Conduct, Not Condition, Proper Subject Of Bar Admissions Inquiry

Kansas has amended several rules governing bar admission.

One significant revision relates to the recent controversy concerning mental health questions.

The Supreme Court changed the language relating to its evaluation of an applicant’s mental and emotional fitness to practice by deleting a reference to “mental and emotional health and condition” to “conduct,” thus looking to specific behavior as a basis for inquiry rather than the existence of a condition itself.

This is a trend that we can expect to see more of as state bars react to the position of the U.S. Department of Justice (reported here by the ABA Journal)  that only conduct, not a diagnosed condition, can properly be considered in the bar admissions process. (Mike Frisch)