BENNETT LAW FIRM

Your Hearing Before the Texas Board of Law Examiners:
The Top 10 Reasons You Should Have an Attorney*

You just received a letter from the Texas Board of Law Examiners' Director of Fitness and Character informing you that you do not meet the standards of character or fitness and will thus not be admitted to the State Bar of Texas. The letter further informs you that a finding of standards deficiency will become final if you do not request "...in writing, a hearing before the Board…." If you want to provide any additional evidence, you have to request a hearing. It is interesting that the Board of Law Examiners does not inform you in this initial letter that you have a right to have an attorney in the hearing.

The typical letter will also ask you to contact the staff attorney for the Board of Law Examiners and try to negotiate a stipulation of facts and agreement in lieu of a hearing. You can find on the Board's website (www.ble.state.tx.us) the "Information About the Hearing Process" that provides you some platitudinous statements about the Hearing Process. You are advised in this information posting that you have a right to counsel but, "If you prefer to represent yourself, you may do so." With your hands sweating and your heart pounding, you now have to answer the question whether you as a law student really need a lawyer. Here are some reasons that may help you. We could even call them the Top Ten reasons you need an attorney.

1. Knowing the System
Any process is easier when you know the system. Obtaining an attorney means you have the advantage of their previous experience. Your attorney will know where to be, who to talk to, and how to manage your hearing. Try to find out how familiar your prospective attorney is with the BLE. Does your attorney represent clients before the BLE on a regular basis? Does your attorney know the staff attorneys and does the BLE know your attorney? Do you really want to be making decisions about what evidence to present, which witnesses to call, and facing cross examination on your own?

2. Organize your Defense
Properly preparing for your hearing is arguably the most important thing you can do. In some cases this can include gathering and presenting extensive amounts of materials to be presented to the Board as evidence or exhibits. In some cases it is also important to obtain witnesses who can attest to your character or your fitness or both. An attorney will be able to properly organize your defense by helping you and any witnesses to be prepared for the possible questions that will be asked in your hearing. If you have never done this before, how do you know what questions the BLE staff attorney will ask you and what is the best way to answer the tough questions? Further, an attorney will also know what kinds of evidence will be most appreciated by the BLE. The Board is made-up of unpaid attorneys who appreciate a streamlined presentation and if you are in the room by yourself, the hearing may drag on as you try to figure out what the staff attorney is doing and how best to persuade the BLE.

3. Dispassionate Response
In the hearing, the staff attorney and the Board are likely to ask you questions that are personal and very direct in order to strenuously explore your background and character. Serving as both a witness (to your own character) and as your own advocate can be too much even for a practiced attorney. These stressful and potentially embarrassing situations can cause cloudy judgment and result in unclear answers to the Board’s questions. Having an Attorney with you means you have someone that can make sure that the best information comes to light in your defense. Through practicing how the staff attorney will cross examine you and proper preparation of your defense, your attorney will make sure you give clear and appropriate answers that present the best “picture” of you. Hearing the questions for the first time in the hearing room can lead to disastrous results.

4. Stipulation of Facts
An important part of proper organization is knowing what facts to stipulate to. Do you really want to contest an arrest record that you have already admitted was correct to demonstrate your knowledge of the business records rule? Your attorney can provide valuable insight into how the Board will generally rule and which battles to fight and which to call a truce. Disclosure and candor are of the utmost importance in building rapport with the BLE, but in some cases, it is appropriate to oppose certain evidence presented against you. An attorney will be able to ensure that your hearing proceeds and concludes in a timely fashion, while preserving every opportunity to defend your character and seek the most advantageous outcome. This is especially important for law students who are unfamiliar with how the BLE operates and may feel intimidated or embarrassed by what happens in the hearing room.

5. Personal Relationships
One of the greatest advantages an attorney can offer you is the personal relationships he or she has built with the staff, attorneys, and Board’s Panel Members. Obtaining an attorney who is familiar with the people involved in this process is very important. A personal relationship with the staff attorneys will help streamline the flow of information between parties, facilitate stipulations and agreements as to facts and help create a seemingly less hostile environment. The professional relationship between the BLE and your attorney built on handling numerous cases together can act as a doorway to bring about a fair and desirable outcome.

