Most traditional law students don't think twice about the moral character application, but for us non-traditional students, the process can be a little more daunting. For those that haven't filed their application yet, I thought I would share my experience and hopefully give a few tips that I found to be helpful.
What is the Moral Character Application? According to the State Bar of California, the moral character application is a compilation of many details of the applicant's life. The moral character application is one of the many steps a student must take in order to seek admission to the State Bar and to become licensed to practice law in the state.
What does the Moral Character Application cover? Everything LOL! The State Bar of California does an excellent job of providing detailed instructions and additional information to make the process as easy as possible. However, a lot of information is required and you want to be honest and thorough so you don't cause delays or worse---cause the reviewers/investigators to believe you might be hiding something which goes directly against the entire moral character process. The application itself covers:
Civil Actions and Administrative Proceedings
Criminal matters
Debts
Disciplinary History (military, professional, and academic)
Driving history
Educations history
Professional Applications and Credentials
References: Personal and Employment
Residence history
Please keep in mind that the information provided here is related to MY personal experience in filing my moral character application in California. Nothing here should be considered legal advice. The information provided is based on my perspective and may or may not be correct for you. Please review the references listed below and the CalBar website if you are filing in California. If you are filing in another state, PLEASE do your own research and make sure you are following the requirements for your state.
Here is a brief overview of information I found helpful during my application process--
You must provide a certified copy of your driver's license history for each jurisdiction, other than California, within the last 10 years or since the age of 18. The original or certified copy must have been issued within six months of the date on the current application and must contain at least 5 years of driving history. References-- must be provided and a confidential questionnaire will be sent to all references listed (I am told that these are typically sent via email). A Law School Declaration will be sent to the admissions office of your law school. Fingerprints are required and in California they use the Live Scan technology--for me, this was a simple process. After you submit your moral character application you receive information to take to the Live Scan location and once the fingerprints have been completed you upload a copy to your CalBar portal. There is a different process for applicants that live outside of California, so I would recommend reading over the instructions carefully (links to instructions and the FAQ pages that I found useful will be listed below).
Civil/Administrative Actions-- are things such as a divorce, any civil actions where you were a named plaintiff or defendant, administrative matters such as DMV violations, license suspensions, employment hearings, etc. Criminal matters include things such as an applicant's criminal history (regardless of whether or not you provided that information on your law school application...which can open a different can of worms). Arrests, misdemeanors and felony convictions, an pending criminal matters must also be disclosed. Pretrial diversion agreements are unique and you should do your research if you have participated in a pretrial diversion program in the past. It was stressed in all the information I found that you want to be extremely thorough and provide ALL records/documentation for ANYTHING and everything you disclose on your application. Try to get copies of traffic tickets, civil actions, divorce documentation, credit reports (if required to report) , etc. I spoke with an attorney during the process and she recommended providing everything I could get my hands on and that it is better to provide too much information than not enough. If you don't provide everything they will reach out and request additional information which can cause a delay in the processing of your application.
Debts-- the application requires disclosure of all debts that are delinquent at the time the application is submitted. You are required to disclose a bankruptcy (and should provide sufficient documentation). You are required to provide a credit report if you have ever defaulted on a student loan or if you disclose a delinquent debt on your application. You can get a free credit report yearly at www.freecreditreport.com, or if you pay for credit monitoring or receive those services through a credit card, you can usually pull a credit report from there as well.
Disciplinary History- you must disclose whether you have been disciplined in undergrad or law school for things such as violating the honor code or being dropped, suspended, placed on disciplinary probation, etc. You should also read the rules/instructions carefully regarding military history/discharge. I assume you would get any necessary documentation from either the college you previously attended or from military records (not positive here, so do your research if you have anything to disclose in this area).
Education- you must report all periods of education after high school, including the name of the school the dates of attendance, etc. Here, I provided transcripts...they were not requested, but I provided them regardless LOL.
Professional Applications and Credentials- you are required to disclose any professional applications or credentials such as a Certified Public Accountant, Real Estate Salesperson, Notary Public, Teacher, etc. I have my real estate license in 3 states so I pulled that documentation of the DRE website and submitted that with my application.
Employment- you are required to disclose past or present employment lasting more than 6 months, and any law-related employment, regardless of its duration. Here, you must provide the name and address of the employer, name of HR or supervisor and contact information (preferably an email address). If you change employment while still in law school...you must update your moral character application with that information within 30-days. Keep in mind that you have to disclose ALL employment that falls within the defined guidelines even if the employer is no longer in business. It is amazing what you can remember if you take the time to really sit down and think about it. I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday...but I can tell you every place I have ever worked, and I got my first job while I was still in high school. Getting updated email address information for some places was a little more of a challenge.
