Your District Committee Meeting

Sometime between the time you apply for a license to practice law and your swearing-in day, there exists moments of anxiety.  It might come in of the form of a letter from the State Bar of Michigan’s Character & Fitness department or your own knowledge that something happened in your recent or distant past for which you know you’ll have to answer to someone.  Some people get e-mails asking for clarification on an application question and that simple inquiry is enough to distract or even despair.   Of course, it does not take much to distract any applicant waiting for approval from the State Bar of Michigan and ultimately from the Board of Law Examiners.

The District Committee

When circumstances dictate, an applicant will be called into an in-person meeting with State Bar incarnated in the form of a District Committee.  The District Committee is made up of lawyers appointed by the State Bar of Michigan’s Board of Commissioners based upon their locality.  The districts correspond to the State Bar of Michigan’s geographic regions.  The members of the committee are appointed for three years.  All members of the committee are volunteers.  It is considered an honor to be a member of the District Committee and the individual members take their work seriously.

It is considered an ‘informal’ meeting according to the Rules on Admission to the State Bar.  The roles and duties of Committee members are dictated by the State Bar rules regarding character & fitness.  The conduct of the district committee meetings are dictated by the same rules.  All the meetings are taped though the contents of the meeting are not transcribed nor are the tapes available to the applicant.  The District Committee will meet, review the applicant’s application, meet with and interview the candidate and make a decision about the candidate’s fitness.  They will then issue an opinion which is reviewed by the Standing Committee on Character & Fitness who can either accept the District’s recommendation and pass the approved application to the Board of Law Examiners for their approval, accept the recommendation but still want to meet with the candidate or reject the applicant giving the applicant the opportunity to appear before a standing committee to make the case for an applicant’s requisite character & fitness.  The candidate may bring a lawyer to the meeting as well as other supporting materials that might affect the committee’s decision.

A candidate who will have to meet with the District Committee will receive a letter and a referral sheet from the State Bar of Michigan’s Character & Fitness department.  The meeting will then be scheduled through the District Committee chairman’s office.  The Chairman will then find three to five members of the District Committee who will agree to sit on the applicant’s panel.  The panelists will have the application and the referral sheet of the applicant.  The committee’s readiness is dictated by the amount of time they have had to prepare for the meeting.  Most issues are straight-forward enough, but some issues do contain subtleties.

Bringing an attorney to a District Committee meeting is a matter of comfort and preference.  Most issues do not require a lawyer but rather thorough preparation and honest responses.  The advantage to having a lawyer and consulting with a lawyer prior to the meeting is to reduce the ’surprise’ factor and to properly prepare you to honestly answer the questions you will get.  The attorney will also prepare you to meet the burden of proof for the hearing: you are responsible to prove by clear and convincing evidence that you possess the requisite character & fitness to practice law.  It is not presumed.
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Tim Dinan, December 13th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Bar Applications, Michigan Bar Examination

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Help!

If you have failed the bar, don’t despair. OK, you can despair a little. But you need to do a couple of things:

1. Order Your Results: No matter how bad you did, get the results and get some feedback.

2. See if You Have Some Other Options: Maybe you can appeal. Maybe you’re held up by Character & Fitness. Look at your letter close and see what the Bar’s hang-up is.

3. Plan to Take The Bar Again: You have far too much invested in school and in your future. If need be, take the Exam again. If you do, make sure what ever you are doing is going to work.

Easy? . . . . No . . . Necessary? . . . . Yes. Call our office for a read through of your test, your preparation for the test or other issues on your mind.

Tim Dinan, November 1st 2009 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Michigan Bar Appeals, Michigan Bar Examination

Why I Write Michigan Bar Appeals

The simple answer is for the fame and fortune associated with it.  But since this area of law offers neither, I have to fall back to my real reason.

A good part of my practice focuses on counseling legal professionals in transition.  This includes teaching bar examination prep classes, tutoring students, counseling applicants delayed in their application process because of Character & Fitness issues and helping young lawyers make the adjustment from law student to lawyer.  I am writing a book to help law students prepare for the examination and am getting ready to write another book on how to open a solo practice.  My own experience becoming a lawyer pointed up the lack of assistance during this transaction and the great need for guidance and advice.  Over the years, I have encountered so many people who needed advice about Character & Fitness, how to reapply for the Bar Examination or simply finding the motivation to retake the Exam.

