1.     First Look at the Forms.  The application and supporting forms are lengthy and require massive detail.  Everywhere you have lived, all of your previous employment, all of your schooling and just about all other aspects of your life are addressed by the forms.  You will see that if you need more room to complete the application, you will have to supplement it with the additional forms.  It would be a good idea to simply review a printed out copy and make a list of what you will need.

2.     Dig Up Your Past.  All of your movements, any change of address, change of employment, enrollment or disenrollment from school, lawsuits, firings, arrests, etc . . . .   Every instance where your life was in flux involved some paperwork.  Before you answer any questions, get all of that paperwork together.  Your memory of the incident might not jive with the ‘official’ record and why do you want to create a question of fact.  You would be surprised to see what official reports, landlord references, employment files and your credit reports really say about you.  I am not sugesting that you parrot their contents, but at least you have to acknowledge their existance in your answers.

3.     Start Early.  If you lived out of state or out of country, you will have to do some scrambling to chase down all the different criminal clearances, driver’s records, addresses where you lived and worked and anything else that is pertinent.  This takes some time (Remember the old saw: an emergency on your part does not necessarily create an emergency on my part).  I always recommend 2 1/2 months prior to the day you want to turn in your application.

4.     Be Open and Honest.  Why people want to hide all of their business is perfectly understandable.  After all, we are an image-conscious society that promotes positive images.  No matter, you need to be open with your licensing board.  You are seeking one of the most powerful and potentially lucrative business licenses available.  It gives wide discretion to act on behalf of yourself and your clients.  So, the Board of Law Examiners (BLE) and the State Bar of Michigan (SBM) wants to know as much as they can.  The basic information you provide in your application is not only taken at face value, but is used to develop its own independant information.  So, if you do have any advere information about yourself in the public record, you can be sure it will be discovered.  Better you do it and explain it fully rather than have the SBM invetigator find it and flag your file.  Failing to disclose known information is a big sin in the eyes of the SBM and The BLE.

5.     Anticipate and Address Adverse Information Early and Often.  OK, maybe you shop-lifted some stuff when you were a kid or got caught with marijuana (aka marihuana in MI statute) in high school.  You may have done something more severe such as a felony or a serious misdemeanor.  Cheating, lying or misrepresenting yourself are matters that bring your character into question.  There a number of lawyers who have done such things before they were licensed.  Today, even something like poorly managed finances will get your file flagged.  If you know you have problems (or think you might have problems), you not only need to fully and properly disclose them, you need to have your plan of action/reconciliation/penance/reformation on hand to show the SBM that whatever transgression occurred in the past, it will not occur again because a), b), c) . . . .  This is critical.  It is indicative of you current character & fitness.  If you have not really addressed the issue that may be adverse to a determination of your character & fitness, you can start something today (like the Lawyers & Judges Assistance Program [sponsored by SBM for lawyers and law students alike] for addictive behaviors) and include that in your application or simply delay your application until you got your problem/issue under management and then submit it.

      You need to be honest with yourself.  If in doubt, check it out.  Maybe you are paranoid.  maybe you are in denial that a problem exists.  Either way, a bit of introspection and some sound legal advice will probably confirm your gut feeling on how your problem is perceived and how it will affect your chances to be admitted.

6.     Supplement Your Answers.  You need to supplement your application whenever there is a change.  Good, bad or otherwise, you must supplement your form until you are cleared by the BLE and sworn into the courts.  Michigan law licenses are not conditional.  Once issued, you are vested in a valuable property right.  That’s one reason why our process is so strict.  By doing so, you are upholding your written promise found in the form.

      The Take Away for You- A law license is a valuable commodity.  Practicing law is a privilege.  The SBM guards its monopoly and the BLE will act just as carefully.  This means you need to be just as meticulous and careful.  If you are thorough and detailed in your preparation, you will not have a problem being licensed.  Even if you have adverse information in your application, your open, honest answers (and proposed solutions) will be given more credence compared to someone else’s slapdash application.

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.

The good news came to me two months into my new job driving a cab at the airport.  On a clear February 3, 1994, I received a call from my dispatcher telling me to call home.  As it was the day before cell phone prominence, I pulled over and called from a nearby medical clinic.  My wife answered with the kids screaming in the back ground, “Honey, you passed!”"  I told all the strangers in the lobby who smiled and wished me well; a great moment on a great day.  Another bonus was that my new clerking job became an associate’s position that same week.  Not only did I get enough points to pass, I actually received three points more.  I guess I would have preferred to have passed in the first place, but I savored the win.

