Legal Profession Blog reports on a case of a lawyer moving from one state to another in pursuit of bar admission but failing to make required disclosures in both jurisdictions. The Massachusetts Supreme Court suspended him for 6 months for falsely stated that he had never been charged with a felony ; he also failed to disclose drunk driving charges that occurred while his application for admission was pending. He then applied for admission in Illinois, where he denied that he had defaulted on student loans and evaded disclosing whether he had been charged with offenses against the law. He ultimately reported his disclosure lapses to Massachusetts at the urging of Illinois Bar authorities.
Difficulty caused by evasions in admissions applications evokes this passage from William Faulkner's The Reivers:
“I lied," I said. ...
"I know it," he said.
"Then do something about it. Do anything, just so it's something."
"I cant," he said.
"There aint anything to do? Not anything?"
"I didn't say that," Grandfather said. "I said I couldn't. You can."
"What?" I said. "How can I forget it? Tell me how to."
"You cant," he said. "Nothing is ever forgotten. Nothing is ever lost. It's too valuable."
"Then what can I do?"
"Live with it," Grandfather said.
"Live with it? You mean, forever? For the rest of my life? Not ever to get rid of it? Never? I cant. Dont you see that I cant?"
"Yes you can," he said. "You will. A gentleman always does. A gentleman can live through anything. He faces anything. A gentleman accepts the responsibility of his actions and bears the burden of their consequences, even when he did not himself instigate them but only acquiesced to them, didn't say No though he knew he should.”
