Forum | National Economy

ranthil on Bar to lawyer: You have too many student loans to practice

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:31:40 +0000

I think that makes a lot of sense. Every employer should do that. Who needs educated people anyways?

In all seriousness, that's probably the worst reason I've ever heard to deny anyone the right to practice. What is the guy supposed to do? Work at K-Mart bagging groceries to pay off his loans?

Genghis Tron on Bar to lawyer: You have too many student loans to practice

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:35:13 +0000

By contrast, in New Jersey, a lawyer's possession of cocaine is merely a 3-month suspension, In re McLaughlin, and in some cases just censure, In re Filomeno, meaning the lawyer can continue practicing. Also by contrast, in New York, the same appellate court held in 2008 that an admitted sex offender could not be disbarred, but instead, merely suspended for three years. See In re Lever.

Yet this lawyer, who otherwise appeared in good character with the backing of the bar committee, is denied a license for not paying his loans and for refusing to pay the criminal increase in interest. Outrageous.

Arian Forrest Nevin on Bar to lawyer: You have too many student loans to practice

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:26:58 +0000

"In January, the committee of New York lawyers that reviews applications for admission to the bar interviewed Mr. Bowman, studied his history and the debt he had amassed, and called his persistence remarkable. It recommended his approval.

"But a group of five state appellate judges decided this spring that his student loans were too big and his efforts to repay them too meager for him to be a lawyer."

I wonder how he's supposed to pay the debt if he can't work as a lawyer...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07.....f=business