Disclosure or Deceit

I want to be accepted to law school but am concerned about an incident in my past?

Few things raise a red flag more than a failure to disclose or a perceived penchant for deceit. What, exactly, are you afraid will occur if you describe your past accurately? Candor is the key.

You won't be accepted to the law school of your preference? Suppose your true past is uncovered after you've been accepted - you face rejection - or even later, after you've spent a year or two toiling, making new friends, dreaming dreams - you face the embarrassment, and real cost, of being dismissed. Would you prefer to tell friends and future employers that you applied to Yale or Harvard Law School but were rejected, or you were accepted to the University of Bum Chuck but dismissed two years in for lying on your application?

There's no sense, and certainly no benefit, to choosing deceit over disclosure. Get in the habit of telling it all now. Trust others to accept who you truly are; they'll find out anyway, sooner or later.

You won't be admitted to your state's Bar Association? Imagine you've graduated at the top of your class, countless offers are laid at your feet, but you can't decide between public service or immediate wealth. The Loan Dogs are clipping at your heels and your parents are giving you the heave-to; it's time to go and grow. Ready to sit for the Bar Exam and start working now, with your friends and co-graduates? Too bad, so sad.

If you know there's something in your past not even a talented snoop dog will uncover, think again. Bar Association investigators relish their roles and perform them better than just well, they perform them superbly. That's why they're there. Bet against them doing their jobs and, effectively, you've bet against yourself.

There's no sense, and certainly no benefit, to choosing deceit over disclosure. Get in the habit of telling it all now. Trust others to accept who you truly are; they'll find out anyway, sooner or later.

Earnest, a man who knows.

The Need for Attorneys and LAw Students to Be Earnest and Candid

Since so few have lived perfect lives, and most have slipped and fallen only to rise and slip and fall again, any sense that perfection is required at a singular point in our ever-changing lives seems absurd. Fearing that others with their own embarrassing faux pax may judge our imperfections, causing a halt to our dreams and ambitions, sometimes we omit, embellish, mischaracterize, and, well, basically lie to look good. Few are immune to the temptation and fewer still not guilty of even the small white lie.

But why? For what purpose do you tempt the gatekeepers with shady tales, shortened stories, and long excuses for human failings?

To those who seek entrance to the Bar, heed this wise advice - Open up your souls, reveal yourselves and speak true and candid from the start. A lie once spoken grows like a bent tree 'til it falls dead from its own weight.

That speeding ticket, the bounced check, the dispute with your landlord over unauthorized nails in the wall? Small potatoes compared with not revealing the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Worried about revealing the ugly drunk that once took over your body, or the arrogant and obscene aberration you became after a day out celebrating the end of Psych 1o1? Remember that misdemeanor bust, the one that required you to attend a diversion program, the incident you believe wasn't an "arrest" or "violation of the law" because you weren't officially "convicted"? Well, stop thinking like a lawyer and start acting like an applicant. Tell it all, tell it true, tell it now, and tell it always. Truth be told, you'll feel liberated knowing others know the true you, and you'll be accepted more readily if you reveal the past as you move into the future. Do not fear your past, ever. It made you who you are today.

You may not be proud of all you've done, but be steadfast looking proudly on what you can and shall become.

Earnest, a man who knows.