Do lawyers ever get minor convictions against them?

[ENugent]

@NicePete

Parking/speeding tickets are not considered at all.

Washington state asked me to list every parking ticket I had ever received on my bar application. Apparently they don’t understand the concept out here that parking tickets are just a routine monthly expense in Massachusetts. (I ended up listing the dates that I had routinely lived and parked in particular jurisdictions, with some notation like “multiple parking tickets, all paid in full,” and no one ever brought it up as far as I know.)

[Monty]

Bricker: Shouldn’t that have been a charge of theft of services, instead of being one for shoplifting?

[bordelond]

@Walloon

Wisconsin may be the only state in which being a convicted felon does not disqualify an attorney from being a member of the state bar.

Am I misremembering, or haven’t their been cases in the U.S. of lomg-time prisoners earning their J.D.'s behind bars? And then passing the bar … or no?

[Bricker]

@Monty

Bricker: Shouldn’t that have been a charge of theft of services, instead of being one for shoplifting?

Well, the officers ciited him for shoplifting, so that’s the charge he had to defend against. I’m not sure of the elements of a “theft of services” charge in New Jersey, or whether his conduct might have fallen under it – it seems much more likely than “shoplifting,” though, I grant.

[Gfactor]

@Bricker

Well, the officers ciited him for shoplifting, so that’s the charge he had to defend against. I’m not sure of the elements of a “theft of services” charge in New Jersey, or whether his conduct might have fallen under it – it seems much more likely than “shoplifting,” though, I grant.

Possible, although Bricker rightly points out that he wasn’t charged with it.

a. A person is guilty of theft if he purposely obtains services which he knows are available only for compensation, by deception or threat, or by false token, slug, or other means, including but not limited to mechanical or electronic devices or through fraudulent statements, to avoid payment for the service. “Services” include labor or professional service; transportation, telephone, telecommunications, electric, water, gas, cable television, or other public service; accommodation in hotels, restaurants or elsewhere; entertainment; admission to exhibitions; use of vehicles or other movable property. Where compensation for service is ordinarily paid immediately upon the rendering of such service, as in the case of hotels and restaurants, absconding without payment or offer to pay gives rise to a presumption that the service was obtained by deception as to intention to pay.

http://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/om_isapi.dll?clientID=121445&Depth=2&depth=2&expandheadings=on&headingswithhits=on&hitsperheading=on&infobase=statutes.nfo&record={1718}&softpage=Doc_Frame_PG42

Sounds like either:

1. The prosecution screwed up and mis-charged him; or
2. It’s not a crime in New Jersey to avoid a lien by walking off with the property. What would happen, for instance, if you showed up at a car repair shop after they’d completed a repair and, using a spare key, drove off with your car? Is that not a crime? Cf, 2C:21-12. http://lis.njleg.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/om_isapi.dll?clientID=121445&Depth=2&depth=2&expandheadings=on&headingswithhits=on&hitsperheading=on&infobase=statutes.nfo&record={178F}&softpage=Doc_Frame_PG42 ; or
3. Both.

[Billdo]

@bordelond

Am I misremembering, or haven’t their been cases in the U.S. of lomg-time prisoners earning their J.D.'s behind bars? And then passing the bar … or no?

I doubt that there are any cases of prisoners earning their J.D. while still imprisoned, but a law school classmate of mine had been convicted of a felony and served time as a young man. While in prison, he got his GED and took some college courses (I don’t recall whether he completed college while imprisoned), and also worked as a paralegal in the prison library. After getting out, he eventually went to law school, where he was on law review, and after graduation he clerked for a federal judge. After some searching review by the character and fitness committe, he was admitted to the New York bar. I understand, however, that this is somewhat unusual.

A buddy of mine from my first law firm had a DUI on his record from college. He was required to submit complete documentation of the offense/conviction, and the character committee gave him a bit of a hard time, but it wasn’t a huge problem for him.