The New York State Bar Association’s House of Delegates has adopted a report from the Association’s Working Group on Attorney Mental Health, recommending that all mental health questions be removed from the bar application. The Working Group found that questions related to mental disability are “unnecessary,” and should be eliminated.
Earlier this year, the Conference of Chief Justices passed a resolution calling on state bar admission authorities to eliminate questions about mental health history from bar applications. The Administrative Board of the Courts in New York will now review the NY State Bar Association’s recommendations in the coming months. If New York removes these questions, it would join California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Virginia, and Washington in a growing list of jurisdictions that prohibit mental health questions on bar applications.
You can read the full report of the New York State Bar Association’s Working Group on Attorney Mental Health here.
