NEWS &EVENTS

Colorado Susan Q. Gleeson, Director of Examinations for the Colorado Supreme Court Office of Attorney Admissions and former chair of the Council of Bar Admission Administrators (2007–08), retired at the end of August 2018 after 39 years with the Colorado Supreme Court. Gleeson, who initially started with the Colorado Board of Continuing Legal Education in 1979, began working for the Colorado Board of Law Examiners in 1981. She held the title of Assistant Executive Director for the Colorado Board of Law Examiners until a 2011 restructuring by the Colorado Supreme Court brought the Board under the direction of the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, at which time she became Director of Examinations for the Office of Attorney Admissions. Gleeson has administered the Colorado Bar Examination since 1982.

Susan Q. Gleeson, Director of Examinations for the Colorado Supreme Court Office of Attorney Admissions

Georgia Heidi Faenza is the new director of the Supreme Court of Georgia

Office of Bar Admissions, replacing John C. Sammon. Faenza, who has over 25 years of service with the Supreme Court of Georgia, joined the Office of Bar Admissions in January 2017 as assistant director.

Iowa Iowa Supreme Court Justice Bruce B. Zager, one of the Court’s liaison justices to the Iowa Board of Law Examiners, retired on September 3, 2018. Zagler, who had been appointed to the district court bench in 1999, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2011.

Thomas A. Mayes has joined the Iowa Board of Law Examiners. Mayes is the attorney for the Iowa Department of Education’s Division of Learning and Results, prior to which he was a staff attorney for the Iowa Court of Appeals. He replaces Lora McCollom, who completed her third and final term on the Board at the end of June 2018 and had served as chair of the Board from 2016 to 2018.

Kentucky Effective with the February 2019 examination, Kentucky will require all applicants to sit for and pass both the MBE and the written component of the examination (MEE and Kentucky essay ques-tions) in one sitting; additionally,

the minimum passing score on the MBE will increase from 132 to 135. Effective with the July 2019 exam-ination, Kentucky may administer one or two MPTs at any adminis-tration of the Kentucky Bar Exam.

Massachusetts Francis J. O’Connor has been appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners, fill-ing the vacancy created by Debra Squires-Lee upon her appointment to the bench. O’Connor, who has served for many years as a grader of the Massachusetts Bar Exam, has served as Assistant General Counsel to the Archdiocese of Boston since 2009, prior to which he was in private practice.

Ohio Ohio has adopted the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE). The first administration of the UBE in Ohio will be the July 2020 examination. The date on which Ohio will begin accepting transferred UBE scores from other UBE jurisdictions is yet to be determined.

Tennessee Tennessee will begin accepting transferred UBE scores from other UBE jurisdictions effective January 2, 2019. The first administration of the UBE in Tennessee will be the February 2019 examination.

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Virgin Islands Janelle Brown, who has been with the Judicial Branch of the Virgin Islands since 2006, is now Bar Admissions Analyst in the Office of Bar Admissions in the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands.

Elbert B. Joseph has joined the Office of Bar Admissions in the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands full-time as a Bar Admissions Clerk. Joseph had previously worked in

the Office of Bar Admissions over several summers as an intern.

NCBE Augustin (“Augie”) Rivera, Jr., is the newest member of the NCBE Board of Trustees, having joined the Board in August 2018. Rivera is vice chair of the Texas Board of Law Examiners; he was appointed to the Texas Board in 2011 and elected as vice chair in 2017. Rivera served as a litigation and insurance defense

attorney throughout South Texas for over 25 years and is currently serving as general counsel for the Del Mar College District in Corpus Christi, Texas.

NOTEWORTHY ■ The Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands has held that an applicant who earned his J.D. from the Southern New England School of Law, which was not accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) at the time the appli-cant graduated, nevertheless satisfied the educational requirement for regular admission to the Virgin Islands Bar and could therefore sit for the July2018 Virgin Islands Bar Examination. Although the Southern New England School of Law was not accredited by the ABA at the time the applicant grad-uated, it merged with the University of Massachusetts, which became accred-ited two years after the applicant’s graduation. Since the plain text of Virgin Islands Supreme Court Rule 204(d)(5) does not require that the law school be accredited by the ABA at the pre-cise time of graduation, the Court held that the applicant had satisfied theeducational requirement because he graduated from a law school that was subsequently accredited by the ABA.

