Top Law Schools

I know this is probably gonna sound silly but I wanna run it by TLS just for peace of mind:

When I was in the 8th grade, I got into a fight in the boys locker room at school. The other kid's parent filed charges against me and I ended up pleading no contest to assault by contact in a municipal court. As part of my deal, I had to do community service, attend "scared straight" events, and was on probation for 6 months.

Until recently I thought that my deal meant that the case would be expunged from my record, but I just requested the pertinent documents from the court and it turns out that the charges were dismissed (I think). The text reads "FINAL DISPOSITION: DISMISS- DEFERRED DISPOSITION", whatever that means.

I'm aiming for HYS if that makes any difference. I've stayed out of trouble since then. I should disclose, right? It seems trivial but I want to make sure.

You should look into it; make sure it's not a clerical error. Even if an app doesn't require you to do so, it would likely come up during your bar application anyway, so I think you should disclose, unless you have a habit of continuing to get into fights that's continued since grade school. If your numbers look good, and no issues with the rest of the app, you should be fine.

bamfrosty wrote:I know this is probably gonna sound silly but I wanna run it by TLS just for peace of mind:

When I was in the 8th grade, I got into a fight in the boys locker room at school. The other kid's parent filed charges against me and I ended up pleading no contest to assault by contact in a municipal court. As part of my deal, I had to do community service, attend "scared straight" events, and was on probation for 6 months.

Until recently I thought that my deal meant that the case would be expunged from my record, but I just requested the pertinent documents from the court and it turns out that the charges were dismissed (I think). The text reads "FINAL DISPOSITION: DISMISS- DEFERRED DISPOSITION", whatever that means.

I'm aiming for HYS if that makes any difference. I've stayed out of trouble since then. I should disclose, right? It seems trivial but I want to make sure.

They gave you a deferred judgment on your juvi crime. That means that as long as you comply with the requirements--those classes, probation, etc., and don't fuck up you get it off your record. But if you do fuck it up you've already plead guilty and it goes on your record without a trial or anything. It's still going to show up like that because you haven't sealed it. You could try to get it sealed. Most states or courts have a form for that.

Regardless, for the bar, you're going to have to disclose it, even if it isn't on your record, due to the way they word their questions.

I would disclose it on your law school apps anyway because you're going to have to disclose it on the bar exam later and they look at your law school application as part of it.