Old Enough To Know Better

The Maryland Court of Appeals has denied admission to a graduate of Tulane Law School as a result of a “demonstrated consistent pattern of financial irresponsibility” and the fact that he had given false financial information on a car loan application.

He also had failed to disclose a public indecency conviction to the law school.

The failure to disclose to Tulane came to light when the applicant applied to the Florida Bar. An official from Tulane advised Florida that it would have admitted him even if the conviction had been disclosed.

The court rejected the notion that these lapses were “youthful indiscretions”

 Here, we are not examining a singular instance of failure to provide a full and candid disclosure that could potentially be rehabilitated through later disclosure; instead, we are confronted with Movant’s pattern of financial irresponsibility and his lack of candor on the car loan application. At the time of the events detailed above—when Movant declared bankruptcy, incurred additional debt, and applied for admission to the Bar of Florida and the Bar of Maryland—Movant was over the age of thirty. In other words, Movant’s misconduct cannot be written off as youthful indiscretions or attributed to juvenility. As the Board found, and we agree, Movant has shown a lack of “commitment to honesty and financial responsibility.”

The applicant had previously been denied admission in Florida. (Mike Frisch)