Solutions to the C&F Madness Forum

[cjTX]

Woke up with a thought - I'd really like to see law schools and state bars give a set of definitions for the terms they use when asking these questions. It would solve so much confusion between students, and between applicants and the school and/or bar.

It's like what you see it at the beginning of long contracts and in statutes.

For example, depending on the wishes/interests of the school or bar, you would have the normal "Have you ever been cited, ticketed, arrested, or detained..." and on an attachment or available on the website you could find that arrest is defined as some variation, more or less specific, of the following:
i)An arrest is defined as being placed into handcuffs or otherwise restrained, and then processed, or "booked" into a detention center.

Consider the word "detained". Schools and state bars could prevent so much confusion, anxiety, disagreement, and waste of time (by everyone including their own staffs) if they said, "Detained is defined as being stopped or questioned on suspicion of an offense, or being held so that a search of your vehicle could be completed".

I mean the question of what to disclose/not disclose, or when is too much disclosure is so very murky and inefficient.

How can I be full and candid if I'm not sure what the board is interesting in hearing about? If you want to know about every single interaction I've ever had with law enforcement, then just ask.

[lavarman84]

They make it broad and vague on purpose. So us future lawyers can't lawyer our way out of disclosing certain things.

[cjTX]

I guess I should have prefaced by saying, "unless this whole system is used as some kind of moral crucible..."

Still, even from their point of views, I can't imagine the amount of time and resources wasted on questions from people who are trying to be honest, but unsure of what's being asked. Not to mention the state bars investigations, letters, hearings, reviews of documents, etc.