Case Title: In re Application of Griffin

Citation: 2011-Ohio-20

Docket Number: 20101715

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2011-01-11T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as In 
re Application of Griffin, Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-20.] 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in 
an advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested 
to promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 
65 South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or 
other formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be 
made before the opinion is published. 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2011-OHIO-20 
IN RE APPLICATION OF GRIFFIN. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as In re Application of Griffin, Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-20.] 
Attorneys — Character and fitness — Neglect of financial responsibilities weighs 
against approval of application for admission to the bar — Applicant may 
reapply to take the February 2011 bar examination. 
(No. 2010-1715 — Submitted January 4, 2011 — Decided January 11, 2011.) 
ON REPORT by the Board of Commissioners on Character and 
Fitness of the Supreme Court, No. 458. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} Hassan Jonathan Griffin of Columbus, Ohio, has applied to register 
as a candidate for admission to the Ohio bar and had filed an application to retake 
the Ohio bar examination administered in February 2010.  Citing the applicant’s 
student-loan and credit-card debt, part-time employment, and lack of a feasible 
plan to satisfy his financial obligations, the board recommends that we disapprove 
his character, fitness, and moral qualifications at present and that we permit the 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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applicant to apply for the February 2011 bar exam.  We accept the board’s 
recommendation to disapprove the pending application and will allow the 
applicant to apply for the February 2011 or a later bar exam. 
Summary of Proceedings 
{¶ 2} The applicant completed his application to register as a candidate 
for admission to the Ohio bar on January 15, 2008, and unsuccessfully took the 
Ohio bar examination in July 2008, February 2009, and July 2009.  On November 
18, 2009, he applied to take the February 2010 bar exam.  The Columbus Bar 
Association Admissions Committee reviewed the applicant’s application and his 
National Conference of Bar Examiners report and personally interviewed him.  In 
December 2009, it issued a report certifying that the applicant possessed the 
character, fitness, and moral qualification required for admission to the practice of 
law and recommended that the applicant be approved. 
{¶ 3} Expressing concern about the applicant’s handling of his personal 
finances, however, the Board of Commissioners on Character and Fitness sua 
sponte instituted an investigation of the applicant’s debt pursuant to Gov.Bar  R. 
I(10)(B)(2)(e).  A three-member panel of the board conducted a hearing on May 
27, 2010, focusing upon the applicant’s debt and his lack of a plan to meet his 
financial obligations. 
{¶ 4} The panel found that the applicant had graduated from Arizona 
State University in 2004 at the age of 34 and had attended The Ohio State 
University Moritz College of Law.  When he graduated from law school in 2008, 
he owed approximately $170,000 in student loans – $20,000 for his undergraduate 
studies and $150,000 for law school.  He also had incurred approximately 
$16,500 in credit-card debt. 
{¶ 5} Before attending law school, the applicant had worked full-time as 
a stockbroker for approximately five-and-a-half years, earning enough money to 
meet his expenses.  Since completing his first year of law school, however, 
January Term, 2011 
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respondent has worked part-time, 24 to 32 hours a week, at the Franklin County 
Public Defender’s Office, earning $12 per hour.  Although the applicant lives with 
his nine-year-old daughter and her mother in the mother’s home and contributes 
minimally toward the household expenses, he has been unable to make any 
payments on his student loans, which began to come due in July 2009.  He has 
also been unable to meet his credit-card obligations since approximately 
December 2008, and one creditor has obtained a default judgment against him. 
{¶ 6} The applicant has contemplated filing bankruptcy and has 
submitted a letter from his bankruptcy attorney dated January 29, 2010, advising 
of the applicant’s intent to file a voluntary petition under Chapter 13 of the 
Bankruptcy Code.  The applicant testified that during the pendency of the 
bankruptcy proceeding, the payments on his student loan obligation would be 
greatly reduced.  This strategy would give him time to obtain full-time 
employment once he passes the bar and to get his financial affairs in order.  The 
panel found, however, that as of the May 27, 2010 hearing date, the bankruptcy 
petition had not been filed.  Moreover, the panel observed that the only debt that 
could be discharged in a bankruptcy proceeding would be the applicant’s $16,500 
in consumer debt, as the applicant’s $170,000 in student loans are 
nondischargeable in bankruptcy.  Noting that the applicant has no plan or ability 
to pay these debts, the panel recommended that his application be denied, but that 
he be permitted to reapply for the February 2011 bar examination. 
{¶ 7} The board adopted the panel report in its entirety and recommends 
that the applicant be disapproved, that he be permitted to reapply for the February 
2011 bar examination, and that upon his reapplication, the appropriate local bar 
association admissions committee review his application and personally interview 
him. 
Disposition 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
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{¶ 8} An applicant to the Ohio bar must prove by clear and convincing 
evidence that he or she “possesses the requisite character, fitness, and moral 
qualifications for admission to the practice of law.”  Gov.Bar R. I(11)(D)(1).  The 
applicant’s record must justify “the trust of clients, adversaries, courts, and others 
with respect to the professional duties owed to them.”  Gov.Bar R. I(11)(D)(3).  
Necessarily, “[a] record manifesting a significant deficiency in the honesty, 
trustworthiness, diligence, or reliability of an applicant may constitute a basis for 
disapproval of the applicant.”  Id. 
{¶ 9} In determining that the applicant has not proved that he possesses 
the requisite character, fitness, and moral qualifications, the board considered the 
factors set forth in Gov.Bar R. I(11)(D)(3) and (4).  The board expressed concern 
about the applicant’s neglect of his financial responsibilities.  See Gov.Bar R. 
I(11)(D)(3)(k).  We accept the board’s findings of fact and conclude that the 
applicant has neglected his personal financial obligations by electing to maintain 
his part-time employment with the Public Defender’s Office in the hope that it 
will lead to a full-time position upon passage of the bar exam, rather than seeking 
full-time employment, which he acknowledges would give him a better 
opportunity to pay his obligations and possibly qualify him for an additional 
deferment of his student-loan obligation. 
{¶ 10} Based upon the foregoing, we agree that the applicant has failed to 
prove that he possesses the requisite character, fitness, and moral qualifications 
for admission to the practice of law.  Accordingly, we accept the board’s 
recommendation to disapprove the applicant’s pending application at this time.  
However, we will permit him to apply to take the February 2011 or a later bar 
exam, provided that he submit a new re-examination application and is able to 
establish his character, fitness, and other qualifications. 
Judgment accordingly. 
January Term, 2011 
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O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’DONNELL, 
LANZINGER, CUPP, and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
Hassan Jonathan Griffin, pro se. 
Loveland & Brosius, L.L.C., and William Lyle Loveland, for the 
Columbus Bar Association. 
______________________