Bill Text: NY A10512 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Relates to making technical corrections to ensure gender neutrality for the admission to practice law and preventing the character fitness questionnaire from inquiring into an applicant's prior interaction with law enforcement or the criminal justice system under certain circumstances.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-31 - referred to judiciary [A10512 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A10512-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          10512

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 31, 2022
                                       ___________

        Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Dinowitz) --
          read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary

        AN  ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to making
          technical corrections to ensure gender neutrality for the admission to
          practice law and preventing any required disclosure  of  prior  inter-
          action  with  law  enforcement  or  the  criminal justice system under
          certain circumstances

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Rule 9401 of the civil practice law and rules is amended to
     2  read as follows:
     3    Rule 9401. Committee.  The appellate division in each judicial depart-
     4  ment shall appoint a committee of not less than three practicing lawyers
     5  for  each  judicial  district  within the department, for the purpose of
     6  investigating the character and fitness of every applicant for admission
     7  to practice as an attorney and counselor at law in the  courts  of  this
     8  state.  Each  member  of  such  committee  shall  serve  until [his] the
     9  member's death, resignation or the appointment  of  [his]  the  member's
    10  successor.  A  lawyer who has been or who shall be appointed a member of
    11  the committee for one district may be appointed a member of the  commit-
    12  tee for another district within the same department.
    13    § 2. The opening paragraph and subdivision 1 of rule 9403 of the civil
    14  practice  law  and rules, as amended by chapter 226 of the laws of 1985,
    15  are amended to read as follows:
    16    Notwithstanding rule 9402, any application for admission  to  practice
    17  pending before a committee, may be referred to the committee for another
    18  judicial  district  in the same or another department by order or direc-
    19  tion of the presiding justice of the appellate division of  the  depart-
    20  ment  embracing  the  district in which the application is pending. Such
    21  order or direction may be made only upon  the  written  request  of  the
    22  [chairman] chairperson or acting [chairman] chairperson of the committee
    23  before  which  the application is pending and only upon [his] the chair-
    24  person or acting chairperson's written certification either:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15871-03-2
        A. 10512                            2

     1    1. that the applicant, since [he] they applied to take the  bar  exam-
     2  ination  or to dispense with such examination or since [he] they applied
     3  on motion to be admitted to practice, has  changed  [his]  their  actual
     4  residence  to  such other judicial district in the same or other depart-
     5  ment, or, if not a resident of the state, has acquired full-time employ-
     6  ment  in  or  changed  [his] their place of full-time employment to such
     7  other judicial district in the same or other department; or
     8    § 3. Rule 9404 of the civil practice law  and  rules,  as  amended  by
     9  judicial  conference  proposal number 7 for the year 1973, is amended to
    10  read as follows:
    11    Rule 9404. Certificate of character and  fitness.    Unless  otherwise
    12  ordered  by the appellate division, no person shall be admitted to prac-
    13  tice without a certificate from the proper committee that it  has  care-
    14  fully  investigated the character and fitness of the applicant and that,
    15  in such respects, [he] the applicant is entitled to admission. To enable
    16  the committee to make such investigation, the justices of the  appellate
    17  division  are  authorized  to prescribe and from time to time to amend a
    18  form of statement or questionnaire to be  submitted  by  the  applicant,
    19  including specifically [his] the applicant's present and such past plac-
    20  es  of  actual  residence as may be required therein, listing the street
    21  and number, if any, and the period of time [he] the applicant resided at
    22  each place. Such questionnaire shall not include any questions requiring
    23  the disclosure of  the  applicant's  history  of  interaction  with  law
    24  enforcement or the criminal justice system if such interaction (i) is no
    25  longer  pending  and  did not result in a conviction, (ii) resulted in a
    26  juvenile proceeding or youthful offender adjudication, or (iii) resulted
    27  in a conviction which is now sealed.
    28    § 4. Rule 9405 of the civil practice law and rules is amended to  read
    29  as follows:
    30    Rule  9405.  Prior  application.   In the event that any applicant has
    31  made a prior application for admission to practice in this state  or  in
    32  any  other jurisdiction, then upon said statement or questionnaire or in
    33  an accompanying signed statement, [he] the applicant shall set forth  in
    34  detail  all  the  facts  with  respect to such prior application and its
    35  disposition. If such prior application had been filed in  any  appellate
    36  division  of  this state and if the applicant failed to obtain a certif-
    37  icate of good character  and  fitness  from  the  appropriate  character
    38  committee or if for any reason such prior application was disapproved or
    39  rejected  either  by said committee or said appellate division, [he] the
    40  applicant shall obtain and submit the written consent of said  appellate
    41  division  to  the  renewal  of [his] their application in that appellate
    42  division or in any other appellate division.
    43    § 5. Rule 9406 of the civil practice law  and  rules,  as  amended  by
    44  chapter 226 of the laws of 1985, is amended to read as follows:
    45    Rule  9406. Proof.   No person shall receive said certificate from any
    46  committee and no person shall be admitted to practice as an attorney and
    47  counselor at law in the courts of this state,  unless  [he]  they  shall
    48  furnish satisfactory proof to the effect:
    49    1.  that  [he  supports]  they support the constitutions of the United
    50  States and of the state of New York; and
    51    2. that [he has] they have complied with all the requirements  of  the
    52  applicable  statutes of this state, the applicable rules of the court of
    53  appeals and the applicable rules of  the  appellate  division  in  which
    54  [his]  their  application is pending, relating to the admission to prac-
    55  tice as an attorney and counselor at law.
        A. 10512                            3

     1    § 6. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
     2  have become a law.