Case Title: In the Matter of Cliff M. McIntyre, Esq., Regarding Admission to the Arkansas Bar

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: arkansas

Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Date: 1997-01-27T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE MATTER OF CLIFF M. McINTYRE, ESQ.,
Regarding Admission to the Arkansas Bar

96-1502                                            ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
               Opinion delivered January 27, 1997


1.   Bar examination & examiners -- petition for partial waiver of Rule IX(B)
     requirement denied. -- Where petitioner, who had passed the
     Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (Ethics
     Exam) and the New Mexico Bar Examination in 1992, sought a
     waiver of the provisions in Bar Admis. R. IX(B) that requires
     each applicant to pass the Ethics Exam as a prerequisite to
     taking the Arkansas Bar Examination but only permits transfer
     of a passing score for a period not exceeding three years from
     the date of the previous Ethics Exam, the supreme court denied
     the petition because Rule IX(B) is clear and has included
     passage of the Ethics Exam as a condition for eligibility to
     take the Arkansas Bar Exam since a 1993 per curiam order and
     its first application to the July 1995 Arkansas Bar Exam.

2.   Bar examination & examiners -- report requested on reasons for requiring
     passage of Ethics Exam before Bar Exam. -- The supreme court
     requested the Arkansas Board of Law Examiners to reexamine the
     reasons for requiring passage of the Ethics Exam before the
     Arkansas Bar Exam as opposed to passage either before or after
     the Arkansas Bar Exam and to advise the court accordingly.

     Petition for Partial Waiver of Rule IX(B), Rules Governing
Admission to the Bar; denied.
     Cliff M. McIntyre, pro se.

     Per Curiam.
     Petitioner Cliff M. McIntyre seeks a waiver of the provisions
in Rule IX(B) of the Rules Governing Admission to the Bar that
requires each applicant to pass the Multistate Professional
Responsibility Examination (Ethics Exam) by a score of 75% or more
as a prerequisite to taking the Arkansas Bar Examination.  McIntyre
desires to take the February 1997 Arkansas Bar Exam and the next
Ethics Exam is not given until March 1997.  This means that under
the existing rule, McIntyre cannot qualify to take the Arkansas Bar
Exam until July 1997.  McIntyre shows the court that he has been an
attorney licensed to practice in the State of New Mexico since
1992.  He passed the Ethics Exam and New Mexico Bar Exam in that
year, but Rule IX(B) only permits transfer of a passing score for
a period not exceeding three years from the date the person took
the previous Ethics Exam.
     Because Rule IX(B) is clear and has included passage of the
Ethics Exam as a condition for eligibility to take the Arkansas Bar
Exam since a per curiam order dated June 7, 1993, to be first
applied to the July 1995 Arkansas Bar Exam, McIntyre's petition is
denied.
     We request the Arkansas Board of Law Examiners to reexamine
the reasons for requiring passage of the Ethics Exam before the
Arkansas Bar Exam as opposed to passage either before or after the
Arkansas Bar Exam and to advise the court accordingly.  We note
that Arkansas is in the minority of states that make passage of an
Ethics Exam a prerequisite to taking the general bar exam.
     Newbern, J., dissents and would grant the petition and amend
Rule IX(B) forthwith to provide that it is immaterial whether the
ethics examination precedes the bar examination of vice versa, as
long as both prerequisites to membership in the Bar of Arkansas are
satisfied.