6. Hiring an Attorney shows the Board You Take This Hearing Seriously
A hearing in front of the BLE is a serious matter. The Board is charged with the mandate to protect the public from potential attorneys who do not have good moral character and/or the fitness that pertains to mental and emotional health; i.e. would you be a threat to the public for whatever reason the Board is considering? Not only will an attorney help prepare your defense, the attorney’s presence will help to show the Board that you take the matter seriously and that you are taking a proactive approach in your own defense.

7. Subpoenas
One of the more difficult aspects of a BLE hearing is obtaining subpoenas. The Board has the authority to subpoena witnesses to testify at a hearing, however, the Board tries to use this power sparingly. This can be an especially difficult situation for law students who were previously employed by a judge and may want to have the judge testify either by phone or in person. In many cases, past employers can provide invaluable testimony to your character and fitness, and a judge’s testimony certainly goes a long way. However, in order to uphold the Judicial Cannons, judges will not provide testimony unless subpoenaed. Through their previous experience and personal relationships, your attorney will have greater avenues to properly petition the BLE in order to obtain the subpoenas necessary for your defense.

8. Reconsideration of Negative Preliminary Determination
The cases that come before the BLE generally involve a “Predetermination of Lack of Fitness and Character to Practice Law.” In some cases the Board may be willing to reconsider their predetermination if all curative measures have been met. If appropriate, a written presentation can be submitted in order to petition the Board to reconsider. This course of action can be advantageous because it can settle the matter without the hearing before the Board, saving you a great deal of time and money. Having an attorney during this process is of even greater importance than at the hearing since this is the one opportunity to convince the Director of the Board of Law Examiners before a formal hearing that you have the good moral character to practice law. Your attorney can analyze if it would be appropriate to advocate having the negative determination withdrawn, and prepare the best possible presentation to provide the best opportunity for this to happen.

9. Emotion is a Factor From Start to Finish
A hearing with the Texas Board of Law Examiners can be stressful, especially in hearings pertaining to character and fitness to practice law. This process will lead you to feel overwhelmed when you first receive the predetermination letter and that feeling will not go away. You have spent four years as an undergraduate, probably three years in law school, and your future livelihood is being decided on facts that happened when you were 17. Having an attorney can make sure the stress and the emotions involved do not harm the preparation that is necessary to properly present your side of the story. Will you be prepared to make objections during the hearing and be the best advocate for your right to practice law?

10. First in Line - The Attorneys Get To Go First!
One distinct advantage to having an attorney with you is that your name will be moved to the top of the docket. The docket is called at 8:50 a.m., hearings involving character and fitness are held first. Individuals who are represented by attorneys are called usually within only a few hours. Individuals who choose to have their hearings pro se will be called only after all individuals with representation are heard. (Depending on the day, this could create a very long wait). If you want to get on with your life and your anticipated practice of law, an experienced attorney can help move you along and certainly provide a comfort factor that you will not have by yourself.

The Texas Board of Law Examiners: A Summary of What the Texas Law Student Should Know
By Ren�e Moeller-Taylor and Robert �Bob� Bennett in association with The Bennett Law Firm

Any Texas law student wishing to apply for admission to the Texas Bar must complete and filed a form entitled the Declaration of Intention to Study Law (�Declaration�) with the Texas Board of Law Examiners (�BLE�).[i] The deadlines vary according to when you start law school; however the deadline tends to fall shortly (possibly as quickly as within 6 weeks) of when you begin your law school studies. Check with the Texas Board of Law Examiners for exact deadlines.

It all actually starts before you are accepted to law school. The Texas Board of Law Examiners� staff will compare the responses given on your law school application to the responses given on your Declaration. Questions relating to criminal offenses and discipline received as a student will receive particular review.[ii]

You should note that the questions are not necessarily identical on law school applications as they are asked on the Declaration.[iii] Unfortunately, your law school application may probably have been completed a year or more before you are looking to complete the Declaration, but careful attention must be given to the responses you make on your law school application. Both the law schools and the Texas Board of Law Examiners expect your answer to be truthful and complete. When in doubt, disclose.[iv]

If you misguidedly think the investigation is not all that extensive, you�re wrong. The Texas Board of Law Examiners will obtain criminal history information from both the FBI and the Texas Department of Safety. Other records will be checked as well with authorization and release forms submitted with your Declaration....

