criminal record Forum

[Lawgirl90]

My friend has a misdemeanor at 18. He had some troubles and was arrested for shop lifting. He did his community service and got the record expunged, that means that the police office destroyed the records and they are no longer accessible to the public. Since then he has worked on getting his act together, and is looking to apply to law school. He will not disclose that he was arrested. But is there a way for his law school to find out? How thorough are background ckecks? What about law related jobs after law school, could they find out? He is almost 21 now, and it is long in his past, but he is still worried about the whole thing. Has anyone had experience with this? Thanks in advance.

[jml8756]

This topic has been covered before. The general consensus seems to be that your "friend" should disclose the arrest if the application asks if he's ever been charged with anything.

If he doesn't disclose, the school probably won't find out. However, things might get trickier when the state bar asks him if he's ever lied on a law school application, because the state will know about the charge.

[Lawgirl90]

Does the state bar matter in the sense that he was arrested in one state, but applies for the bar in a different state, in that way will they know. For example he say he was arrested in florida but applies for the bar in california, will they know? Also expungement means its been destroyed so they have no way of knowing, even if it is the same state, right? The name is also taken of the docket and everything is put away or destroyed.

[Deuce]

Do not lie.

[jml8756]

Expungement doesn't mean all the information just disappears off the face of the planet. It just means it's no longer available to certain people like potential employers. However, some agencies would still have access to the info. Probably an out of state Bar would have access. At any rate, it would be ill-advised to lie to the Bar.

ETA: Although retail theft is a crime of moral turpitude, which tends to be viewed with more scrutiny, community service doesn't count as a conviction in most states. So even if the Bar does have access to his record, most likely it would show that the case was nolle prossed.