At first, I began to offer advice to these new lawyers informally.  I mentored as I was mentored.  Generally speaking, this has been how the practice has been taught and handed down – a combination of mumbled advice and presumed osmosis from which we are supposed to base our career.  It was not very satisfying nor helpful.  As our practice grows, there are fewer of the familiar relationships in place that promote open dialogue and sharing.  Toughen up and put your shoulder into it.  Everyone else is fine . . . what is your hang up?  Ah, but I digress.

The thing is that the transition from law student to lawyer is difficult.  The dizzying mix of personal and professional demands is, at best, challenging and causes no small measure of stress that can cause other problems.  Even worse, some people discover that the practice of law is not like the brochures or Boston Legal.  Again, I digress.

No matter what, if you have taken the Michigan Bar Examination and not passed, you may be looking for help and advice.  I fully understand that feeling.  Back in November 1993, I waited for my bar results anxiously as my new job (and my government career) depended upon them.  On November 2, 1993, the carpet was pulled out from under me.  I missed by two points (actually 1.667 points but the Board of Law Examiners rounds up).  No, that was not the news I expected.  I worked hard on studying, sacrificed my summer and put all my chips on the fact I would pass.

I was stunned.  I did not know what to do.  I did not know who to tell.  I did tell my boss who was, at first, kind and understanding, but then told me the position held for me had to be filled by someone else.  I told my family and friends.  I heard all my friends passed and were making arrangements for get sworn in.  I felt like a total loser whose winter months were going to be devoted to studying for the Bar Examination once again.

I spoke to my professors and my sister-in-law who told me to appeal my score.  Appeal?  Appeal what?  I did not even know that was an option.  I assumed it was a test and a test is a test.  Well, it’s right in the Michigan Court Rules and tersely explained in the ‘failure packet’.  OK, now what?  How do I do it?  Can I do my own?  Pen or pencil?  does neatness count?

Thank God for the good advice I received.  With the help of Megan and Prof. Jack, I put my nose to the grindstone and knocked out my own bar appeal.  To say I obsessed over it would be an understatement.  I analyzed, reviewed, read and reread the materials:  my answer, the Model Answer, the directions from the Michigan Board of Law Examiners.  Draft upon draft until I had it just right.  Conservatively, I spent about 70 hours on the whole project.  I developed the basics for the same approach that I use today in writing appeals.  Of course I did not believe I was going to ever do it again.  I thought I would succeed, but after failing the Bar Exam and losing my job, betting against the house did not seem real smart.
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Tim Dinan, October 25th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Bar Applications, Michigan Bar Appeals, Michigan Bar Examination

Honesty is The Only Policy

Your application for membership in the State Bar of Michigan is lengthy and requires considerable effort to complete.  It could take months to gather all the necessary information before you are done.  Consider this:  If you have lived anywhere for more than two weeks, you must list it on your application.  That includes dorm rooms, the three month sublet in Wahington, D.C. and even an overseas address for a summer study.

All of your jobs must be listed: dishwasher, parking attendant, part-time or full-time; jobs you quit, jobs that were seasonsal, jobs you were fired from.  There is a lot of disclosure required for your finances.  Any contact with law enforcement – must be disclosed.  (Check out the form at www.michbar.org)

Maybe there are some things you forgot to disclose on your law school application.  Perhaps you were too embarrassed or worried how it would reflect on your appearance to the school or the general public.

Whatever the case is, you must bare all on your Application to the State Bar of Michigan.  Full and honest disclosure is needed to avoid unnecessary delays in your clearance.  This process is a confidential one, but requires you to be open and frank about all the skeletons in your closet.  It is quite explicit in the directions, but becomes even more clear when you go through the process.  (Read more…)

Tim Dinan, October 12th 2009 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Bar Applications

What is Character and Fitness for a Michigan Bar Applicant

To practice law in Michigan, an applicant must meet the following requirements: 1) graduate from an ABA accredited law school or its equivalent, 2) take and pass the MPRE, 3) take and pass the Michigan Bar Examination and 4) demonstratethe requisite personal character and moral fitness to practice law. That fourth standard is the least objectively defined.

