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Hello guys,

I am looking for someone that already had the same issue or could answer to the following question : I passed the New York Bar exam. I do have now to pass the C&F committee in order to get admitted. My criminal record is clean, and I did not have any issue with the law or anything except that a 3 years ago, I got ticketed for speed limit in a foreign country (where I come from). It was on a type of road where the speed limit is usually around 68 mph (big road far from the city), but exceptionally for this one the Governor of the state decided that the speed limit would be 55 mph during a few months. I was arrested by the police at 84,5 mph, and ended up in criminal court for minor offense. I was convicted and I had to pay a fine of $350 and my licence was suspended during 2months (this is an automatic sanction, everybody would have got the same).

Now, the same road has a speed limit of 68 mph. If I had done the same offense to day, I would only have ended up with a small fine of 100$ and no licence suspension. I have never had any other legal issue either in with car, or without a car. I always comply with speed limit rules now.

Do you think it might be an issue and prevent me from getting admitted to the New York Bar ? I am wondering wether I should apply to the C&F or whether I should give up.

Thank you guys !!

This happened in a foreign country. I wouldn't even disclose it and it's likely that the C&F app won't trigger a disclosure.

IMHO, this looks minor, and should not pose a problem with C&F. But you should absolutely disclose it in your C&F application. It''s a criminal conviction, and the last thing you want the bar to think is that you tried to hide the conviction.

neo104 wrote:Hello guys,

I am looking for someone that already had the same issue or could answer to the following question : I passed the New York Bar exam. I do have now to pass the C&F committee in order to get admitted. My criminal record is clean, and I did not have any issue with the law or anything except that a 3 years ago, I got ticketed for speed limit in a foreign country (where I come from). It was on a type of road where the speed limit is usually around 68 mph (big road far from the city), but exceptionally for this one the Governor of the state decided that the speed limit would be 55 mph during a few months. I was arrested by the police at 84,5 mph, and ended up in criminal court for minor offense. I was convicted and I had to pay a fine of $350 and my licence was suspended during 2months (this is an automatic sanction, everybody would have got the same).

Now, the same road has a speed limit of 68 mph. If I had done the same offense to day, I would only have ended up with a small fine of 100$ and no licence suspension. I have never had any other legal issue either in with car, or without a car. I always comply with speed limit rules now.

Do you think it might be an issue and prevent me from getting admitted to the New York Bar ? I am wondering wether I should apply to the C&F or whether I should give up.

Thank you guys !!

You would give up over a speeding ticket? You need more perseverance and fight than that.
You absolutely should disclose it. It’s irrevelant what the law is now. You were just under 30 miles over the speed limit which probably gets you arrested most places.
I think it’s minor enough to be fine, but I’m not an expert. You might want to be very careful how you disclose it. It might be worth advice from a professional, but it doesn’t seem on the surface to be a big issue.
Don’t be discouraged.

Edit to add - I just saw this was 3 years ago, I think you will be fine.

phonylawyer2017 wrote:This happened in a foreign country. I wouldn't even disclose it and it's likely that the C&F app won't trigger a disclosure.

The databases and information worldwide available to state and federal agencies is astounding. Never withhold information just because you think C and F won’t find out because it’s in another country.

My license was suspended when I went through C&F from an earlier ticket that I didn’t realize was unpaid. Got a message saying to update my application because I said my license was never suspended, but it currently was suspended right then. I just explained what happened, paid my ticket, and it was a total non issue.