Disclosing bad jobs on your bar application Forum

[ajahmed95]

The bar app in my state (NY) requires us to disclose at the very least every law-related job that I've had in the last 10 years. My current and last job of 3L year, my last job of law school, is with a neurotic solo practitioner that I only took to get some pocket money. I have a really bad relationship with him. Some of it is my fault, like showing up late sometimes (it's a difficult area with traffic and parking, please don't comment on this further). But a lot of it is him constantly getting in my face about everything, and being as condescending as possible.

For reference to how bad he is, he used to have a few partners and junior associates under him. They have ALL left him. He has NO support staff left except for one lady who is leaving soon as well.

I am deeply concerned that he's going to say something bad about me on his bar affidavit. Does anyone know if it is possible to exclude this job, or another way to circumvent it? I have good relationships with all other places I have interned.

[cavalier1138]

You cannot leave a job off your bar app. You can probably use the coworker as your reference for the job, but do not omit it.

[mjb447]

One of the points of the "disclose every job" requirement is that you can't choose not to disclose a job where you had problems, even if (in your own estimation) many of them weren't your fault.

[Person1111]

You can't leave it off, but it also won't hurt you. The absolute worst case scenario is that you will have to explain to the bar that it wasn't a good fit and that you didn't get along, which is not remotely disqualifying.

[QContinuum]

You can't leave it off, but it also won't hurt you. The absolute worst case scenario is that you will have to explain to the bar that it wasn't a good fit and that you didn't get along, which is not remotely disqualifying.

100% second the above. The affirmation isn't like a rec letter. Even if the lawyer takes the opportunity to trash you as the worst intern he's ever had the displeasure of hiring, etc., that shouldn't raise any C&F issues.

In my view, the more likely scenario is that the lawyer refuses to fill out the affirmation. That won't be disqualifying either; you won't be the first and you won't be the last bar applicant to be unable to secure an employment affidavit or two. You should document your attempts to secure the affidavit. I forget how many attempts is required before you can give up and say the affidavit is unobtainable; your school should be able to advise you on that.

If there's another lawyer who supervised you back when you worked for the now-solo practitioner, or a staff member who functioned as "HR" (i.e., handled "employee records"/payroll), you can/should try approaching them first. It's very common to obtain affirmations from HR personnel who complete the form based on a review of your employee file.