See In The Matter of the Application of Eddy G. Robert for Regular Admission to the Virgin Islands Bar (S. Ct. BA. No. 2018-0051), http:// www.visupremecourt.org/wfdata/ frame3094-1242/File2.pdf.

■ The Supreme Court of Georgia hasupheld an October 2017 decision bythe Georgia Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants to deny an applicationfor a certificate of fitness to practice

law to an applicant who contended that his sleep apnea should have been accommodated as a disability during the application process. The Court, in upholding the decision, refused to consider how the cognitive effects of the medical condition had affected the applicant’s statements during the application process, stating that even if sleep apnea is a disability in the context of the Americans with Disabilities Act, it does not merit an accommodation in the context of a character and fitness review.

See In the Matter of John Anthony Montesanti, https://www.gasupreme .us/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ s18z0388.pdf.

■ The Court of Appeal of the State of California, First Appellate District,Division Three, has affirmed thesuperior court’s decision to uphold the State Bar of California’s denial of a petition by appellants and peti-tioners Richard Sander and the First Amendment Coalition (Petitioners) for a writ of mandate seeking to obtaininformation from the State Bar’s bar admissions database. The information requested consisted of individually unidentifiable records for all applicants to the California Bar Examination from1972 to 2008 in the categories ofrace or ethnicity, law school, trans-fer status, year of law school gradu-ation, law school and undergraduateGPA, LSAT scores, and performance onthe bar examination. The Petitioners believed that making these records

Augustin “Augie” Rivera, Jr., Vice Chair of the Texas Board of Law Examiners

available to the public, in a manner protecting the applicants’ privacy and anonymity, would allow researchers to study the potential relationship between preferential admissions pro-grams in higher education and a gap in bar passage rates between racial and ethnic groups. The superior court found the Petitioners’ request to be beyond the purview of the California Public Records Act (Gov. Code 6250) because it would compel the State Bar to recode its existing data and create new records.

See Richard Sander et al. v. State Bar of California et al., http://www .courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/ A150061.PDF.

■ The Supreme Court of Georgia hasvacated a January 2018 decision bythe Georgia Board of Bar Examiners to deny bar admission to a lawyer seekingto practice under a waiver programfor military spouses. The Board, in informing the lawyer of its decision,had stated that there was insufficientevidence of good cause for waiver butwithout providing specific reasons forthe denial of the waiver. The Court,in vacating the decision, remanded the case to the Board to clearly applythe military waiver policy and explainwhy the lawyer had or had not met the waiver requirements.

See In the Matter of Harriet O’Neal, https://www.gasupreme.us/ wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ s18z0774.pdf.

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2018–2019 NCBE Policy Committees The following members of NCBE’s policy committees were appointed in August 2018 and will serve through August 2019. NCBE Chair Michele A. Gavagni and NCBE President Judith A. Gundersen are ex-officio members of these policy committees.

Character and Fitness Investigations Patrick R. Dixon, Chair Cheryl Beatty Elizabeth S. Feamster Elizabeth A. Greenidge Kathleen Lynch Gina Palmer Lisa Perlen Gus V. Quiniones Jeffrey Shipley Diane K. Van Aken

Diversity Issues Bryan R. Williams, Chair Robert A. Chong Robert L. Harris Hon. Juan Hoyos Carol Mitchell Augustin Rivera, Jr. Hon. Phyllis D. Thompson Leah Wilson

Editorial Advisory Margaret Fuller Corneille, Chair Bedford T. Bentley, Jr. Gicine P. Brignola Elizabeth T. Burke Sherry M. Hieber Sophie S. Martin Suzanne Schmitz Rebecca S. Thiem

