Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

10/16/23

5:15pm EST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Statement Against the Institutional Censure of NYU Law SBA President Ryna Workman

New York, NY. Unlock the Bar (UTB) issued the following statement in response to the censure of NYU Law Student Bar President Ryna Workman:

On October 10, 2023, NYU Law Student Bar Association President Ryna Workman released a statement to the law school student body expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and underscoring the Israeli government’s overwhelming history of state sanctioned violence. The backlash was swift and devastating: Ryna’s offer of employment at Winston & Strawn was withdrawn; NYU Law Dean Troy McKenzie and the Board of Trustees publicly disavowed Ryna’s statement to the entire law school community; and the school opened a disciplinary investigation. Reactionaries made calls to block Ryna from the legal profession via the Character and Fitness system. Media, including the New York Law Journal, the New York Times, the New York Post, Fox News, and smaller right-wing bloggers rushed to cover the story, making Ryna the further target of harassment, doxxing, and death threats.

Unlock the Bar seeks to democratize the legal profession, which has too often excluded voices like Ryna’s. It is absurd that such inordinate backlash, institutional disavowal, and actual stochastic terrorism have been levied against Ryna and other students who have legally expressed their views about Palestinian liberation. This moment cannot be understood without acknowledging Ryna’s multiple axes of marginalization as queer and Black. We must understand it as part of the larger historical campaign that legal institutions have engaged in to censure or propagandize the voices of the oppressed and those who challenge the interests of the oppressors. 

The statement, and its ensuing backlash, demonstrate not only what is allowed to be said, but who is allowed to say it. It is a question of not only what is considered wrong, but who is considered wrong. The legal profession has long used tools of ‘decorum’, censorship, and credentialing, such as ‘character and fitness,’ to shut out “agitators” who see the world critically. These tools start from the application process to law school and continue through the licensed practice of law.

Oppressors have used the Character and Fitness system and the exclusive structure of the legal profession to gatekeep disfavored groups from the power to oppose oppression via ‘legitimate’ means. Those that cemented the Character and Fitness system hoped to maintain a profession complicit in the political projects of capitalism, White dominance, and colonial prowess. ‘Character’ tests have been deployed to exclude oppressed ethnic and racial groups, such as Black, Jewish, and Central and Eastern European communities, as well as politically disfavored peoples, such as communists, civil rights organizers, and formerly-incarcerated people. Thus, the recent uses of Character and Fitness against students countering Western settler colonialist propaganda are simply a continuation of the legal institution’s interest in delegitimizing liberationist projects.

Furthermore, White legal conservatives have disingenuously championed the concepts of “academic freedom,” “free expression,” and “civility.” Authorities within legal institutions have little issue utilizing these concepts to make space for oppressive politics that create justifications to take away rights; yet when students advocate for oppressed peoples, these same principles are used to admonish students for not submitting to institutional respectability politics. The use of these legal principles and the Character and Fitness as political purity tests lay bare the untruthfulness of the legal profession’s veneration of the First Amendment and the law generally.

Instead of recognizing Ryna’s statement for what it was, the institutional machines are distracting us all from the ways that they themselves have been complicit in fomenting conflict. We must, instead turn our focus away from law students in their mid-twenties without hegemonic power to the institutions with inordinate powers who decided to shift their weight to silence dissenters: to the law school Boards of Trustees and Deans with the power to expel students and end their careers; to the Big Law firms with the power to control access to employment; to the government officials with the power to promulgate laws and control the fates of millions of people; to the billionaires and CEOs who have the power to impact the entire global economy.

An equitable legal profession must include people with diverse identities and myriad beliefs, including the politically legitimate cause of Palestinian liberation from an apartheid state. As an organization that examines structures of power, we recognize that the doxxing, harassment, and public censure of Ryna Workman is part of a larger project of maintaining hegemony in the legal profession and silencing dissenting voices. This is not the last time that powerful interests will make a concerted attempt to silence student voices, but how we respond in this moment will determine the extent to which students feel free to express their political views in years to come. Further censure and exclusion will only entrench inequity and perpetuate cycles of violence. We must distribute power equitably. This moment calls for clear and decisive action: We call for the freedom of students with dissenting views to speak them, an end to apartheid against Palestinians, an immediate ceasefire, and safe and timely humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.  Unlock the Bar stands in solidarity with Ryna and advocates for all peoples’ liberation.

