Singling out bar applicants with mental illness
Emily Cooper, Disability Rights Washington
NARPA Conference
September 5, 2014, at 1PM
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• State designated “P&A” System*
• Private non-profit
• Federal mandate and access
• Serve people with all disabilities
• Directed by people with disabilities
• Sets annual priorities based on public feedback
* All DRW Services are Free
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• Technical Assistance
• Public policy
• Systemic legal services for disability discrimination or violation of rights
• Education and training – like this one on bar application developments
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1970 ABA Model Code of PR “mental or emotional instability”
1990 Americans with Disabilities Act
1994 ABA C&F Resolution – consider privacy and tailor questions
1995 Clark v. Va. Bd. of Bar Exam’rs, 31 ask broad questions
2009 Study shows general trend of tailoring
2013 4 don’t ask any question (AZ, MA, IL, PA) & 3 don’t single out MI
2014 DOJ writes two guidance letters
2014 TN stops asking about mental health status
2014 DRW releases Questions of Discrimination
2014 Bazelon leads DOJ Settlement Agreement in LA
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1970 ABA Model Code of PR “mental or emotional instability”
1990 Americans with Disabilities Act
1994 ABA C&F Resolution – consider privacy and tailor questions
1995 Clark v. Va. Bd. of Bar Exam’rs, 31 ask broad questions
2009 Study shows general trend of tailoring
2013 4 don’t ask any question (AZ, MA, IL, PA) & 3 don’t single out MI
2014 DOJ writes two guidance letters
2014 TN stops asking about mental health status
2014 DRW releases Questions of Discrimination
2014 Bazelon leads DOJ Settlement Agreement in LA
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• On “Sanism”: people with MI are:
• dangerous,
• incompetent,
• easily identifiable,
• Segregated
• Stigma Study: 59% “very comfortable” with wheel chair users, 47% with blindness, and only 19% with mental illness
• Bar inquiries to “protect the public”
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• More likely to be victims of crime than commit crime
• Recidivism in WA (28%, 13%, and .6%)
• Examples:
• Lincoln – depression
• Churchill - depression
• Flaherty - bipolar
• Me - anxiety
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2012 WSBA Membership Study
• SAMSHA: 20% of Washingtonians have a mental illness
• Only 1.3 % identified in the study; highest barrier intensity
• WSBA Conclusion:
“These results are troubling and further targeted study will be needed to ascertain fully the sources and causes of barriers to the legal profession for this group and to identify steps to reduce the incidence.”
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1. Question 24
2. Question 25
3. Forms 7 and 8
4. APR 22
5. APR 24.2
www.courts.wa.gov
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During the past 5 years have you experienced, been diagnosed with, or undergone treatment for any condition or impairment
(including, but not limited to, substance abuse or dependency, alcohol or dependency, or a mental condition, psychotic, mental, emotional, or nervous disorder or condition) which affects, or if untreated could affect your ability to practice law in a competent and professional manner?
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Within the past two years, have you engaged in or exhibited any conduct or behavior that could call into question your fitness to practice law as defined in APR 22(a)?
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3. APR 22(a)
Fitness - defined. Fitness is the absence of any current mental impairment or current drug or alcohol dependency or abuse which, if extant, would substantially impair the ability of the Applicant, Bar
Association member, or Petitioner to practice law .
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3. APR 22(a)
Fitness - defined. Fitness is the absence of any current mental impairment or current drug or alcohol dependency or abuse which, if extant, would substantially impair the ability of the Applicant, Bar
Association member, or Petitioner to practice law .
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4. APR 24.2(d) Factors
• “Whether there is a current mental impairment.”
• “The nature, extent and duration of the
Applicant's mental impairment.”
• “The Applicant's candor in the admissions process and before the Board when describing the impairment.”
• “Whether the applicant has received or is receiving professional mental health treatment appropriate for the impairment…”
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4. APR 24.2(e) Prohibited Factors and WLAD
• WSBA can’t consider physical or learning disabilities
• All disabilities are protected against discrimination in RCW
49.60.010
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• All three law schools joined 89 signatories (you can still sign!)
• ACLU wrote own letter
• Board of Governor’s Workgroup
• Media attention
• DOJ settlement in LA
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…Ask about conduct:
• Criminal charges
• Charged with fraud, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty
• Financial
• Discipline
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• Singles applicants out
• Increases the closet factor
• Reduces who seeks treatment
• Forces applicants to choose between rights and profession
• Sends a message to the public that mental illness means you aren’t or wouldn’t be a good lawyer
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• Data or stories regarding barriers
• Partners (WADA, GCDE,
ACLU)
• State law
• Further DOJ developments
• Model APRs and applications
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Emily Cooper, Staff Attorney
315 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 850
Seattle, WA 98104
V: 206-324-1521 or 800-562-2702
TTY: 206-957-0728 or 800-905-0209 www.DisabilityRightsWA.org
emilyc@dr-wa.org
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1. ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility, “Preliminary
Statement” (1970), http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mrpc/mcpr.pdf
.
2. Clark v. Va. Bd. of Bar Exam’rs, 880 F.Supp. 430 (E.D. Va.
1995).
3. The ABA Resolution on Character and Fitness: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/directories/p olicy/1994_am_110.authcheckdam.pdf
4. Theresa Esquerra, Mental Illness Disclosure Requirements on
State Bar Moral Character and Fitness Applications: A
Qualitative Study (2009) (supported by the 2009 Scattergood
Emerging Scholars Fellowship, Active Minds), available at http://www.activeminds.org/storage/documents/theresa_es queera_mental_illness_disclos ure_requirments_-
_final_draft.pdf
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(cont.)
5. Jennifer McPherson Hughes, Suffering in Silence: Questions
Regarding an Applicant's Mental Health on Bar Applications
and Their Effect on Law Students Needing Treatment, Journal on Legal Professions, Vol. 28, page 187 (2003-2004) http://www.law.ua.edu/pubs/jlp/files/issues_files/vol28/v28a1
5.pdf
6. Michael L. Perlin, On “Sanism,” 46 SMU L. Rev. 373 (1992)
7. Jon Bauer, The Character of the Questions and the Fitness of the Process: Mental Health, Bar Admissions and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 49 UCLA L. Rev. 93, 99 (2001), http://ssrn.com/abstract=293613
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8. Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress, Psychiatric
Disabilities, Employment, and the Americans with Disabilities
Act 35 (1994).
9. See Joshua Wolf Shenk, Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression
Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness 110-11
(2005).)
10. Melody Moezzi, “Lawyers of Sound Mind”, NY Times Op Ed,
August 5, 2013 available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/opinion/lawyers-ofsound-mind.html?_r=1&
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