Education Suzanne K. Richards, Chair David R. Cooper Catherine Crooks Hill Jennifer E. Day Emily J. Eschweiler Mark A. Huntsberger Keith J. Kasper Shela Shanks Pieter Teeuwissen Marilyn J. Wellington

Multistate Bar Examination Franklin R. Harrison, Chair David R. Boyd Patrick R. Dixon Hon. Cynthia L. Martin Robert S. McMillen Anthony R. Simon Hon. Phyllis D. Thompson Timothy Y. Wong

Multistate Essay Examination / Multistate Performance Test Darin B. Scheer, Chair Jennifer Aldrich Arlene Y. Coleman Michael Colodner William Harbison Jeffrey A. Howes Aasia Mustakeem Richard A. Nielson Shellie Park-Hoapili Augustin Rivera, Jr. Hon. Mark K. Wiest

Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination Hon. Phyllis D. Thompson, Chair L. David Cromwell Curtis M. Hairston, Jr. Lawrence King Hon. R. Fred Lewis Robert Long Cathleen Shrader Carol P. Smith Alan Yochelson

Technology John J. McAlary, Chair Justin C. Aday Karen M. Goodman Susan Henricks Brian Kunzi Gregory K. Markham Sahbra Smook Jacobs Troy Wood

Uniform Bar Examination Timothy Y. Wong, Chair Diane F. Bosse Maureen Ryan Braley Hon. Anne C. Dranginis (ret.) Hon. Zel M. Fischer Hon. Michael G. Heavican Daniel F. Johnson Hon. Cynthia L. Martin Jean K. McElroy Darin B. Scheer

75 members representing 42 jurisdictions D.C.

Not shown: n Guam

n Palau n Puerto Rico n Virgin Islands

n Northern Mariana Islands

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NCBE/CBAA Annual Meeting August 9–12, 2018 | Renaissance Asheville Hotel | Asheville, NC

NCBE and the Council of Bar Admission Administrators (CBAA) held their joint 2018

Annual Meeting at the Renaissance Asheville Hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, on August 9–12. Thirty-eight jurisdictions were represented by 85 attendees.

Meeting attendees were welcomed on Friday morning by outgoing NCBE chair Hon. Rebecca White Berch (Ret.) of Arizona and outgo-ing CBAA chair Emily J. Eschweiler of Minnesota. The 11 CBAA com-mittees met during the morning and into the afternoon, and four plenary sessions were presented on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. NCBE president Judith A. Gundersen also addressed attend-ees on Saturday morning to inform CBAA members about activities at NCBE and other developments of interest to the bar admissions community. At the conclusion of the Annual Meeting, the CBAA held its business meeting, during which committee chairs reported on the committee meetings that had taken place and administra-tors announced news from their jurisdictions.

The NCBE/CBAA Annual Meeting is the occasion at which a CBAA member is recognized for outstand-ing service to the bar admissions community. This year’s recipient of the Outstanding Bar Admissions Administrator Award was Susan Q. Gleeson, Director of Examinations for the Colorado Supreme Court Office of Attorney Admissions, who served as CBAA chair in 2007–08. Gleeson was recognized for her 39 years of service with the Colorado Supreme Court—37 years of which were with the Colorado Board of Law Examiners and later the Office of Attorney Admissions. Gleeson retired at the end of August 2018.

The Annual Meeting marks the change in leadership of the CBAA Executive Committee. Outgoing CBAA immediate past chair Mark A. Huntsberger of Florida recog-nized outgoing CBAA chair EmilyJ. Eschweiler for her service on theExecutive Committee during the2017–18 term and welcomed MarilynJ. Wellington of Massachusetts asCBAA chair for the 2018–19 term.

