Title: In re Application of Barilatz

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Cite as In re Application of Barilatz, 91 Ohio St.3d 396, 2001-Ohio-69.] 
 
 
 
IN RE APPLICATION OF BARILATZ. 
[Cite as In re Application of Barilatz (2001), 91 Ohio St.3d 396.] 
Attorneys at law — Application to take Ohio Bar Examination denied — 
Applicant prohibited from reapplying for admission to the practice of 
law in Ohio. 
(No. 00-1652 — Submitted January 10, 2001 — Decided April 25, 2001.) 
ON REPORT by the Board of Commissioners on Character and Fitness of 
the Supreme Court, No. 178. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam.  In March 3, 1998, applicant, Michael J. Barilatz of East 
Cleveland, Ohio, filed a notice of appeal from a report of the Joint Admissions 
Committee of the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Bar Association (“Joint 
Admissions Committee”) disapproving his application to take the February 1998 
examination for admission to the practice of law in Ohio. 
 
The appeal was assigned to a panel of the Board of Commissioners on 
Character and Fitness of the Supreme Court (“board”), which began its hearing in 
September 1998.  At this initial hearing, the panel found  that the applicant had 
not in his application referred to, nor at the hearing produced, the Lake County 
Bar Association’s 1997 disapproval of  his earlier application for admission to the 
bar, that the applicant did  not produce the letter to the Lake County Bar 
Association from applicant’s ex-wife charging applicant with financial and 
criminal misconduct, and that the applicant could not document certain military 
awards he claimed to have received.  The panel therefore requested that the 
applicant furnish additional information and that the Joint Admissions Committee 
further investigate applicant’s qualifications. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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After a hearing in June 2000, the panel concluded and recommended to 
the board that the applicant not be approved for admission to the practice of law 
in Ohio and that he not be allowed to reapply.  The panel reached its conclusion 
after finding that applicant had failed to advise the Joint Admissions Committee 
of his previous rejection for admission to the bar by the Lake County Bar 
Association.  The panel further found that the applicant failed to reveal and then 
adamantly denied being a Florida resident although he owned property and had a 
bank account in Florida, ran a business there, held a Florida real estate license, 
registered to vote there, had an automobile titled and licensed there, and held a 
Florida driver’s license.  The panel also found that applicant could not document 
the three Purple Heart medals he claimed to have received in the Vietnam War.  
Further, applicant had been jailed in 1992 and again in 1996 for failing to pay 
child support, and his arrearage for child support in August 1998 amounted to 
$33,447.97.  The panel also found that in July 1998 while working as a law clerk 
for a Cleveland attorney, he gave a municipal court judge the impression during a 
telephone hearing that he was a licensed attorney.  In addition, the panel found 
that applicant did not inform the Joint Admissions Committee of his 1995 petition 
for habeas corpus for release from a ninety-day jail term for contempt of court.  
Finally, the panel found that in 1984, applicant was charged with carrying a 
concealed weapon, pled guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge, and was fined 
$250.  The panel believed that applicant’s conduct, having occurred when he was 
in his forties, could not be ascribed to youth or inexperience, and that since 
applicant was now almost fifty years old, any change in his actions could not be 
expected. 
 
The board adopted the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the 
panel. 
 
After review of the record, we adopt the findings, conclusions, and 
recommendation of the board.  Applicant is hereby disapproved for admission to 
January Term, 2001 
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the practice of law, and he shall not be permitted to reapply for admission in the 
future.  It is so ordered. 
Judgment accordingly. 
 
MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER, COOK and 
LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ., concur. 
__________________ 
 
Michael J. Benza, for the Joint Admissions Committee of the 
Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Bar Association. 
 
Mark Paul Glassman, for applicant. 
__________________