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Significant Character & Fitness
Information
No
determination of an individual's character and fitness to practice law will be
made until that individual has submitted a properly filed Declaration and/or
Application and the Board has completed its investigation.
Applicable Rules:
Other relevant information:
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Expunged or sealed criminal history:
While expunged or sealed offenses, arrests, tickets, or citations
need not be disclosed, it is the applicant's/declarant's responsibility to
ensure the offense, arrest, ticket, or citation has, in fact, been expunged or
sealed. Failure to reveal an offense, arrest, ticket, or citation that is not
in fact expunged or sealed, raises questions related to truthfulness in
addition to questions regarding the offense itself.
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Orders of Non-Disclosure:
Pursuant to the Govt. Code [§552.142 (b)], if you have criminal matters
that are the subject of an order of non-disclosure you are not required to
reveal those criminal matters on the
Application/Declaration form. However, a criminal matter that is the
subject of an order of non-disclosure may become a character and fitness
issue. Pursuant to other sections of the Government Code [411.081(d),
411.081(i)(5), 411.083(b), 411.084(a), 411.087(a), and 411.100], the Texas
Board of Law Examiners is entitled to access criminal history record
information that is the subject of an order of non-disclosure. So, if the BLE
discovers a criminal matter that is the subject of an order of non-disclosure,
even if you properly did not reveal that matter, the BLE may ask you to
provide information about that criminal matter.
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Individuals with a felony criminal history
may be prohibited from filing a Declaration of Intent to Study Law or an
Application. See Rule IV(d) for details.
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The
Hearings Process -- this pdf document requires use of the Adobe Acrobat
Reader
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About the BLE -- One of the major duties of the Board and its staff
is to investigate the character and fitness of all applicants for admission to the Bar.
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General information
about individuals with Probationary Licenses
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Texas Criminal History Information:
to determine if any of your criminal history is contained in the Texas DPS
Criminal Conviction Database, access the database at the following website:
http://records.txdps.state.tx.us. An access fee is required.
Note: the information that can be accessed by the public is limited. Pursuant
to statute, the Board of Law Examiners has access to a broader range of data.
If you have criminal history in Texas that does not appear on the Texas DPS
Criminal Conviction Database, you may still be required to reveal that
criminal history to the Board of Law Examiners. You must carefully read the
criminal history questions on the form you are completing and answer each
question honestly and completely. Contact your
licensure analyst if you have questions about what to disclose.
since July 10, 2003
Last modified
12/03/09 07:24 AM
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