Criminal Activity Addendum Forum

[mlieber]

I got in trouble back in 2007 (marijuana citation) and received a defferred prosecution. The charges would have been dismissed after 6 mos had i completed a class and paid a fine. I paid the fine but never the class, and recently have had to get back in touch with the court and am starting from scratch. Would it be wrong to just put down my initial outcome in my addendum and just pray that the second time around they let me start off where I finished or do i need to disclose that it may still be going on? I feel like this could hurt me more than help me and by the time i go up for the bar it should be taken care of anyway and I will technically have disclosed it.

[Ratchet Jackson]

I got in trouble back in 2007 (marijuana citation) and received a defferred prosecution. The charges would have been dismissed after 6 mos had i completed a class and paid a fine. I paid the fine but never the class, and recently have had to get back in touch with the court and am starting from scratch. Would it be wrong to just put down my initial outcome in my addendum and just pray that the second time around they let me start off where I finished or do i need to disclose that it may still be going on? I feel like this could hurt me more than help me and by the time i go up for the bar it should be taken care of anyway and I will technically have disclosed it.

You need to disclose it all. State when the citation occured, where it occured, nature of offense and disposition. You will be fine, but just be truthful about everything up until this point. I'm hoping, for your sake, there is a good reason for not completing that class in 3+ years. Get it complete so you can move on with your life.

[mlieber]

The problem is I really don't have a good reason for not completing it, and had it not just suddenly popped up again I would not have even known that the charges had not been dismissed. I'm leaning on the side of just leaving what had previously happened and not mentioning the recent part, but what is the downside to doing that

[Ratchet Jackson]

The problem is I really don't have a good reason for not completing it, and had it not just suddenly popped up again I would not have even known that the charges had not been dismissed. I'm leaning on the side of just leaving what had previously happened and not mentioning the recent part, but what is the downside to doing that

Running into issues with the Character and Fitness portion of the state bar is the major downside. If they find out that correspondence was sent to you informing you of your incompletion of the class and you subsequently failed to notify the law schools you are applying to, it could create some issues for you down the road. How long will the class take to complete?

[krad]

I got in trouble back in 2007 (marijuana citation) and received a defferred prosecution. The charges would have been dismissed after 6 mos had i completed a class and paid a fine. I paid the fine but never the class, and recently have had to get back in touch with the court and am starting from scratch. Would it be wrong to just put down my initial outcome in my addendum and just pray that the second time around they let me start off where I finished or do i need to disclose that it may still be going on? I feel like this could hurt me more than help me and by the time i go up for the bar it should be taken care of anyway and I will technically have disclosed it.

You need to disclose it all. State when the citation occured, where it occured, nature of offense and disposition. You will be fine, but just be truthful about everything up until this point. I'm hoping, for your sake, there is a good reason for not completing that class in 3+ years. Get it complete so you can move on with your life.

[mlieber]

There was nothing sent to me, I took care of it on my own and contacted then. They tried to send me things in the past but did not have my up to date address and the attorney i had hired was useless. I think i can word this without disclosing the recent contact without it clashing with any bar requirements. The class is 8 weeks plus im starting from scratch and plan on turning my applications in tomorow, the continuance (telephonic trial) is after. if it comes up later im just doing to fudge the dates. I do plan on disclosing this is the punishment is not the same, just not on the applications themselves, because had i not reached out they never would have contacted me and I would not be being dishonest Thank yoU!

[whymeohgodno]

There was nothing sent to me, I took care of it on my own and contacted then. They tried to send me things in the past but did not have my up to date address and the attorney i had hired was useless. I think i can word this without disclosing the recent contact without it clashing with any bar requirements. The class is 8 weeks plus im starting from scratch and plan on turning my applications in tomorow, the continuance (telephonic trial) is after. if it comes up later im just doing to fudge the dates. I do plan on disclosing this is the punishment is not the same, just not on the applications themselves, because had i not reached out they never would have contacted me and I would not be being dishonest Thank yoU!

Yeah have fun with that when it comes up on the character and fitness exam.

[mlieber]

Why would that become a problem? Up until yesteday I honestly believed the case had been dismissed and there is no record of me calling in. The only reason the was brought to my attention was that my former attorney concated me and told me i had to give the court an updated address. It is not lying, and had i already submitted my applications before she called me, it would have been the truth at the time. And i do plan on disclosing it to whatever school i get into if the agreement ends up changing, which it most likely will not, therefore no clash on the bar.

[whymeohgodno]

Why would that become a problem? Up until yesteday I honestly believed the case had been dismissed and there is no record of me calling in. The only reason the was brought to my attention was that my former attorney concated me and told me i had to give the court an updated address. It is not lying, and had i already submitted my applications before she called me, it would have been the truth at the time. And i do plan on disclosing it to whatever school i get into if the agreement ends up changing, which it most likely will not, therefore no clash on the bar.

Intentionally wording it so that you attempt to hide a particular detail does not go over well at Character and Fitness.

[mlieber]

well it's not wording..its just timeline. as far as i knew up to the time i submitted my applications i was being 100% honest.

[justadude55]

how soon is the court process? maybe you can wait until after it's done. depending on the details, a marijuana offense from years back will not hurt you that much. most deans who have published notes on such issues state that alcohol in a dorm or even an underage alcohol citation is not a very big deal, but the context is everything. driving while drunk at 19 is a lot different than drinking at a party at 19.

i'm assuming there is some overlap between marijuana and alcohol. clearly, marijuana is not legal, but i would imagine adcoms are familiar with the percentage of applicants who probably have used it, but been fortunate enough to not to face legal sanctions.

[lalalawya]

well it's not wording..its just timeline. as far as i knew up to the time i submitted my applications i was being 100% honest.

The majority (if not all) applications say that you have the responsibility to update them of any changes....this included. Lying by omission is still lying. You were just given new information regarding your offense, so you can no longer claim "you didn't know" because you clearly do...you just told us all. Honestly, it would be WAY worse to not update them. It would suck to go to school for three years just to be told you can't practice law because you failed to update the C&F portion of your application.

[krad]

well it's not wording..its just timeline. as far as i knew up to the time i submitted my applications i was being 100% honest.

The majority (if not all) applications say that you have the responsibility to update them of any changes....this included. Lying by omission is still lying. You were just given new information regarding your offense, so you can no longer claim "you didn't know" because you clearly do...you just told us all. Honestly, it would be WAY worse to not update them. It would suck to go to school for three years just to be told you can't practice law because you failed to update the C&F portion of your application.

This. I think that is the point that we're trying to drive home. Even though you didn't know about it before, you know about it now. While it probably is not the biggest deal, it'd be much better to be safe than sorry three years (and a ton of debt) down the road...

[eliekedourie]

Dude. You've clearly decided how you want to handle this. Have fun with dealing with it 3 years from now. Let the TLS community know how it goes.

[mlieber]

Nope. I actually have the pre-trial on Tuesday so hopefully I'll know what happens then and be able to be completely honest.