Colorado Supreme Court
Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel
Promoting Professionalism. Protecting the Public.
Moral
Requirements Clarified for Bar Applicants
The Character & Fitness Admission
Guidelines give insight into how an application will be judged for moral and
ethical qualifications.
By MELISSA PETRUCELLI
Winter 2014
Becoming a
licensed attorney requires years of difficult studies and completion of a
grueling bar examination. The Colorado Supreme Court has established high ethical
standards for attorneys which involve more than measuring mere competence. In
addition to passing the written examination, applicants must prove to the Bar
Committee that they possess the moral and ethical qualifications required to
practice law. That is achieved through the Character & Fitness
investigation, the purpose of which is to protect the public and safeguard the
system of justice.
Colorado
Rule of Civil Procedure 201.6 requires that all applicants to the bar
“demonstrate that they are mentally stable and morally and ethically qualified
for admission.” But how does the Office of Attorney Admissions make that
determination? The rule gives no further details.
In response,
the Bar Committee established the Character
& Fitness Admission Guidelines in December 2012. The Guidelines delineate:
· A lawyer’s responsibilities
· The standard of character and fitness
· The essential eligibility
requirements to meet that standard
· The relevant conduct that will be
reviewed
· The factors considered when assigning
weight to prior conduct
· The ability to affirmatively assets
rehabilitation from past conduct
The
Guidelines are just one change to the state’s admissions structure. Recently,
the Board of Law Examiners was reorganized and given a new name: the Office of
Attorney Admissions. Part of the reorganization was to bring the Office of
Attorney Admissions under the authority of the Office of Attorney Regulation
Counsel and to create several new positions.
One of the
newly established positions is the Director of Character & Fitness. The
Director, along with two staff assistants, one full-time investigator, and one
part-time investigator, are responsible for conducting a thorough background
investigation of approximately 1,500 exam applicants each year. They
additionally review several hundred on-motion and Unified Bar Examination transfer
applications for character and fitness related issues.
The Office
of Attorney Regulation Counsel now regulates all Colorado attorneys from their
entrance into the profession through the day they leave the profession. One of
the primary objectives of the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel is to
develop and encourage that “lifelong” relationship. With the reorganization of
the Office of Attorney Admissions and adoption of the Character and Fitness
Admission Guidelines, the Office is working toward making the first step in
that relationship a transparent and understandable one.
Read
the full Character and Fitness Admission Guidelines here.
Melissa Petrucelli is the Director of
Character & Fitness within the Office of Attorney Admissions.