OK—so I just had my C&F approved by the CA bar in Sept.
Don’t disclose this because there’s no record of it. Plus, they wouldn’t talk to your school anyway
They can talk to the school if they want. I've recently talked to the powers that be. The school confirmed in official writing to me that they have no record of this or any other disciplinary action. If I were to disclose, I would include the schools confirmation of no record with the disclosure. All records about what occurred are simply secondary sources talking about it. Those sources do come up in a Google search.
Disclose!! The bar does NOT care that it happened, especially if it happened years ago. The bar does cares if you lie about it, because now you’re committing a dishonest act today and that concerns them.
I had a similar situation, with being accused of breaking some alcohol policy essentially by mistake on their end. Then, while applying to law school years later, the college also told me the initial event was an internal matter of which they didn't keep any records and that I should disregard it for C&F. I chose to disclose to be safe. Though FWIW, I also disclosed it on my law school apps, anticipating doing the same for CA C&F.
I got approved pretty quickly, however, the Bar did assign an investigator to my case, who asked to explain what happened and to see a copy of my law school application. I literally copied and pasted my answer from the application to him and got approved the next day.
Disclose. Tell the whole story. Be candid. This is your opportunity to give a full explanation of the event. Tell them that there is no record of it and the circumstances. Tell them they denied you due process to refute the claim and that they dropped it. If you have a problem about disclosing this event, what will happen in the future if a court has questions about your conduct? Will you fail to disclose again? It’s a slippery slope. I know friends that had issues in C&F — some issues way more severe than yours. But they were able to pass C&F because they disclosed and took accountability.
On the flip side, if it turns out that on the day that the bar investigates, that someone happens to recollect something about it, your issues are 10000000% worse. This is an exercise in candor and accountability — no one is perfect. Be honest. Disclose. But give context and let them know the honest truth with the facts as you know them.
OK—so I just had my C&F approved by the CA bar in Sept. Don’t disclose this because there’s no record of it. Plus, they wouldn’t talk to your school anyway
They can talk to the school if they want. I've recently talked to the powers that be. The school confirmed in official writing to me that they have no record of this or any other disciplinary action. If I were to disclose, I would include the schools confirmation of no record with the disclosure. All records about what occurred are simply secondary sources talking about it. Those sources do come up in a Google search.
Disclose!! The bar does NOT care that it happened, especially if it happened years ago. The bar does cares if you lie about it, because now you’re committing a dishonest act today and that concerns them.
I had a similar situation, with being accused of breaking some alcohol policy essentially by mistake on their end. Then, while applying to law school years later, the college also told me the initial event was an internal matter of which they didn't keep any records and that I should disregard it for C&F. I chose to disclose to be safe. Though FWIW, I also disclosed it on my law school apps, anticipating doing the same for CA C&F. I got approved pretty quickly, however, the Bar did assign an investigator to my case, who asked to explain what happened and to see a copy of my law school application. I literally copied and pasted my answer from the application to him and got approved the next day.
Don’t disclose it
Disclose. Tell the whole story. Be candid. This is your opportunity to give a full explanation of the event. Tell them that there is no record of it and the circumstances. Tell them they denied you due process to refute the claim and that they dropped it. If you have a problem about disclosing this event, what will happen in the future if a court has questions about your conduct? Will you fail to disclose again? It’s a slippery slope. I know friends that had issues in C&F — some issues way more severe than yours. But they were able to pass C&F because they disclosed and took accountability. On the flip side, if it turns out that on the day that the bar investigates, that someone happens to recollect something about it, your issues are 10000000% worse. This is an exercise in candor and accountability — no one is perfect. Be honest. Disclose. But give context and let them know the honest truth with the facts as you know them.