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com
info@justiceimpactbar.org

3/17/23

10:30 am EST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Joint Statement from Unlock the Bar and the National Justice Impact Bar Association on the Removal of Some Illegal Questions from the NY Character and Fitness

New York, NY. On March 16, 2023, the New York State Appellate Division announced that, as of April 3, 2023, Question 26 of the Character and Fitness Application will be amended to remove inquiries into juvenile delinquency as well as some law enforcement interactions. Unlock the Bar (“UTB”) and the National Justice Impact Bar Association (“NJIBA”) are glad the Appellate Division is beginning to make long-overdue progress on the application’s chilling effect. These illegal questions have deterred qualified aspiring lawyers for years, and advocates have been pressuring the New York Courts to confront both these violations and the validity of the entire Character and Fitness. While more needs to be done, this is still a victory for every person who will no longer have to answer these questions. 

It is important that we center the formerly-incarcerated and directly-impacted people and allies who have been demanding change for years. In 2021, NJIBA published a report detailing the many barriers justice-impacted people face when applying to law school. NJIBA also sent a letter to New York court leadership on this specific issue, calling for more extensive changes to Question 26 than the courts announced today. The Legal Aid Society, as well as other members of the Coalition of Reentry Advocates, sent a joint letter stating that removal of illegal inquiries in Question 26 was only the first step to racial equity. UTB also sent New York court leadership a letter calling for the elimination of Question 26, a call echoed by the New York State Bar Association. 

The work of directly-impacted advocates and allies makes clear that the Appellate Division must, at minimum, remove Question 26 if it truly wants to “advance the diversity of the bar.” Even with the recent change, Character and Fitness committees are still able to illegally ask questions about (1) youthful offender adjudications, (2) arrests and prosecutions that ended in the defendant’s favor, and (3) certain sealed and expunged convictions. Simply put, the New York Court System is still violating the Family Court Act and the NYS Human Rights Law. And even if they comply with these two state laws, Question 26 would continue to have a discriminatory and unnecessary chilling effect on aspiring lawyers, especially those who are formerly-incarcerated and are from marginalized communities.

A critical analysis of the Character and Fitness reveals its racist, sexist, xenophobic, classist, and overall oppressive history, design, and impact. For these reasons, UTB continues to call for the abolition of the Character and Fitness process in its entirety. Likewise, NJIBA, as the first national bar association focused on representing the justice-impacted community, will continue to work towards the elimination of the discriminatory barriers that the Character and Fitness presents to justice-impacted people including those that remain within the amended version of Question 26. 

We look forward to continuing to work towards this liberative horizon and we invite you to contact us or join the movement at unlockthebar@gmail.com and info@justiceimpactbar.org.

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

12/22/22

11:15 pm EST 

Unlock the Bar’s Statement on Governor Hochul’s Nomination 

of Justice Hector LaSalle for Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals

New York, NY. Unlock the Bar (UTB) opposes Justice Hector LaSalle’s nomination for the position of Chief Judge. As a coalition of systems-impacted and allied lawyers, law students, and advocates, we believe in the democratization of the legal profession. The exclusive nature of the legal profession has created a system that disproportionately harms oppressed peoples. The Chief Judge must work to redress these issues and ensure that systems-impacted people are represented and empowered. Based on Justice LaSalle’s regressive record, we believe that instead of redressing harm, his appointment as Chief Judge would worsen it. 

