-Caveat Lector- Law candidates face question of character November 15, 1999 BY ABDON PALLASCH STAFF REPORTER When the state Supreme Court rejected white supremacist Matt Hale for a law license on Friday, he joined a club of esteemed and not-so-esteemed candidates deemed lacking the "good moral character and general fitness to practice law." They range from revered Loyola University law Professor George Anastaplo--who refused to say whether he was a Communist--to perennial losing political candidate Anthony Martin-Trigona, to unrepentant crooks, liars and cheats. All were smart enough to pass law school and the bar exam. But the courts have ruled that brains are not enough--a lawyer must have heart. "Not only do we handle other people's money, but we handle their deepest secrets and confidences," said William Martin, an Oak Park attorney who defends would-be lawyers whose character is challenged. "The major requirement of being a good lawyer is that he be of good character, not a brilliant strategist." But how do you measure character? The subjectiveness of the process drives critics crazy. Some felons convince the court they are rehabilitated. Some non-felons, such as Hale, say they are punished for their beliefs. Each September, students enter the state's nine law schools and are handed a 15-page application for one of five panels of lawyers around the state that serve as a Character and Fitness Committee. Jaws drop as students see the questions. They must list not just any arrests but also all parking tickets they ever received--even if they paid them on time. "Parking tickets are obligations--there are cases where the court has taken those seriously," said attorney Richard Prendergast, president of the Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar, which oversees the committee. In 1985, the state Supreme Court ruled that one applicant "has shown a total disregard for the law by amassing some 200 to 400 parking tickets over a short period of time" and couldn't be a lawyer, even though he paid every one. Even if a student had an underage drinking record expunged, it has to be listed. If the student doesn't and the court later finds out, that person can be disbarred. Highland Park attorney W. Jason Mitan was disbarred in 1979 largely because he failed to disclose on his application a felony conviction, three arrests, a name change, a marriage and a divorce. Critics say the character and fitness process is little more than a criminal background check. In Cook County, where the vast majority of the state's lawyers are from, 90 percent of applicants to practice law are notified via mail that they have passed the character and fitness screening once their criminal background checks clear. Only the 10 percent whose applications are flagged because of incidents they listed on their applications, or incidents they failed to list on their applications, are called to an interview with a committee member, who almost always approves them. But Downstate, where lawyers may have a little more time, committee members like to meet each applicant, as they did with Hale, who is from East Peoria. The interview usually is cordial. Of 3,214 people who applied for admission to the Illinois bar last year, only five were rejected, Prendergast said. If a committee member rejects an applicant, that person can appeal to a three-member panel, then to the full committee, then to the Supreme Court. Martin-Trigona objected at one committee meeting when staffers retrieved a document from his Selective Service file labeling him unfit for military service because of a "moderately severe character defect manifested by well-documented ideation with a paranoid flavor and a grandiose character." Martin-Trigona called committee members "scum." He has since moved to Florida and unsuccessfully sought public office there. In Hale's case, he was rejected at each level of appeal and now will argue to the U.S. Supreme Court that he is being denied a license because of his racist beliefs. The committee argues it was Hale's actions--and his failure to disclose a minor conviction--that warranted his rejection. Hale founded the World Church of the Creator. His followers included Benjamin Smith, a North Shore man who went on a two-state rampage in July, shooting Jews, blacks and Asians. Smith killed two people, including former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong, before killing himself. The committee said Hale "fully exploited Smith's conduct. . . . Hale's claim that he does not advocate violence is simply not credible." The Supreme Court lists 13 potential red flags that could cost an applicant admission, among them unlawful conduct, academic misconduct, making false statements or omissions, neglect of financial responsibilities and "evidence of conduct indicating instability or impaired judgment." Anastaplo was surprised in 1950 to be asked whether he was a Communist. He refused on principal to answer. In 1978, the committee reversed itself and invited him to become a lawyer, but he never reapplied. Bernardine Dohrn, a Northwestern University law professor, was rejected by New York state's character and fitness committee for her role in the 1960s "Days of Rage" activism in Chicago. Dohrn--who lived underground for years, emerging in 1980 and pleading guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge--refuses to renounce her actions and never has applied to be a lawyer in Illinois. If Stanford University law Professor Deborah Rhode had her way, character and fitness screenings would be replaced with better-funded agencies to police practicing lawyers who defraud clients. "The entire character review process diverts resources that could be better spent protecting against real abuses," said Rhode, calling the programs ineffective. But most attorneys and law professors, including Anastaplo, say the Character and Fitness Committee serves a vital function, keeping potential bad apples from practicing law. It also forces alcoholics, drug addicts and others with problems to clean up their acts as the price of admission, backers say. Rejecting the application of recovered heroin addict and petty thief Ed Loss, whose cause had been championed by columnist Mike Royko, the Supreme Court said in 1987: "As a result of the ongoing federal investigation into corruption in the Circuit Court of Cook County, the media and public have soundly condemned the legal profession for harboring too many crooks and cheats. Yet, when a majority of this court attempts to keep a person whom it thinks will not ethically perform from becoming a lawyer, the public permits itself to be manipulated into reading sinister motives into our action." Loss had the last laugh. He now practices law in Arizona. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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