Professionalism Page
| Publication year | 2013 |
| Pages | 0082 |
Making the Mark: Fitness, Character and Integrity for Admission to the Bar
by Rebecca S. Mick
Following is an update on the process and considerations of fitness, character and integrity required for persons to be admitted to the Bar in Georgia. The article aptly sets forth the current process and requirements of the Board to Determine Fitness and is important information for Georgia's bench and bar.
We all know that lawyers must pass a bar examination in order to practice law. However, future lawyers must first be certified as 'fit' to even sit for the bar examination. The responsibility of ensuring that all who practice law are both morally fit and competent rests with two separate boards residing in the Office of Bar Admissions. The Board of Bar Examiners deals with competence, and the Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants has the daunting task of ensuring that each bar applicant is morally fit and possesses the requisite character and integrity to practice law.
The Fitness Application Process
The Board to Determine Fitness was established in 1977 by the Supreme Court. The Board processes between 1, 800 and 2, 000 fitness applications each year. In most cases, the applicant fills out a fitness application which requests personal information including but not limited to financial, legal, employment, mental health and criminal background pertaining to the applicant.
Information is verified by the application analysts in the Office of Bar Admissions, and inquiries are sent to personal references, employers and other individuals familiar with the applicant.[1] In reviewing all of this information, the Board focuses primarily on candor, fiscal matters, compliance with court orders, criminal activity, alcohol and drug abuse and mental and emotional stability.
Applicants must be completely candid in filling out the application and answering follow up question with the Board. While the application asks for sensitive information, the Board's files are completely confidential and not subject to public disclosure.[2] The Board may make additional inquiry into areas of concern including, but not limited to, unlawful conduct, academic misconduct, any act involving dishonesty, fraud or deceit, abuse of the legal process, neglect of financial or other legal obligations, violation of a court order, evidence of drug or alcohol dependency, disciplinary action in another jurisdiction against any professional license and denial of fitness to sit for the bar in another jurisdiction.
If the Board has concerns regarding an applicant's fitness that are not resolved via correspondence, the applicant may be called in for an informal conference with the Board.[3] The informal conference is a discussion that is recorded but does not rise to the level of a formal proceeding. The Board will ask questions of the applicant regarding the areas of concern. An applicant may bring counsel to the conference, but the applicant must answer the Board's questions directly not through his or her attorney. The Board averages between 35 and 40 conferences per year out of the applications filed. On average, six to eight applicants are issued a tentative denial of certification of fitness. There are no "conditional" admissions made in Georgia. An applicant may be either certified or denied. If the Board issues a tentative denial, the applicant may request a formal evidentiary hearing before an independent hearing officer selected by the Supreme Court.[4]
The Hearing Process
If the applicant requests a hearing, the Board makes the initial presentation of the reasons for a tentative denial by issuing Specifications. The applicant files an Answer to the Specifications. The burden is on the applicant at all times to prove that he possesses the requisite moral fitness required for certification.[5]
These determinations require the Board to examine an applicant's "innermost feelings and personal views on those aspects of morality, attention to duty, forthrightness and self-restraint which are usually associated with good character."[6] The Board's primary responsibility is to the public to see that those who are admitted to practice are ethically cognizant and mature individuals who have the character to withstand the temptations which are placed before them as they handle other people's money and affairs. This is to protect the public as the bar holds lawyers out as worthy of trust and confidence. If the Board is not "reasonably convinced" that the applicant could not handle such temptations, the Board may deny him certification for fitness.[7]
The Supreme Court has held:
[B]ecause the Board's and this Court's primary concern in admitting persons to the practice of law is the protection of the public, any doubts must be resolved against the applicant and in favor of protecting the public.[8]
If the applicant requests a hearing, the hearing officer shall not be strictly bound to observe the rules of evidence but shall consider all evidence deemed relevant to the proceedings.[9] After hearing the evidence, the hearing officer makes findings of fact and recommendations to the Board. This recommendation is not binding upon the Board or the Supreme Court of Georgia. In fact, no other previous findings or recommendations on
the ultimate issue are binding on the Board or the Supreme Court, including those made by a law school or the Judicial Qualifications Commission.[10] The Supreme Court of Georgia will uphold any final decision of the Board if there is any evidence to support it. However, the ultimate decision always rests with the Supreme Court.[11]
Grounds for Denial of Certification
Applicants have been denied certification of fitness based on six general categories of behavior.
■ Candor, in all aspects including the application process;
■ Fiscal responsibly, including repayment of student loans and compliance with court orders;
■ Proper conduct in court;
■ Alcohol and substance abuse;
■ Mental or emotional instability;
■ Unlawful/criminal conduct, including juvenile and other matters discharged without an adjudication of guilt.
Candor
The No. 1 reason for denial of applicants nationally is lack of candor or a pattern of dishonesty. The hallmark of a person of trust and character who is fit to practice law is honesty in every situation. Applicants with a record showing a lack of candor, trustworthiness, diligence or reliability may not be certified. Lack of candor encompasses a...
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