Law school admissions officers are often asked “can you become a lawyer if you have a DUI?” The fact is that there is little barrier to law school with a DUI.
The reason the question arises regarding law school and not other graduate programs is that law students will presumably apply to the bar of at least one state. And, the board of legal examiners requires a certificate of good moral standing to be licensed.
As part of your background check, the state bar association will conduct a comprehensive background check. This will include extracting your criminal record, credit history, and more. You will even have to list all the addresses you have lived at at some point in your life.
The bar association will specifically look for indications of “moral turpitude.” In an attempt to protect the profession, they will exclude anyone who might steal the client’s money or in any other way reflect badly on the profession.
Because law schools know that you will eventually have to go through this scrutiny, they try to see if you will be disqualified before accepting you. They don’t want to spend their time and money on an education you can’t use.
The law school will ask if you have ever been arrested for a crime. He must list all arrests and convictions, even if they occurred when he was a minor and even if they were expunged.
Having said all that, will a DUI disqualify you from attending law school? Not in itself. If your record shows that you are an upstanding person of moral character, you may still be admitted to law school. However, multiple arrests or a single arrest for grievous bodily harm may call your application into question.
Be honest with the law schools you are applying to about your background. Don’t assume you can hide anything. Even if the law school doesn’t find out about your DUI, the bar will. And they’ll also find out that he lied to law school, further questioning his moral character.
You can go to law school after a DUI, but you will have to go the extra mile to prove that you have the necessary character to be admitted to the bar.
