The Bar Admission Process, Gatekeeper or Big Brother: An Empirical Study
![handle is hein.journals/niulr15 and id is 345 raw text is: The Bar Admission Process, Gatekeeper or
Big Brother: An Empirical Study
PROFESSOR DONALD H. STONE*
I. INTRODUCTION
Bar examiners face the challenge of determining which applicants to
practice law possess the moral fitness, mental stability and proper character
necessary to be competent lawyers. What are the appropriate questions on
bar applications to provide bar examiners with sufficient information to
screen out unfit and unstable potential attorneys? Do questions on mental
health treatment reveal information that helps predict current and future
ability to practice law? Are questions about substance abuse and treatment
relevant in order to prevent attorney misconduct? Should inquiry of
criminal misconduct be restricted to criminal convictions or should
information about arrests alone be permitted, and should a time frame be
placed on such investigations? Are there certain behaviors or conduct in an
applicant's past that are red flags in predicting present and future miscon-
duct? Does the burden of proof fall on the bar applicant to prove moral
fitness or should it be placed on the shoulders of bar examiners to
demonstrate unfitness? Does federal discrimination law protecting the
disabled prevent scrutiny into a bar applicant's past history of mental illness
and substance abuse, or are certain limits placed on the scope and relevancy
of the inquiry?
The empirical data contained in this article is submitted to serve as a
backdrop for purposes of elaboration and comparison. Forty-eight states'
bar applications were reviewed in order to determine the type of questions
asked for the purpose of screening out persons who bar committees believed
were not morally fit or mentally stable to practice law in their state.' The
* Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law; B.A., 1974, Rutgers;
J.D., 1977, Temple. The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Jennifer Falter,
a law student at the University of Baltimore School of Law and Robert Pool, reference
librarian at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
1. Donald H. Stone, Bar Admission Survey (1994) (unpublished survey on file with
the author) [hereinafter Bar Survey/Admission Survey]. This empirical study reviewed the
state bar applications of forty-eight states, as Oregon and Massachusetts were unavailable.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/niulr15&div=20&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Bar Admission Process, Gatekeeper or Big Brother: An Empirical Study
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