What is ‘The Requisite Character and Fitness’ To Practice Law

Good Moral Character and Fitness is a set of characteristics for the public and business conduct that guides lawyers in the ethical and moral decisions that they make in their day-to-day practice.   It requires the applicant to be competent and diligent in work habits.  It is a broadly defined and vague standard designed to give the State Bar of Michigan to ability to examine all aspects of an applicant’s life where ability, diligence, ethics and conduct may be observed and judged.

The most important thing to know that your character and fitness is based on who you are today. It is not a measure of who you were in high school or college necessarily. It is not about your resume or how perfectly you live your life. It is about your current competence, honesty, integrity, wellness, self-enrichment and confidence in yourself.

Your competence is measured in the testing. It is more or less a bright line standard with a few notable exceptions. Honesty and integrity start with your law school application.  Any misrepresentation, even of a minor nature, that becomes apparent in the application process that shows up in your licensing application will flag your file for review. So, when you apply for law school, come clean. Better to over-disclose than under-disclose any activity requested.  As you finish law school, you will begin to gather information for the State Bar of Michigan application.  This is no small effort as it requires detailed background information going back into your teenage years.  You must be as detailed and open as possible in your disclosure.  Do not guess about answers.  You should look at all records regarding factual representations you make in the application if you are not 100% certain of the answer. This calls not just on your honesty but your integrity by being thorough in researching your answers.

Your wellness and self-confidence are measured in the application process, too. This means disclosure of health concerns that might compromise your abilities to represent your clients.   The StateBar of Michigan is not trying to bar those with disabilities from practicing, but will protect the public from lawyers whose ability is affected by any problem.  Again, the measure is not whether you have a disability or not, but how you manage it and are able to demonstrate how it will not affect the consuming public who may hire you to address their problems.

Nobody goes through life not making mistakes.  Some mistakes are public and must be disclosed and discussed.  Crime and other contacts with law enforcement, both major and minor, could affect your ability to act honorably as a lawyer.  Addictions and neuroses can pose a threat to your clients if not acknowledged and under treatment.  Lapses in integrity as evidenced by cheating, lying or other fraudulent behavior in your past raises critical questions about your integrity. The application process requires full disclosure and gives you the opportunity to put these types of incidents into context and show how they are not part of your current character.  The application process also gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your character on how dealt with the issue.

Other issues such as financial responsibility, work history, litigation history and previous licensure are just some of the issues that can affect your application.  Again, it is important to be as open and prepared as you can be in your answers about these issues, too.  These incidents can also reflect on ability or ethics.  They are important to discuss and disclose to demonstrate your current fitness.

Generally speaking, these issues are explained in the application and do not pose a reason to delay your application.  If further information is required, it is to make sure the State Bar has enough information or has a clear idea of items you disclose.

The Standard

Everyone approaches the problems that life poses based on who you are.  Lawyers are in the problem solving business.  We are officers of the court and held by the public to a high standard.  Our ethics require a good amount of self-reporting.  If you find yourself in the position of having issues in your past that are not your proudest moments but you are obligated to disclose and discuss, do so completely, honestly and with integrity based on any record of which you are aware.  How you dealt with the issue afterwords says more about your good character than anything else.  The standard is, in my opinion, how well you understand yourself, including your flaws, in a manner that you can conduct yourself as a professional and look out for the needs and priorities of your clients above your own.

A lot of it has to do with the wording of the application.  Remember, you are a stranger to the investigator.  They are trained to look for normal applications and anomalies that might be of interest to the State Bar of Michigan or the Michigan Board of Law Examiners.  If your application is not defensive or vague, it does not raise a direct issue of lack of disclosure but rather the past conduct itself.  You are better off explaining the past rather than explaining your cover up of the past.

I am sure you are a good person.  You are human so I expect that you have made one or two errors in your life.  These are not reasons to deny you a license.  Embrace who you are, faults included.  If you can do that, you are a long way towards meeting the standard.

Tim Dinan, October 4th 2009 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Bar Applications, Michigan Bar Examination