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Hi,

I'm a senior econ and poli major at UNC CH my gpa is a 3.23 and I hope to attend unc for law school as well. I haven't taken the LSAT yet but I expect to be in the 165 range according to my practices. As a sophomore in college I was involved in an isolated incident where I was charged with 5 misdemeanors: fake id,underage consumption, resisting an officer, drunk and disorderly and propert damage (essentially I slapped a bus sign and the cops tackled me into a store window). I received a deferred prosecution so no convictions and the matter is totally resolved (service drinking classes final court date etc) but it was too late to get it expunged before the application period the paper work is in but it takes six months. My question, do law schools perform back ground checks. If not should I check no (I know it's dishonest but it will be off my record by the time I apply to the bar because of the expungement so it won't look like I lied because you don't have to disclose expungements) if I do disclose how does this affect my chances of admission. Thanks for any advice you might have.

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If by deferred judgment you mean a Prayer for Judgment Continued, then you should double check whether you avoided a conviction or a sentence. PJCs count as convictions in some cases and not in others.

If you wait to expunge your record, read the fine print of your applications. Schools that do not require you to inform them of matters that have been expunged will explicitly tell you so in the application. If they ask whether you have ever been charged with a crime without making exceptions for expunged matters, then I would definitely state your charges regardless. I wouldn't assume that the Bar can't see that you got your record expunged, even if they can't look inside the record.

If you disclose the arrest, make sure you note that it was an isolated incident and that it was extremely embarrassing, you regret it, you wouldn't dream of repeating those actions, you learned from it, etc. Keep it short and sweet. It won't affect your chances as much as your GPA and LSAT, get those up as high as you can and good luck man.

Are you sure the school makes an exception for expunged cases? That's rare.

Regardless, disclose. I suspect the bar will be able to see when your expungement was granted and if it's after your application that says no arrests, you're pretty screwed.

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Although this is slightly different than your situation, I am providing this as purely anecdotal information just to give you an idea of what could potentially pop up in an application to the bar and their background check process.

In undergrad I was disciplined for an alcohol violation in on campus housing. I received a written discipline notice from the school and that was the extent of the punishment.

When filling out law school applications I disclosed the fact I was disciplined as required by the schools application.

When I filled out my bar application, I contacted the school to find out the date of the violation because I did not remember the date but needed to disclose it. When I contacted the school they had no disciplinary file for me because it was school policy if you only received one alcohol infraction during your time at the school, upon graduation they discarded it and did not keep a disciplinary record. I guess this is done because they felt if you only have one minor violation then they wouldn't consider it a disciplinary violation and cleared your record.

On my bar application I didn't disclose the alcohol violation. I received a written notice from the bar stating they reviewed my law school application and bar application and noticed a discrepancy on my disclosures regarding discipline and asked that I provide an explanation for the discrepancy. I provided the explanation and was able to sit for the exam.

I think a good rule to follow here is disclose, disclose, disclose and explain. The misdemeanor charges you had and ultimate disposition will not keep your from law school or becoming a member of the bar.

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It depends on the school in terms of whether or not you need to disclose. I applied to some schools that required disclosure even if the record was sealed or expunged.

It's better to disclose than to risk anything. I can't say that enough.

Disclose, disclose, disclose and I would say that you are fine. I'm no lawyer, but the theme on TLS seems to be if you disclose, are honest, and take responsibility for your actions, then it should not prevent you from getting into law school and your state bar (obv. given that you aren't found guilty of murder in the first degree and ran a ponzi scheme and got caught).

Disclose. The admin people wont give a shit as long as you have something showing how you have changed. Seriously, ppl at my school have done the same shit or worse. If you have the numbers which you do for a (20-50 range) you will be fine.