Character and Fitness
The Practice
March/April 2018
In this issue, we explore the origins, conceptual applications, and tensions surrounding the legal profession’s “character and fitness” qualification—a prerequisite to practice in the U.S.
March/April 2018
A Higher Bar
This lead article examines the contexts behind the character and fitness qualification as it pertains to initial entry to the bar and also outlines a series of tensions that exist in the current system. The recent cases of Betts, Simmons, and Hopwood are only the most recent examples of the profession’s continued usage of, but also difficulties with, the character and fitness qualification.
Character without Borders
Should nonlawyers have a role in the regulation of lawyers via membership on boards of examiners? Should there be a more formal national system of credential verification within law, such as the FCVS system? Should law schools be the gatekeepers for professional regulation, particularly when we know many law graduates never practice law?
Crime and Punishment and Admission to the Bar
What is the role of rehabilitation in determining character and fitness? Should these exceptional cases serve as the minimum requirement for a former felon to gain admission to the bar? Is redemption and rehabilitation impossible without a visibly elite level of personal accomplishment? These questions drive to how to operationalize a character and fitness requirement in the profession—and more broadly, the very purpose the requirement serves.
Teaching Ethics and Professionalism
Today, all state bars acknowledge law degrees from ABA-approved schools as proof of satisfactory legal education, and some even have an explicit requirement that in order to sit for the bar exam, one must earn a law degree from an ABA-approved school (as of 2018, there are 204 approved schools). This standardization across legal education has significant implications for how U.S. lawyers are trained in ethics and professional responsibility.
Against the Odds
Shon Hopwood, an associate professor of law at Georgetown Law School, recently sat down with David B. Wilkins, faculty director of the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, for a one-on-one conversation on the character and fitness requirement in the legal profession.
A Matter of Justice
Judge Jonathan Lippman, former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, and David B. Wilkins, faculty director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School, discuss honesty, justice, and responsibility in the legal profession.
