An Admissions Issue

by Mike Frisch

The Supreme Court of Oregon recently denied admission to an attorney who is admitted (but inactive) in Illinois on character and fitness grounds. The applicant is also licensed as a physician in Illinois and served briefly as a vice-dean of academic affairs at the College for Medical Sciences in Katmandu, Nepal.

The issues regarding admission relate to claims by the applicant that a fellow law student had cheated, a defamation action he had filed against an assistant dean of the University of Illinois, an airport arrest for disorderly conduct and a claim that his opponent in a judicial election had run a smear campaign. The Oregon authorities sought a psychological evaluation and recommended against admission after the applicant declined to participate.  An evaluation was later done but the applicant sought to place conditions on the use of the results. The Court declined to consider the report and rejected the suggestion that the applicant could place conditions on its consideration of the report.

One interesting aspect of the decision is that it points out that one bar may decline admission even where another has admitted the applicant.  Here, the applicant had been admitted (“admission [in Illinois] was not without its difficulties”) and apparently had been in good standing for over a decade.

The opinion is linked here.