Character & Fitness

Every jurisdiction in the United States sets standards for the professional practice of law. Part of these standards are called character and fitness requirements. These requirements describe the personal conduct required to be an attorney, and law schools will often inquire about your eligibility to meet character and fitness requirements.

Why Law Schools Ask

Often times, law schools will ask applicants about possible criminal history and academic misconduct, behavior involving alcohol or drugs, and other questions about personal conduct. Pre-law students may be concerned about how law schools use this information. Like any other part of your application, answer truthfully. A law school might ask these questions for several reasons and is not using these questions to capriciously deny applications.

Carefully and truthfully submitting your law school application is your first step as a future legal professional. Some states request copies of your law school application when applying to become an attorney and see if your answer to these questions have changed. Additionally, law schools are interested in making sure they admit students who are otherwise eligible to practice law in the future. If certain events in an applicant’s past would not permit them to be admitted to practice law or would otherwise make it difficult to become a licensed attorney, a law school may request additional information. This is important because a law school admissions office may let you know that even if you graduated, for example, you might not be eligible to be admitted to practice law in a particular state because of character and fitness requirements.

These questions can often be the most stressful part of the application process. Applicants may be concerned about how a law school will look at their situation or if answering “yes” to a question immediately disqualifies them. When in doubt, always contact the law school admissions office with your questions.

Tips for Navigating Character & Fitness Questions

Always carefully read a law school application question and understand what is being asked. Law schools are asking questions for specific reasons. Each state jurisdiction also sets different requirements for character and fitness standards, and what may be something one law school asks about may not be for another. Remember, law school is where you will start forming your professional identity. Asking these questions helps to establish that you are fit to practice law after graduation. Five tips to help you navigate this part of a law school application include:

  1. Read and reread each question on an application. This helps make sure you know exactly what possible behaviors, offenses or infractions, and misconduct are being asked about. One law school may want to know about every moving vehicle violation (like a speeding ticket), and another law school may not be concerned about any parking tickets or moving vehicle violations unless it was charged as misdemeanor or felony.
  2. If you’re unsure whether a ticket you received was an infraction or a criminal misdemeanor, check on this. Carefully check any documentation you might have received such as the physical ticket, any court summons, and any final disposition papers. You can also call the local courthouse where the offense occurred and check. You may need to check with a city court clerk and a county/parish court clerk, as many cities have separate record systems from the state.
  3. The same goes for non-academic misconduct at college, double-check if you’re unsure. Maybe it was a lit candle in your dorm or unacceptable use of a university technology system. You can verify with Student Conduct & Community Standards if any violation of university policy or the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities occurred.
  4. Academic misconduct may also be asked about. The Office of Academic Affairs maintains a centralized record of all resolved academic misconduct cases at KU. Academic misconduct can include disrupting class, plagiarizing part of an assignment, or using unauthorized materials on an exam. University Senate Rules and Regulation (USRR) sets policy for handling academic misconduct. Instructors, academic departments, and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences or professional schools submit reports of academic misconduct to the Office of Academic Affairs. You can contact the academic division you're graduating from to verify if any academic misconduct was formally recorded or was administered as an informal admonition.
  5. Don’t forget to take a breath and step back if you need a break. Applying to law school can be stressful, and many applicants are concerned that they may unintentionally make a mistake. If you’re starting to feel overwhelmed or unsure, take a break and pause. You can contact the admissions office for the law school you’re applying to if something is confusing. You can also contact Jayhawk Pre-Law Advising at prelaw@ku.edu.

Answering honestly is an important first step to becoming a legal professional. A speeding ticket or another minor offense is rarely the sole reason a law school denies admission for an applicant. Answering honestly can help a law school better understand your personal history and may even be able to assist you later when applying to take the bar exam for your state when you are asked similar questions.

Writing a Character & Fitness Addendum

Law schools may request additional information when an applicant discloses personal history that be a possible character and fitness concern. Sometimes, this is used to see if an individual’s behavior aligns with the values of a particular law school or university. More often, law schools ask these questions to help screen applicants for future attorney licensure and bar admission eligibility. They are an important part of the application process and step in becoming a legal professional.

If required to submit additional information, a law school will provide instructions to an applicant. These are often called an addendum and are an opportunity to share your perspective. Jayhawk Pre-Law Advising can provide general information to you about application addenda, but you are responsible for preparing and submitting your addendum to a law school. Please note that Jayhawk Pre-Law Advising staff are mandatory reporters and may be required to report certain acts such as sexual misconduct, gender-based harassment, and discrimination, in accordance with university policy and relevant state and federal laws.

Typically, character and fitness addenda are anywhere from one paragraph to less than one page long. When preparing a character and fitness addendum, here are some things to keep in mind:

Writing a Character & Fitness Addendum

Law schools would like perfect applicants but understand they have human applicants. Mistakes happen. When writing a character and fitness-related addendum, acknowledge the misconduct or issue. A law school admissions officer will want to know specifically why you’re providing this addendum, and they will want to know if this is part of a pattern or a current problem. A clear statement of the issue including when and where it happened and who was involved can be helpful. You may also want to state whether a criminal charge was filed or whether a law enforcement agency was involved.

Next, you should write with candor. This means that you write about the issue directly. Being vague or non-specific could signal that you have something to hide. You should be honest about the issue and not try to downplay the seriousness of it. If you received a vehicle infraction, housing code violation, or a misdemeanor conviction, then state that directly. Additionally, taking responsibility for the misconduct can show self-accountability and show a law school that you have values needed to be an honest, fair, and trustworthy future officer of the court.

It is often helpful to take a break after writing to either reread your addendum or ask someone else to review it. It can be easy to unintentionally write defensively or to try to deflect the seriousness of an issue. Understanding your writing tone is important because it can help you think through how a law school admissions office might interpret it. For example, a writing tone that is aggressive and accusatory might suggest that you can’t take accountability; a writing tone that is arrogant might suggest that you haven’t learned from the issue; or a writing tone that is sarcastic and unserious might suggest you don’t understand the importance of the question.

Make sure that you are providing accurate information. For example, the Kansas Board of Law Examiners considers employment misconduct when deciding to admit an attorney. If you state you were dismissed because of a “disagreement of opinions” but a quick, online search shows there was fraud and workplace violence involved, then that will be a concern for a law school admissions officer who decides to look you up. Be precise and make sure the information you provide is accurate.

Consider brevity and clarity as two guiding rules to follow when writing an addendum. You should think of an addendum as a note, not a novel. An addendum is just an additional document to further explain or clarify something. A typical addendum is no more than a page, usually no more than a single paragraph or two. Your writing should be sufficiently accurate, clear, and brief to explain the issue, what happened, and how you have either grown from it or how it no longer reflects your professional habits.