Character and Fitness - Middle School Relevance Forum

[DesireLawSchool]

I am still an undergraduate with hopes of going to law school but before I walk down that road I want to make sure I could pass the Character and Fitness portion of the bar exam.

In middle school there was an incident involving a BB-gun. An individual brought it to school to try to shoot someone I knew. His friend took it away from him and I let him put it in my locker to keep it away from him. At the end of the school day he took it from my locker and disposed of it. The way the school found out about the this is because I came forward on my own to tell them what happened. I got suspended then expelled from middle school. At this point it in time it has been eight years since the incident and the only other issue is a curfew violation from when I was in high school. Honest opinions...will that incident make it impossible for me to pass the character and fitness portion? My apologies if this is a dumb question but I can't seem to find much information about this.

[kalvano]

Please be drunk on a Saturday night.

[HeavenWood]

I am still an undergraduate with hopes of going to law school but before I walk down that road I want to make sure I could pass the Character and Fitness portion of the bar exam.

In middle school there was an incident involving a BB-gun. An individual brought it to school to try to shoot someone I knew. His friend took it away from him and I let him put it in my locker to keep it away from him. At the end of the school day he took it from my locker and disposed of it. The way the school found out about the this is because I came forward on my own to tell them what happened. I got suspended then expelled from middle school. At this point it in time it has been eight years since the incident and the only other issue is a curfew violation from when I was in high school. Honest opinions...will that incident make it impossible for me to pass the character and fitness portion? My apologies if this is a dumb question but I can't seem to find much information about this.

I could understand a suspension for poor judgment... but an expulsion? The joy of zero tolerance...

Did your punishment stop at expulsion, or did this go on your juvenile record as well?

[top_wel]

I can’t imagine how hard your situation is. The middle school gave poor judgment on this matter; they don’t even go further to know who the suspect of that incident. But I would like to know what is in your suspension agreement. Does the suspension is only effective in your middle school or even other school in your area?

My School

[cinephile]

If you only have a disciplinary record from the middle school, it might not be an issue. I think most of my applications asked only about post-secondary institutions.

[LS-Hopeful]

I am still an undergraduate with hopes of going to law school but before I walk down that road I want to make sure I could pass the Character and Fitness portion of the bar exam.

In middle school there was an incident involving a BB-gun. An individual brought it to school to try to shoot someone I knew. His friend took it away from him and I let him put it in my locker to keep it away from him. At the end of the school day he took it from my locker and disposed of it. The way the school found out about the this is because I came forward on my own to tell them what happened. I got suspended then expelled from middle school. At this point it in time it has been eight years since the incident and the only other issue is a curfew violation from when I was in high school. Honest opinions...will that incident make it impossible for me to pass the character and fitness portion? My apologies if this is a dumb question but I can't seem to find much information about this.

There is no way that this incident would even be stored on a database that the bar is cross-referencing. Don't worry about it.

[LS-Hopeful]

I am still an undergraduate with hopes of going to law school but before I walk down that road I want to make sure I could pass the Character and Fitness portion of the bar exam.

In middle school there was an incident involving a BB-gun. An individual brought it to school to try to shoot someone I knew. His friend took it away from him and I let him put it in my locker to keep it away from him. At the end of the school day he took it from my locker and disposed of it. The way the school found out about the this is because I came forward on my own to tell them what happened. I got suspended then expelled from middle school. At this point it in time it has been eight years since the incident and the only other issue is a curfew violation from when I was in high school. Honest opinions...will that incident make it impossible for me to pass the character and fitness portion? My apologies if this is a dumb question but I can't seem to find much information about this.

I could understand a suspension for poor judgment... but an expulsion? The joy of zero tolerance...

Did your punishment stop at expulsion, or did this go on your juvenile record as well?

Even if it did go on a juvenile record, it is still extremely tough to discover unless someone was seriously injured (Felony-level charge) and the information was stored on a federal database.

[JazzOne]

I can’t imagine how hard your situation is. The middle school gave poor judgment on this matter; they don’t even go further to know who the suspect of that incident. But I would like to know what is in your suspension agreement. Does the suspension is only effective in your middle school or even other school in your area?

My School

lol

[3ThrowAway99]

Prob nothing that will come up on your school apps, but there are some that ask unusually searching questions. I think one of the apps had a question where I had to write an addendum for parking tickets I got as a juvenile or something ridiculous like that, but it was for the only TTT I applied to (aiming for full scholly and stipend essentially). In any case, if you don't get specifically asked a C and F question demanding you disclose this particular incident (such as "Have you EVER IN YOUR LIFE been expelled from a school?") then I wouldn't bring it up. Even if there is a question that asks "Have you ever been expelled or subject to academic discipline?" I'm thinking that could reasonably be interpreted as only including post-secondary education, unless in context it is clear that they are wondering about juvenile hx (which most law schools don't ask or care about as far as I can tell). Nevertheless, that might be a question that a brief addendum could be appropriate for depending on the actual wording and context. I don't think that is a question you will get though. The bottom line is that I wouldn't worry about it unless you actually have a question that may force disclosure; even then, this is not something that will keep you from being a lawyer, unless you perhaps you start repeating the same behavior as an adult. All just my opinion though-- you might want to verify check anything said here.

TL;DR version: This will not prevent you from becoming a member of the bar. (this is not intended as legal advice though and should be verified as appropriate).

[nealric]

Unless you did something really heinous (i.e. rape/murder), the only thing likely to prevent your admission to the bar is a failure to disclose an issue that was specifically asked about on the C&F app. The C&F app that I filled out did not ask about disciplinary actions in middle school.

[Wholigan]

The C&F I had to fill out specifically said secondary school, college, university, etc. Agree you should be okay.

[CanadianWolf]

However, you may be surprised what C&F uncovers. Typically all police depts. are contacted in every jurisdiction in which the applicant has resided. Some police depts. furnish incident reports regardless of file age & even though no arrests or charges occurred. I know of cases involving matters when applicants were younger than 10 years old that were not as serious as your matter. My best advice is to disclose. My best guess is that it will not prevent your clearance if fully disclosed & there is nothing more to this matter such as threats to others, etc. Disclose because it is the right thing to do & because you don't know whether or not your school reported this to the police.