Title: In re Application of Bickel

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as In 
re Application of Bickel, Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-4202.] 
 
 
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-4202 
IN RE APPLICATION OF BICKEL. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as In re Application of Bickel,  
Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-4202.] 
Attorneys at law — Character and fitness investigation of applicants for 
admission to the bar — Failure to cooperate in investigation. 
(No. 2011-0433 — Submitted May 10, 2011 — Decided August 31, 2011.) 
ON CERTIFIED REPORT by the Board of Commissioners on Character and Fitness 
of the Supreme Court, No. 467. 
__________________ 
Per Curiam. 
{¶ 1} Brandy Ann Bickel of Akron, Ohio, graduated from the University 
of Akron School of Law in January 2009.  She applied to register as a candidate 
for admission to the Ohio bar and has filed applications to take the Ohio bar 
examination in February 2009, July 2009, and most recently in July 2010.  Based 
upon her failure to cooperate with the admissions process, the Board of 
Commissioners on Character and Fitness recommends that the application be 
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disapproved but that she be permitted to file a new application to register as a 
candidate for admission and a new application to take a future bar examination 
and also that upon reapplication, she undergo a character and fitness investigation. 
{¶ 2} We accept the board’s recommendation and for the following 
reasons disapprove the applicant’s pending application.  However, we also agree 
that the applicant may apply to take a future bar examination if she submits a new 
application to register as a candidate for admission to the practice of law and 
submits a new application to take the bar examination and cooperates with the 
admissions process, and submits to a complete character and fitness investigation. 
Summary of Proceedings 
{¶ 3} In July 2008, the applicant applied to register as a candidate for 
admission to the practice of law in Ohio and in October 2008 applied to take the 
February 2009 bar examination.  The Admissions Committee of the Akron Bar 
Association conducted an investigation of her character and fitness and approved 
her application.  The applicant sat for the February 2009 bar examination, and in 
April 2009, she filed a reexamination application to take the July 2009 bar exam.  
The admissions committee again approved her application; however, the applicant 
sent a letter to the Office of Bar Admissions and voluntarily withdrew from the 
July 2009 bar exam. 
{¶ 4} In March 2010, the applicant filed a second reexamination 
application, seeking to take the July 2010 bar exam.  The admissions committee 
again approved her application; however, the Board of Commissioners on 
Character and Fitness sought additional information regarding her debt history.  
Specifically, in a letter dated May 26, 2010, the Office of Bar Admissions 
directed the applicant to submit a letter indicating the present status of her past 
due credit-card and student-loan debt and if possible to submit documentation 
from her creditors reflecting that she had satisfied her past due debts or had made 
arrangements to address these issues.  The letter also notified the applicant that 
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failure to cooperate with the character and fitness investigation may be grounds 
for disapproval.  On July 12, 2010, the Office of Bar Admissions notified the 
applicant that because it had not received final approval of her character and 
fitness, she would be unable to take the July 2010 bar examination. 
{¶ 5} Thereafter, pursuant to Gov.Bar R. I(10)(B)(2)(e) and the 
investigatory authority of the board, the board appointed a panel to investigate the 
applicant’s character and fitness, specifically her record of unpaid debts and lack 
of cooperation in the admissions process.  On September 8, 2010, the board 
notified the applicant by letter that a panel had been appointed and that a hearing 
would occur on the matter.  According to the Panel Report and Recommendation, 
“[d]espite repeated e-mail and a message left on her voicemail, the applicant * * * 
failed to respond to efforts to schedule a telephone conference so that a date or 
other arrangements for a hearing on her application [could] be scheduled.” 
{¶ 6} As a result, the panel unanimously found that the applicant had 
failed to cooperate in the character and fitness process and had failed to meet her 
burden of proving that she has the requisite character and fitness to be permitted 
to sit for the Ohio bar exam.  The panel therefore recommended that her 
application be denied until the board conducted a hearing regarding her character 
and fitness.  The panel further recommended that the applicant be permitted to 
reapply for admission by filing a new application to register as a candidate for 
admission and an application to take the bar examination.  The board concurred in 
the panel’s recommendations that the applicant’s current application be 
disapproved and that she be permitted to reapply.  Applicant has not objected to 
the board’s recommendation. 
Disposition 
{¶ 7} Pursuant to Gov.Bar R. I(11)(D)(1), applicants to the Ohio bar 
must prove by clear and convincing evidence that they “possess[ ] the requisite 
character, fitness, and moral qualifications for admission to the practice of law.”  
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Accordingly, “failure to provide requested information * * * or otherwise to 
cooperate in proceedings before the Board may be grounds for a recommendation 
of disapproval.”  Gov.Bar R. I(12)(C)(6).  For example, this court recently 
disapproved an application for admission to the Ohio bar because the applicant 
failed to cooperate with the admissions process when he did not attend a 
scheduled hearing before a panel of the Board of Commissioners on Character 
and Fitness.  In re Application of Reynolds, 127 Ohio St.3d 331, 2010-Ohio-5947, 
939 N.E.2d 846. 
{¶ 8} In the instant case, the applicant similarly failed to cooperate with 
the admissions process by ignoring repeated attempts by the panel chair to arrange 
a telephone conference for purposes of scheduling a hearing before a panel of the 
Board of Commissioners on Character and Fitness.  The applicant does not 
dispute that she failed to cooperate in the admissions process in this manner. 
{¶ 9} Based on the foregoing, we accept the board’s recommendation to 
disapprove the pending application.  The applicant, however, may apply to take a 
future bar examination if she submits a new application to register as a candidate 
for admission to the practice of law and a new application to take the bar 
examination and cooperates with a complete character and fitness investigation, 
including an investigation and report by the National Conference of Bar 
Examiners, so that we may assess whether she possesses the requisite character, 
fitness, and moral qualifications for admission to the practice of law in Ohio. 
Judgment accordingly. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., and PFEIFER, LUNDBERG STRATTON, O’DONNELL, 
LANZINGER, CUPP, and MCGEE BROWN, JJ., concur. 
______________________