Residence History- You are required to provide the addresses of the places you have lived within the past 8 years, including college and law school residencies. If there are gaps in residency history OR employment history, you are required to explain these gaps.
A few tips
Start early. If you are attempting to gather documentation from various states it is a good idea to start early. I found that most of the states I have lived in had an online portal to gather driving history, but I did have to mail a few request via snail mail. If you are gathering court documents and they are not online...you may have to do a written request for those as well. Make sure you double check the cost of the requests and provide payment in the appropriate payment type. I had a few places that would only accept a money order (so always double check). Keep in mind that your driving history (if you are applying in CA) should be an original or certified copy and must be dated within 6 months of your application date.
Do your research. If you are concerned about something in your past, do your research. Talk to attorneys that specialize in bar admission issues. Most will give you a free consultation so make sure you have a detailed list of questions ahead of time to make sure you get the most out of the time. Attend webinars and other events hosted by the Bar on the topic. I attended a webinar hosted by the State Bar and it was led by a panel of judges discussing the topics covered on the moral character application and how to address certain issues. The overwhelming conclusion was to disclose everything, explain it all, make sure you have your documentation in order, don't turn your application in if it is not complete, and be HONEST!! It seems that even if you have a blemish on your record, being honest and disclosing what happened, why, and how you not only corrected the issue but how you have changed to make sure it never happens again is key. I spoke to an attorney who spent time in prison and was still able to receive a positive moral character determination, so it is possible, but only if you disclose all the information and remain humble during the process. Thank goodness I didn't have anything like that to worry about, but it was nice to hear his story and to get his perspective on the process as a whole after going through it for years before finally being given a positive determination.
My Experience: So I started my law school journey MANY years ago and already knew about the moral character application so I have had it on my radar for years. I wanted to make this post because a lot of students don't even think about moral character because they are fresh out of undergrad, have lived at 1-2 addresses, never had a speeding ticket, and have nothing to really explain to the committee. However, if you are a non-traditional law student (like myself) you may have several years of "life" to explain. And let's be real...life happens! I first applied to law school in 2018 at the age of 39. By that time...I had already lived some life LOL🤣. I had worked several jobs, a majority of which were in the legal field. I had lived in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Florida and Georgia. While living in Indiana I had several speeding tickets. I also had a few in Florida. In 2019 I filed for bankruptcy after having a medical emergency which left me in the hospital with huge medical bills. I have also been married....and divorced, which is something you have to disclose (including any name changes). By the time I was ready to file my moral character application, I had moved to California and added another state, another address, another job, and another drivers license number to my already lengthy list of information I had to gather. Needless to say...I had some things that I had to explain and some documentation to gather.
I submitted my application on 4/28/2023, and was assigned an investigator a week or so later who advised that he did not receive the massive document that I uploaded to the portal so I had to re-submit all my documentation in separate PDF's. Other than that, they reached back out about an LLC that I created several years ago and forgot to mention in my addendum. I provided documentation regarding that business and received a positive moral character determination on 6/5/2023. If you have searched on Reddit for the moral character process you will see a TON of horror stories and I just didn't experience that at all (thank goodness)!! And I really believe it was because I wrote a thorough addendum and provided any and all documentation I could possibly gather (and because I prayed...a lot)🙏🏽. I am 100% positive that I gave WAY too much information, but I really wanted to leave no questions in their minds but that I had provided absolutely everything...and that is exactly what I did. The process of gathering the information and writing the addendum took longer than the process of getting a positive determination LOL. So... my NON-LEGAL, PERSONAL opinion is to make sure that you include everything. If you can't find something or if the documents are old and have been destroyed...get proof of that. If you can't, explain what steps you took to obtain the information and the outcome.
At the end of the day, this is just one more hurdle we have to overcome and it can be done with a little planning, some hard work, some great investigative skills, and a positive attitude. If you are working on your application and are looking for an attorney to speak with, reach out to me and I would be more than happy to refer you to the attorney's I spoke with during this process.
REFERENCES/LINKS:
Instructions from the State Bar of California: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/admissions/Moral-Character-Determination-Application-Instructions.pdf
Moral Character Application FAQ: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/admissions/moralCharacter/Moral-Character-FAQ.pdf
Moral Character Determination Guidelines: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/admissions/moralCharacter/moral-character-determination-guidelines.pdf
