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I've had a squeaky clean record my whole life, up until my first year of law school. Long story short, I was accused of an Academic Code of Conduct violation by a classmate during 1L. I was accused of discussing an assignment and peer reviewing it with a classmate against the professor's instructions. After denying guilt I was acquitted at a hearing.

This is basically my one and only source of stress for the Bar application process. Is it probable that I'll face a delay? I have a good firm job lined up and I really don't want anything to jeopardize that, so I figured I might get ahead of this early if a delay is probable. As far as presenting this on the application (which does ask about "accusations"), I'm also looking for recommendations on how to submit it - should I include a very long and detailed writeup, or should I be more succinct and to the point? How about including exhibits, etc. - should I just say that they're available but compile them? I think there's probably a recording/transcript of the meeting somewhere - how should I tell the Bar that it's available? Looking for your wisdom and advice here - I'll put slightly more detailed facts below, as I would (very roughly) present them to the Bar to inform discussion.

Facts:
The process was pretty simple. I was notified of an investigation. Soon after, I met with the investigator, walked through any instances where I might have had a violation but concluded that I had not committed that violation - I said this verbally. A little while after the meeting I was officially charged - the document had the facts gathered from the accusing students. After reading, I sent an equally lengthy on-the-record reply back denying the charges and requesting a Trial by Comba- er, Hearing. I'm not exactly unbiased here, but once we got to the hearing it became pretty clear that the investigator wasn't going to meet his burden of proof. We questioned my accusers, other witnesses, and presented evidence (I had a lot more). It was a long process but I was pretty easily acquitted.

I'd err on the side of a shorter explanation. Briefly identify the accusation, the process filed by the school, and the final disposition.

It may delay your C&F process. I don't know that there's any way for you to avoid the potential delay, though. If the C&F board in your state flags any accusation of academic misconduct for further review, they're going to flag it regardless of how well you frame the facts.

cavalier1138 wrote:I'd err on the side of a shorter explanation. Briefly identify the accusation, the process filed by the school, and the final disposition.

It may delay your C&F process. I don't know that there's any way for you to avoid the potential delay, though. If the C&F board in your state flags any accusation of academic misconduct for further review, they're going to flag it regardless of how well you frame the facts.

As far as preventing/"getting in front," I was thinking more along the lines of looking into an early application in the fall instead of early spring.

RoughlyTerashod wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:I'd err on the side of a shorter explanation. Briefly identify the accusation, the process filed by the school, and the final disposition.

It may delay your C&F process. I don't know that there's any way for you to avoid the potential delay, though. If the C&F board in your state flags any accusation of academic misconduct for further review, they're going to flag it regardless of how well you frame the facts.

As far as preventing/"getting in front," I was thinking more along the lines of looking into an early application in the fall instead of early spring.

I think that may also depend on the jurisdiction. I know that a lot of (maybe all?) states don't even start the C&F screening until you've passed the bar, regardless of when you submit the application.