a spectacular fall from grace after being arrested for stalking an ex-girlfriend has received preliminary approval to have his law license reinstated.

Sol Wachtler, who was disbarred after his 1993 conviction on federal charges including blackmail and extortion, has received approval from the state's Appellate Division for a hearing before the Committee on Character and Fitness, a key step toward reinstatement that was denied to him on his first application in April 2003.


[Updated 3/10/07] The WSJ story still appears to be unavailable online to nonsubscribers, BUT the WSJ Blog features the story here.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 8, 2007 07:15 AM
Posted to Courts in general