Among the Chief Judge’s powers is the authority to shape the processes that determine who can be a lawyer in New York. This includes the Character and Fitness (C&F) process, a discriminatory, exclusionary, and unlawful inquiry into Bar applicants’ ‘moral character,’ which all people who have passed the bar exam must undergo in order to become attorneys. New York's existing C&F regime deters systems-impacted people from being barred, preventing the creation of a diverse and representative legal profession. For example, Question 26 on the C&F application violates the laws preventing inquiry into certain categories of criminal legal involvement, discouraging those from heavily policed New York communities from becoming attorneys. These exclusive practices lead to a legal profession that is overwhelmingly made up of those from privileged backgrounds, leaving the oppressed cyclically underrepresented. The New York City Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, National Justice Impact Bar Association (NJIBA), and Unlock the Bar are among the many voices that have called for an end to the C&F’s discriminatory inquiries. The next Chief Judge must listen to advocates striving to make the legal system work for those it has worked against.

Justice LaSalle’s record does not align with the movement to democratize the legal profession. Justice LaSalle is one of the most regressive judges on the list of candidates released by the Commission on Judicial Nomination. His judicial record is that of a judge devoted to the status quo of corporations and police power over people. He has used his role as a justice to harm unions, oppose reproductive rights, and encourage police to use profiling as a basis for arrests. Rather than using the law to benefit the people of New York, he has used his position to perpetuate the existing power imbalances. Justice LaSalle is not the Chief Judge New York deserves.

Despite Governor Hochul’s nomination of Justice LaSalle, the fight is not over. Our Senators must exercise their power of advice and consent and reject this appointment. If the Senate continues to rubberstamp judicial appointments, it renders the constitutional requirement of Senate confirmation meaningless. Instead, the Senate must vote no on Justice LaSalle and make clear that Governor Hochul must appoint a Chief Judge who demonstrates a radical commitment to diversity within the legal profession and championing the rights of all New Yorkers. 

Now is the time for New York to demand that our Senators stand up for everyday New Yorkers and vote no on Justice LaSalle’s appointment. We deserve a Chief Judge who represents the people, not the powerful.

—
For a PDF of this statement, including the footnotes, please visit https://tinyurl.com/UTB-LaSalle.

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

12/6/22

10:15am EST

Unlock the Bar’s Statement on the Chief Judge Shortlist
Released by the Commission on Judicial Nomination

New York, NY. On November 23, 2022, the Commission on Judicial Nomination released a shortlist of seven candidates to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Chief Judge Janet DiFiore in August of this year. Governor Hochul must select a nominee from this list by December 23, 2022 to fill the vacancy. The next Chief Judge will have a deep role in determining the breadth of rights that New Yorkers can access for the next fourteen years. They must have a diverse professional and personal background that demonstrates their commitment to protecting those rights. On September 29, 2022, Unlock the Bar (UTB) delivered a letter to the Commission detailing the chief judge’s role in gatekeeping the legal profession and a core principle the Commission should use in selecting candidates: A commitment to utilizing administrative powers to redress racial and economic discrimination within New York’s legal system. “As we’ve clearly seen this past year, courts are political entities,” said UTB Co-Lead Organizer Tolu Lawal. “The next Chief Judge must center the concerns of the people and must be committed to a politic that envisions the law as an apparatus for a liberative future.”  

Initial research into the Commission’s shortlist makes clear that at least three of the candidates abysmally fail to meet that core principle. Justice Oing, Justice LaSalle, and Acting Chief Judge Cannataro all have records which reveal their intense hostility to everyday New Yorkers, investment in perpetuating the criminal punishment system, bias towards landlords over tenants, anti-worker animus, and intention to pursue policies that harm people who have contact with the criminal punishment system. Nominating any of the three of these men would be giving up the opportunity to transform our legal system to better reflect the lived experiences of the people it is meant to serve. “While we do not expect liberation to come from our judiciary,” said UTB Co-Lead Organizer Al Brooks, “we know that the movement to create an equitable profession will deeply engage the Chief Judge. Nominating any of their honors Oing, LaSalle, or Cannataro would squander the opportunity to build a truly representative legal system.”