Read the full story here

[i] The Texas Board of Law Examiners is not a part of the Texas State Bar. Both are established per the authority of the Texas Supreme Court but are separate entities. www.ble.st.tx.us; FAQs
[ii] �A Message from the Texas Board of Law Examiners to Prospective Applicants for Admission to the Bar of Texas,� Prospective Student Message.
[iii] Id.
[iv] Id.

Preparing Your File for a Texas Board of Law Examiners’ Hearing
By Renée Moeller-Taylor in association with The Bennett Law Firm

To begin with you need to know exactly what the Texas Board of Law Examiners’ are investigating. This means you must have all communications between your client and the Texas Board of Law Examiners. You should also have a copy of your Application for Admission to Law School, as well as your Application for Admission (for out-of-state law students) or your Declaration of Intent (for Texas law students).

Obtain letters of recommendation that not only speak to your good moral character, but also set forth knowledge of the event(s); that the event(s) were an aberration, were youthful mistakes of years past, or do not reflect your character today. You have to make these letters fit the particular needs of the case and the person writing them.

Recommendation Letters regarding your good and moral character are best obtained from long or close employers/employees; church leaders or an active member; a congressman (if there is any personal connection); a judge or magistrate from whom you have worked or with whom you have a personal relationship of long standing. Take care to pay attention to the Judicial Cannons regarding Letters of Recommendation and Testimony on your behalf that you may request if from a judge whom you have clerked for or worked on his/her office staff (see below regarding subpoenas).

It is better yet if one or more of the people who have written a letter of recommendation for you, (the student/attorney/applicant), can also appear personally with you and your counsel at the hearing, in order to speak on your behalf. Having a legal counsel and witnesses present, shows the Board of Law Examiners that you take this matter seriously, as it should be.

Prepare a Response explaining the incidents (even though this may have been done piecemeal before – put it all together in one response, not to long) and reference were possible your supporting exhibits. Your response is your first exhibit. The recommendations and other documents you choose are the remaining exhibits. Do not forget that although you have to provide your exhibits to the staff a minimum 8 days before the hearing, you need to take another 6 copies of the Response and other exhibits to the hearing: (3) for the Panel, (1) for the court reporter, and (1) for you and (1) for your attorney.

The shared wisdom among attorneys who practice in this area indicates applicants/declarants are better prepared for these hearings with the help of an attorney. Moreover, at hearing time, those applicants/declarants who are represented by counsel are usually heard first. This can save you half a day of waiting on the order of the docket. While that is a very minor point in favor of having the assistance of counsel, remember the old adage, “The attorney who represents him/herself, has a fool for a client.” One does not want to begin or end one’s legal career on the wrong foot and appearing without counsel may increase the risk of a less than favorable outcome. This is where having the assistance of legal counsel is most important. Most authorities agree that having legal counsel represent you is most advantageous. (see our article “Your Hearing before the BLE: Top 10 Reasons Your Should Have an Attorney”).

As soon as your counsel receives the Exhibits from the Texas Board of Law Examiners, you and your legal counsel should both carefully examine the Board’s exhibits. Just because a document is of public record, if there is anything wrong with the document the document should be objected to, as opposed to not objecting to the document but objecting to the veracity of the document. The Panel does not actually see your Response and Exhibits until the hearing itself. Only the staff attorney sees these before the actual hearing; and s/he will be presenting the case to the Panel of the Board of Law Examiners, as well as making a recommendation after the hearing. The staff attorney is the person at the Board of Law Examiners who is most knowledgeable about your case.

Make sure you have carefully gone over the Texas Board of Law Examiners’ exhibits and advised your counsel, or if representing yourself [not recommended] advising the opposing staff attorney of any objections by 4 days before the hearing. You are not there to impress the Board with your knowledge of the business records evidence requirements. Your goal is to streamline and focus the proceeding.

If subpoenas are needed for the hearing, make sure you do not wait until the last minute. Tell your attorney of record as soon as possible. The subpoenas are issued by the Texas Board of Law Examiners but the BLE prefers to use this avenue as little as possible. Your legal counsel will know when to push for these, or whether they are really needed.

Make sure you review and know the Texas Board of Law Examiners’ exhibits and be ready to refute them by direct references to your exhibits. Your counsel can assist in limiting the number of exhibits needed at the hearing for both sides; as well as keeping focused on the key documents and issues.

