New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 22 - JUDICIARY › Subtitle B - Courts › Chapter IV - Supreme Court › Subchapter B - Second Judicial Department › Article 1 - Appellate Division › Subarticle B - Special Rules › Part 690 - Admission To Practice Of Attorneys And Counselors-at-law › Section 690.19 - Petition for advance ruling with respect to past conduct

Current
						  through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) Any person who is a
						  matriculated student in an approved law school, as an approved law school is
						  defined in the rules of the Court of Appeals for the admission of attorneys and
						  counselors at law, or who has applied for admission to such a law school, and
						  who has previously been (1) convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, or (2)
						  suspended, removed or dismissed from public office or employment, or (3)
						  dishonorably discharged from the armed services of the United States, may
						  petition the Appellate Division of the department in which such person resides
						  or is employed full-time, or, if such person does not reside and is not
						  employed full-time in the State, the Appellate Division of the Third
						  Department, for an advance ruling, in accordance with this section, as to
						  whether such conviction, suspension, removal or dismissal from public office or
						  employment, or dishonorable discharge, as the case may be, would operate to
						  disqualify the petitioner, on character grounds, from being admitted to
						  practice as an attorney and counselor at law in this State.
(b) The petition shall include
						  a detailed statement of the facts with respect to the petitioner's conviction,
						  suspension, dismissal or removal from public office or employment, or
						  dishonorable discharge, as the case may be, and of the petitioner's activities
						  subsequent thereto which the petitioner believes bear on character and fitness
						  to practice law.
(c)
						  The petitioner shall also submit a completed and verified questionnaire, on the
						  standard form furnished by the committee on character and fitness, and
						  affidavits of good moral character from two reputable persons who have known
						  the petitioner for at least one year. In addition, the petitioner shall submit
						  a letter from a person in authority at the approved law school in which the
						  petitioner is a matriculated student, or to which the petitioner has applied
						  for admission, stating that such law school would retain or accept the
						  petitioner as a student therein, as the case may be, if the petitioner's
						  conviction, suspension, dismissal or removal from public office or employment,
						  or dishonorable discharge, as the case may be, would not operate to disqualify
						  the petitioner from being admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor at
						  law in this State.
(d) The petition and other papers
						  submitted by the petitioner shall be referred to the appropriate committee on
						  character and fitness, which shall process and investigate the petition in
						  accordance with the procedures set forth in the preceding sections of this
						  Part. The committee may recommend that a ruling be made either in favor of or
						  against the petitioner, or that no ruling be made, and its recommendation shall
						  be transmitted to the Appellate Division.
(e) A ruling made by the Appellate
						  Division in favor of the petitioner shall determine that the petitioner's prior
						  conviction, suspension, removal or dismissal from public office or employment,
						  or dishonorable discharge, as the case may be, and the acts committed by the
						  petitioner which resulted therein, would not operate to disqualify the
						  petitioner, on character grounds, from being admitted to practice as an
						  attorney and counselor at law in this State. Such a ruling shall have binding
						  force throughout the State with respect to the determination thus made by it.
						  In the event that the Appellate Division should rule against the petitioner or
						  should refuse to make a ruling, its determination shall be without prejudice to
						  the petitioner's right, after passing the bar examination, to apply for a
						  favorable ruling with respect to character and fitness.