Governor Hochul has made it clear that she wants to create the court New York deserves, a preeminent court that will be a leader not just in the state, but in the country, and “continue our march towards progress.” We urge that the Governor not nominate Jeffrey Oing, Hector LaSalle, or Anthony Cannataro to fill the most important seat in our state’s judicial system. “These are regressive men who will usher in regressive policies and ensure regressive decisions that mirror or exacerbate the egregious decisions of the current United States Supreme Court,” said UTB Policy and Communications Coordinator Johari Frasier. “There will be no ‘march towards progress’ should any of these reactionary, retrograde jurists take the helm.” The future of New York’s legal system will be controlled by the next Chief Judge, and it is imperative that she be dedicated to making it of, by, and for the people.

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

9/6/22

10:30am EST

New York Times Publishes Accounting of Movement to Remove Character and Fitness in New York

New York, NY. The New York Times has just released a new article detailing the current push for removal of Question 26 from the application process to become an attorney in New York state. The article included the perspectives of many folks of different backgrounds, including former judges, law professors, students, and activists. Most importantly, it rooted its analysis in the experience of people with systems contact, starting immediately with the story of UTB Coord Crew member Dylan James.

Our work is constantly done in conjunction with those who are most affected. This particularly means working with the National Justice Impact Bar Association and Justice Impact Alliance, who have been key to addressing the issue of character and fitness in New York and outside of the state. Their expertise and lived experience not only helps us, but was instrumental in ensuring that the voices of justice-impacted folks were present in the article and that the Times had an understanding of the character and fitness landscape.

What is abundantly clear through the publication of this article is that removal of character and fitness is not simply a niche issue among lawyers, but is a critical step towards achieving racial justice in the legal profession. As Co-Lead Organizer Tolu Lawal states in the article, “we actually have to examine[] what structures within the legal profession are perpetuating harm.” And UTB continues to believe that Character and Fitness is chief among those. We look forward to more coverage of movement to not only remove character and fitness, but to create a just and equitable legal system.

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

7/14/22

12:15pm EST

Statement on the Resignation of Chief Judge Janet DiFiore from the New York Court of Appeals

New York, NY. Chief Judge Janet DiFiore’s July 11 announcement that she is resigning, effective August 31, gives Governor Hochul an opportunity to transform not just our court system, but our legal profession. The position of Chief Judge wields enormous authority on the administration of the courts and the admission of lawyers into the legal profession. While Chief Judge DiFiore has focused on court efficiency and has supposedly tried to increase access to justice for people of color and other marginalized groups, access to justice must go beyond simply ensuring that people have a lawyer in court. Access to justice requires that everyone has a meaningful opportunity to join the profession, regardless of their status as a formerly incarcerated person, a person with debt, or a person affected by predatory civil systems. A system of justice based on equity requires a legal profession that is representative of the people who it impacts, especially in terms of race, class, and involvement with the legal system. Real access to justice can be achieved when we do not place barrier upon barrier before system-impacted folks who want to serve their communities. A justice system is not just if it oppresses those already touched by it and disproportionately attacks transgender and gender nonconforming folks, economically disadvantaged people, and people of color.

The tenure of Chief Judge DiFiore ushered in a deeply conservative march of the Court of Appeals that has been wildly out of step with the people of New York, but matches the tactics and decisions taken by the United State Supreme Court in their cruelty and disregard for the rights of those most marginalized. The Chief Judge has led a conservative block of judges in protecting police officers from the consequences of their own misconduct, limiting the liability of employers when their employees are injured due to employer negligence, and refusing to take up leave applications (appeals) from criminal defendants seeking to vindicate their rights. It is vital that the next judge on the Court of Appeals understand fully that they cannot continuously back the powerful and hurt the marginalized and still declare themselves to be champions of racial justice.

Unlock the Bar agrees with many of the state’s elected leaders in that the Court of Appeals should be dedicated to advancing a system of justice that is fairer for every New Yorker and will make decisions that help marginalized people. The next Chief Judge, and the next new judge, whether those be the same or different people, must serve the people in their pursuit of an equitable justice system.