Remember, absolute candor, and perhaps that originally you did not realized how serious the inquiry was, but have now gain more experience and understand where you may not have utilized the absolute candor you should have, are key elements the Panel of the Board of Law Examiners wants to hear.

WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT AT YOUR TEXAS BOARD OF LAW EXAMINERS� CHARACTER HEARING
By Renée Moeller-Taylor and Robert “Bob” Bennett in association with The Bennett Law Firm

Getting There & Docket Call
The building itself that houses the Texas Board of Law Examiners is near the NW corner of W. 14th Street . 14th Street is divided by the Capital Building and does not go through. On the other side of the Capital Building it is E. 14th Street . This makes it difficult to locate for someone not familiar with the area or Austin

The next problem is that there are no public parking garages. Parking is coin metered on the streets and you may find yourself spending a fair amount of time looking for an open space, only to find one several blocks away. Additionally, the maximum is 2 hours, which means you have the problem of getting back to the meter and resetting it.

Until the docket is called, you do not know what order you will be called in. �Character� Hearings are scheduled first on the docket, and the estimated time can be anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours, depending on the case.

To solve the parking and parking mete issues, it is primarily recommended to either take a cab; or allow at least a half hour to find parking and walking to the correct address (and finding it may be sometime else as previously pointed out). The Texas Board of Law Examiners is on the 5th Floor

Docket call is at 8:50 a.m. The Staff Attorneys will come out and call the docket and give you an estimate of the docket timing as stated above. One advantage is that Applicants/Respondents who are represented by legal counsel are usually scheduled first. However, you may still not be heard until 10 a.m. to Noon, depending on that day�s docket.

The Hearing
At the hearing, in addition to yourself and hopefully your legal counsel, will be the staff attorney for the Texas , a court reporter and three (3) Panel Members of the Texas Board of Law Examiners. You may have previously elected to have certain witnesses admitted but the hearing remains closed to the general public or it is open. This is the result of you Open Hearing Election that is at the very end of the hearing instructions you received with the letter stating the date your hearing has been set for. Do not overlook this if you want and expect to have witnesses present to speak on your behalf. It is always good if at least one of your recommenders or at least a family member is willing to appear at the hearing to speak in your behalf. This is matter of impression with the Panel; although it may not be possible as in the case of someone from out-of-state seeking admission to the Texas Bar.

The Applicant/Respondent will be sworn in. The staff attorney and Applicant/Respondent or his/her counsel will announce they have exchanged exhibits and may discuss any objections to any of the exhibits. If there are no objections, the exhibits are admitted. A copy of the exhibits may be requested to be given to the court reporter before docket call so she can mark her set, thus adding in moving the hearings along in a move timely fashion (unless there are objections to any of the exhibits.

Both sides have the opportunity to make an Opening Statement, then the Applicant/Respondent is called as a witness and examined by the staff attorney, and then hopefully by his/her own counsel. The Panel will then ask questions of the Applicant/Respondent. The issues vary from case to case. However, if the issue of character is truthfulness and candor (i.e. questions answered wrong on either or both the law school application and/or the Declaration of Intent (only required of Texas law students) or the Application for Admission to the Bar then it is a matter of failure to disclose � truthfulness and candor.

The Texas Board of Law Examiners are gatekeepers. In the example issue above, the crux will be not so much what you did in the past (and failed to originally disclose) but at this moment in time does the Panel believe in your truthfulness. Admissions of past errors and truthfulness about how and why you had to amend your law school application and Supplement your Declaration of Intent or Application for Admission to the Bar will usually be the main focus point. The Panel is judging whether or not you are now a truthful and candid person. Admissions of acceptance of your responsibility for past errors and sincerely expressions of regret will be looked at. These taken together with your Response and your exhibits, which in this scenario will mainly consist of your correspondence and supplements sent to the Texas Board of Law Examiners and to your Dean of Admission of your law school, but also the strength of the recommendation letters that you have supplied.

After examination of the Application/Respondent, closing summations are made and the hearing closes. You are usually advised that your counsel or you will be verbally contacted later that day or the next depending on how late in the day your hearing actual is, as to the Panel�s decision to permit your admission to the Texas Bar or not. If you receive a decision that you will be admitted, you will receive a written signed Order to that effect usually within the week.

What happens after you receive you verbal notice, either way is the subject of another article.

Texas Board of Law Examiners

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