I shared this little victory with a few others and helped some buddies write their appeals.  My first fee was two cases of Labatt’s Blue beer.  Ah, the sweet taste of success!  About six months later, I was hired to write a Bar Appeal for real money.  I was paid and won it.  A practice was born.

I have to admit that winning feels good.   I wish I could win all of my cases but I simply cannot (nor does any honest lawyer).  Writing Bar Appeals gave me an opportunity to employ and hone my writing skills.  It let me relive the experience of winning again.  Over the years, I learned how to better analyze results and the model answers to tell my potential clients whether they have a chance or not.  More times than not, people who want an appeal will not qualify for a number of reasons.  It is important to know what chances you have going into the process before investing your time and/or money on a bar appeal.  I am just as proud of the fact I can make that call as a trusted resource as I am of the fact I can effectively write Bar Appeals.

Ever since I began looking at bar results, I have never charged for a review.  That’s my way of paying back all of those people who helped me.  It is my recognition of your hard work to enter our trade.  It’s my way of helping people genuinely in crisis (or at least having a bad hair day). 

The reason I write Appeals of the Michigan Bar Examination?  Simple.  I sympathize and empathize.  I have a narrow expertise to share and have helped hundreds make the important decision to write or not write an appeal.  I have written over 100 appeals with success on many of them.  I feel good as a person and a lawyer to combine my passion with my success.  It is rare and wonderful to combine the two.  I am at my best doing what I love doing: helping my fellow lawyer get to where he or she wants to be.

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.  Here are some pointers to keep in mind:

1.  You Are Not the Only (Fill in the Blank) to Apply:  Your character and fitness is not based on your past but on your current character.  How you disclose your past and accept your shortcomings says more about your current character than a whitewash of what may cause you some distress upon reflection.  Current lawyers have all been through the same process as you.  There are lawyers convicted of crimes, suffering from addictions, fired from jobs, having been through bankruptcies, etc . . . .    In short, all the human frailties from which you may suffer are the same ones lawyers have.  Where these facts are not usually the things you admit in public or on a job application, a lawyer’s license requires your full disclosure.  Full, honest disclosure is the best way to lay out your answers.  You do not have to editorialize or comment on the issue being disclosed, just provide the facts as best as you can utilizing all resources available.

2.  The Cover-up is Always Worse than the Crime:  Martha Stewart, Watergate and the recent mayoral scandals in Detroit are all examples of how an attempted cover-up only served to amplify the crime.  The same holds true on your bar application.  Failure to disclose or fully disclose a matter will always lead to an investigation by the State Bar.  This usually arises when an applicant estimates a number or feels something is not important enough to look into fully.  To the State Bar investigators, this looks like a cover-up no matter what your intent was.  Go through the trouble to pull the records; call, research or do whatever is called for to make a complete and accurate records.  This not an application to join a country club; it is a license to practice law – an application to be an officer of the court.  What you represent in the application is taken quite seriously.  What you leave out is taken even more seriously.

3. There is No Rule You Have to Do it Alone: Questions may arise when you are filling out the form.  Call the State Bar.  You will find the investigators to be helpful and not adverse to your application.  A good rapport with the investigators will save you a lot of anxiety and hassle.  Our office answers application questions all the time.  Other lawyers have been through it, too.  They know how important it is.  The only dumb question is one not asked.

4. Some Things Will Demand Further Investigation: Face it, some things demand further accounting on your part.  You cannot escape review because of your disclosures.  Don’t let the fear of a District Committee meeting or a Standing Committee Hearing be a reason to misrepresent yourself.  A recent arrest or financial problems may require further examination.  You know that if you were in the position of having to trust a doctor or other trained professional, you would want someone who had your issues first in mind; someone you can trust.  Lawyers, above all, must be trusted.  You handle client affairs, client funds and secure their confidences.  No one wants to take authorship of admitting a lawyer who was not properly vetted at the time it could have been done.  Without a doubt, a delayed application causes personal hardships.  The best way to manage it is with a strong, honest application.  Don’t leave anything out and do not skimp on the research.

5. Make Sure Your Law School Application is Equally Open and Honest:  The law schools certify you to the State Bar and not only for academics.  They also report on your character and fitness while attending school.  Your law school application becomes part of the investigation package of documents.  If items are missing on your law school application that should have been disclosed, then you will be asked why you left those items out by the State Bar investigators.  You can certainly amend your application with a letter of explanation but you still could be asked to explain why the disclosures were not made earlier.

So, honesty is the best policy.  Trite perhaps, but proven true.  No one expects you to be a saint – - What the State Bar of Michigan and your fellow lawyers expect is that you will be open about any past problems, that you have addressed them and nothing from your personal past will interfere with your ethical representation of clients.  When in doubt, spell it out.

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.