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

7/5/22

1:30pm EST

Unlock the Bar Statement on the Supreme Court Rolling Back Fundamental Rights

New York, NY. As we collectively mourn the rollback of the tenuous human rights we’ve struggled to establish in America, we also turn our eyes to the decidedly undemocratic institution of the Supreme Court. The Court in Dobbs violently tore away a pregnant person’s right to make decisions related to their own body, further relegating women, trans, non-binary, and intersex people to second class citizens who are only warm wombs for state control. The Court in Vega undermined one of the most well-known American rights by further rendering the Fifth Amendment to little more than a toothless suggestion. The Court in Kennedy and Makin further eroding the crumbling wall between Church and State. And the ruling in West Virginia v. EPA shows that, despite the flagrant danger that millions of people will be displaced, suffocated, and drowned by the greed of fossil fuel companies, the Supreme Court doesn’t give a fuck.

This Supreme Court session has marked the unashamed endorsement of a tyrannical, minoritarian rule. The Court is on the path to take away other essential rights, including marriage equality, sexual autonomy, and access to contraception, signaling its mission to codify the white-supremacist heteropatriarchy of 1776. While the Supreme Court is desperate to pretend we live in the past, countless people are suffering in the present, and our future is dying.

These rulings are heart wrenching, but they are not out of left field—they were born out of the structure of legal education and the legal profession itself. We have a profession that is 86% White, built on the exclusion of Black, Brown, women, and LGBTQ+ identities, and ordered to centralize male authority and the power of the American Empire; there is little wonder that the Justices we entrust with our rights would err on the side of fascism. Even when, in our history, the Supreme Court has answered calls for truth and justice, the Court still only issues rulings based on existing legal structure. Thus, when lawyers treat oppression as hypothetical, human rights in so-called “settled law” are much more likely to be overturned. These rulings should be understood as an indictment on the entire legal profession.

But how we choose to exercise the law and who we choose to exercise it are intentional choices—and we do not have to accept them as they are. We are at a moment when our collective consciousness has begun to question the validity of the Supreme Court and the American legal structure—that’s a good thing. It allows all of us to re-envision what the law and the legal profession can offer our communities. Lawyers and legal systems can work towards liberative futures.

Unlock the Bar refuses to be beholden to unjust laws and jurisprudence, and we call on every person who believes in representative democracy to do the same. We will continue to stand in solidarity with all those who have engaged in challenging the legal structure throughout the history of movement work and mutual aid. We will continue to do the work of democratizing the law and the legal profession.  And we will continue to fight for our collective vision of a world where the law belongs to the people.

Please support local abortion funds and follow the leadership of the Black and Brown women who have been doing this work for decades. 

In Solidarity,
Unlock the Bar

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

5/19/22

10:00am EST

Unlock the Bar Statement on CUNY’s Removal of Character and Fitness Questions from Its Application

New York, NY. The City University of New York School of Law announced yesterday, May 18, that it would remove all questions related to criminal history from its school application. This will make CUNY Law only the second school in the country to forgo interrogating the worth of an applicant based on their contact with the criminal legal system. The effort was led by current and former members of the CUNY Law Formerly Incarcerated Law School Advocacy Association.

Unlock the Bar is pleased to see CUNY Law take this step forward towards a more just legal profession. Removing Character and Fitness questions from law school applications is key to opening the legal profession to more people and ensuring that those who practice law understand the effects it can have on the lives of people it punishes. It is imperative that more schools remove these questions from their applications. They pose a barrier to systems impacted people participating in law, potentially dissuading applicants from applying in the first place. They also act as a way of reinforcing the Character and Fitness at the Bar application level, a process rooted in the intentional exclusion Black, Native, and Jewish peoples as well as many others.

While we recognize that CUNY Law is a special institution, with a devotion to service and uplift that other law schools may not have, we hope to see other schools follow in CUNY’s lead. This is a big win for our profession and for systems impacted people, and it should be a win that everyone can partake in regardless of what school they want to apply to.

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

2/16/22

10:00am EDT

Unlock the Bar Releases Report on History and Effects of Character and Fitness

New York, NY. Today, Unlock the Bar released a thirty-page report detailing the origins of the Character and Fitness process used in determining whether lawyers are fit to join the bar. Though each state’s Character and Fitness process is unique, what they all have in common is their history in keeping out People of Color and contributing to the massive racial disparity in the legal field. “The UTB Report interrogates the legitimacy of the C&F process,” says Co-Lead Organizer Tolu Lawal. “This is only the beginning of the research we’re doing into the racism and outright discrimination of the C&F.”

The creation of this report was an effort of not only UTB organizers, but our systems-impacted partners who have been demanding change for years. This report was assembled through the analysis of historical reports, case law, legal articles, impacted stories, statistics released by the American Bar Association and Law School Admissions Council, and more. 

“We think what’s made clear by our findings is that the only equitable way forward is the abolition of the evaluation of Character and Fitness,” states Co-Lead Organizer Al Brooks.

The release of the UTB Report marks the beginning of UTB’s first Week of Action, which includes actions such as teach-ins, rallies, panel discussions, and other events facilitated by UTB members and our colleagues at the National Justice Impact Bar Association. Much like the report, the Week of Action is centered around making the case for the abolition of the Character and Fitness process.

Abolition of Character and Fitness, a process that finds its roots in the intentional exclusion of Black, Jewish, Brown, and Native peoples from both the legal field and society, is key in redefining who can be an attorney. The law cannot be a profession reserved for those who are White and affluent. For that reason, abolition continues to be our North Star.

You can read the UTB Report here. And we invite you to join us during our Week of Action.

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

1/24/22

11:00am EDT

New York State Bar Association Calls for Changes to Question 26

New York, NY. On Saturday, the New York State Bar Association (“NYSBA”) released a statement calling for changes to Question 26 of the Character and Fitness application for admission to be barred in New York State. In making this call, NYSBA joins the New York City Bar Association as well as many other organizations, such as UTB, in demanding a more just and equitable application process. The statement comes with a 33 page report created in response to the Office of Court Administration asking for more input on the Character & Fitness process. The report itself states that Question 26 as it stands today violates New York’s Human Rights Law and the Family Court Act.

Additionally, the NYSBA report adds more data to what we already know: the existence of Question 26 has had a chilling effect on law school admissions. Oftentimes, applicants who do disclose criminal legal system contact do not finish completing their applications to law schools in the state of New York. This number reaches as many as 10% of applicants who do disclose such information according to NYSBA. Such a drop clearly shows that Question 26 is a real barrier to diversifying the experiences of members of the legal profession. Likewise, because people of color are overpoliced, over-charged, and over-sentenced, the reform and abolition of Question 26 is a matter of racial justice as well. Law schools only ask about criminal legal contact in an attempt to comply with the requirements of the Bar, particularly those suggested by Question 26, which violates the law.

UTB is glad to see NYSBA join those calling for real change in our profession. We hope that their advocacy does not stop here and that they bring systems-impacted people to the table to discuss meaningful transformation in the application process. Our northstar is the abolition of Question 26, and we believe that any organization beginning to recognize the inherently classist and racist underpinnings of Question 26, while only a step on that path, is a laudable step.

Addendum 1/31/22, 5:05 PM EDT

UTB would like to commend the work of the National Justice Impact Bar Association, which has led the way in fighting for the removal of Question 26. The sea change in sentiment felt in New York State’s legal profession is directly a result of their efforts.

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

10/22/21

7:15pm EDT

New York Law Journal Covers Character & Fitness in New York

New York, NY. Today the New York Law Journal released an article highlighting how character and fitness in New York, which violates state licensing law, poses a real threat to those who want to enter the legal field. By focusing on Sarah Zarba’s story, a story of a woman committed to becoming a lawyer precisely because of her experiences with the criminal legal system, it illuminates the wall that awaits every person with criminal legal system contact at the end of their law school career.

The work done by Legal Aid, City Bar, and others, including UtB, has helped move the needle forward in creating a just and equitable profession. As Legal Aid Attorney-in-Chief Janet Sabel has said, bringing character and fitness into compliance with state law would show a commitment to “racial equity and increasing diversity in the profession.” We cannot have licensing procedures that prevent people like Sarah Zarba, who intimately understand the flaws of our legal system, from becoming lawyers.

But compliance with the current state law is only the first of many steps to achieving the racial equity that Attorney-in-Chief Sabel spoke of. Question 26 must be abolished. The legal field cannot countenance its chilling effect on applicants, nor can we accept its roots in racial discrimination and exclusion. We are glad to see the legal community cover this issue given its importance to the lives of those who want to join this field. And we are glad to see the Office of Court Administration take the questions raised by Legal Aid, City Bar, and other defender and civil legal service organizations to heart. And we hope that this conversation is only the beginning.

We look forward to continuing to work with Legal Aid and other partners to remove barriers to the legal profession.

Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

9/20/21

3:00pm EDT

Unlock the Bar Sends Letter to OCA in Support of City Bar’s Proposal to Remove Portions of Character and Fitness

New York, NY. Unlock the Bar sent the Office of Court Administration a letter supporting City Bar’s request to remove illegal portions of Question 26 from the New York State Character and Fitness. In addition to supporting these reforms that would prevent asking information regarding prior youthful offender adjudications and sealed arrest records, for example, to be licensed as an attorney, UtB has made several demands as part of the process of reaching the abolition of Character and Fitness. Character and Fitness stands as a bar to the legal profession, both at the point of licensing during the Character and Fitness evaluation, and at the outset during the law school application process. This obstacle falls disproportionately upon people of color. UtB believes that the best way forward in creating an equitable profession that adheres to racial justice, is through abolition of the licensing of attorneys based on character and fitness.

The letter may be read at this link.

 Unlock the Bar Press Statement

unlockthebar@gmail.com

6/14/21

2:00pm EST

Unlock the Bar Supports City Bar’s Proposal to Remove Portions of Character and Fitness as Important First Step

New York, NY. Today, the City Bar of New York issued a report concerning the legal violations that currently exist within Question 26 of the New York State Character and Fitness, urging the Office of Court Administration to remove the offending parts of Question 26 in order to bring it within full compliance of the Family Court Act and the New York City Human Rights Law.  

As our society addresses the centuries of structural injustice baked into existing systems, City Bar’s letter is an integral first step that sends a message to legal professionals that we have to look at ourselves and the structure of our field.

Unlock the Bar commends and supports City Bar’s proposed changes as an important first step in the larger movement towards completely dismantling the discriminatory structures that perpetuate oppression in the legal field. We particularly agree with City Bar’s call for OCA to take direction from those who have been directly impacted by legal regimes. While we believe that Q26 should be eliminated in its entirety, this is a step in the right direction. Unlock the Bar urges legal professionals and community members alike to maintain this momentum and reimagine what the law should look like.

Addendum 3:26pm EST

Question 26 of the NY State Character and Fitness (C&F) Application for admission into the New York State Bar asks about an applicant’s involvement with law enforcement and the criminal legal system. There are several inquiries within Question 26 that directly violate two state statutes -- the Family Court Act and the New York City Human Rights Law -- which, amongst other things, prohibit a licensing agency, like the New York Office of Court Administration (OCA), from inquiring into juvenile adjudications as well as sealed adult adjudications. 

Currently, the C&F Application blatantly ignores those laws by asking an applicant to disclose all of that information. This can lead many members of Black and Brown communities, who have experience in the criminal legal system, to self-select out of applying to law school. Moreover, even if folks do apply, an applicant’s disclosure of these involvements to the C&F committees may negatively impact their chances of being admitted into the Bar.

On June 1, 2021, the New York City Bar Association (“City Bar”) sent a letter to OCA asking them to remove those portions of Question 26 from the C&F. Today, June 14, City Bar released an official press statement. UTB thinks that this call from City Bar is an important first step towards reducing the exclusionary power of the C&F, rethinking the need for the C&F entirely, and radically reimagining the legal profession as a whole. There’s still a lot more to do.

To read the City Bar statement and letter, please see here. For more information on the Character and Fitness process and on what UTB is hoping to accomplish, please see the Resources section at unlockthebar.org.