The Annual Meeting also marks the change in leadership of the NCBE Board of Trustees, and it is the occasion at which a former NCBE

Susan Gleeson (CO) Anthony Simon (MS)

Robert Chong (HI) Barry Garrison (KS)

Belinda Brown (ID), Duane Schuster (IL)

Diane Bosse (NY), Hon. Phyllis Thompson (DC)

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chair is honored for exceptional service to NCBE. On Saturday eve-ning, NCBE held its annual recog-nition dinner for the NCBE Board of Trustees, at which former NCBE chair Hon. Thomas J. Bice of Iowa was honored for his outstanding service to NCBE. Bice served on the NCBE Board of Trustees from 2008 to 2017 and as chair from 2015 to 2016. Outgoing NCBE chair Hon. Rebecca White Berch also recog-nized outgoing NCBE Board mem-ber Robert A. Chong of Hawaii, who served on the Board from 2009 to 2018 and as chair from 2016 to 2017. Berch then welcomed incoming chair Michele A. (Missy) Gavagni of Florida for the 2018–19 term.

At the conclusion of the recognition dinner, outgoing NCBE chair Berch was recognized for her service as 2017–18 chair. Those speaking to honor Berch were Michele Gavagni, Judith A. Gundersen, incoming chair-elect Hon. Cynthia L. Martin of Missouri, incoming secretary Hulett H. (Bucky) Askew of Georgia, Board member Timothy Y. Wong of Minnesota, Board member Suzanne K. Richards of Ohio, and outgoingBoard member Robert A. Chong.

The following four plenary sessions were presented during the meeting:

Differences in Character and Fitness Models How do different jurisdictions approach the character and fitness investigations process for appli-cants seeking admission to the bar? Representatives from three juris-dictions shared their processes. (Speakers: Allison Drish, Director of Character and Fitness, Texas Board of Law Examiners; Michele Gavagni, Executive Director, Florida

2017–2018 CBAA Executive Committee Mark A. Huntsberger (FL), Emily J. Eschweiler (MN), Marilyn J. Wellington (MA), Kathleen B. Harrington (CT), Bradley W. Skolnik (IN)

2017–2018 NCBE Board of Trustees Front row: Suzanne K. Richards (OH), Robert A. Chong (HI), Hon. Rebecca White Berch (AZ), Anthony R. Simon (MS) Second row: Timothy Y. Wong (MN), Hon. Cynthia L. Martin (MO), Michele A. Gavagni (FL), Judith A. Gundersen (NCBE) Back row: John J. McAlary (NY), Patrick R. Dixon (CA), Darin B. Scheer (WY), Hon. Phyllis D. Thompson (DC), Hulett H. Askew (GA)

Augustin Rivera, Jr. (TX), Hon. Rebecca White Berch (AZ)

Hon. Thomas J. Bice (IA) Hon. Rebecca White Berch (AZ)

Gus Quiniones (WA) Dawn McKnight (CO) CBAA committee meeting attendees

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Board of Bar Examiners; Nancy Vincent, Director of Administration, Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar; Moderator: Kathleen Harrington, Deputy Director of Attorney Services, Connecticut Bar Examining Committee)

What Makes an Exam Day Occurrence an “Irregularity”? Two representatives from NCBE discussed disruptions that can occur during the exam (e.g., light-ing issues or noise in the exam room, technical problems with laptop testing), the crucial step of properly documenting an irreg-ularity, and the analysis NCBE undertakes to assist jurisdictions in determining the impact of the irregularity. (Speakers: C. Beth Hill, Director of Test and Information Security, National Conference of Bar Examiners; Douglas Ripkey, Deputy Director of Testing, National Conference of Bar Examiners)

Mental Health and Wellness Issues in the Bar Admissions Process The directors of two lawyer assis-tance programs discussed the prev-alence of substance abuse and other mental health concerns among law students and lawyers, the ways in which lawyer assistance programs and those involved in the admis-sions process can work together, and the lawyer well-being move-ment and recommendations for promoting well-being among law students and lawyers. (Speakers: Terry Harrell, Executive Director, Indiana Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program; Yvette Hourigan, Director, Kentucky Lawyers Assistance Program)

Test Site Security: How to Protect Your Exam Site Representatives from four juris-dictions discussed the steps taken in their jurisdictions to ensure test site security—from measures taken prior to exam day to procedures followed on exam day itself and fol-lowing the exam. (Speakers: Emily Eschweiler, Director, Minnesota Board of Law Examiners; Nahdiah Hoang, Director of Eligibility and Examination, Texas Board of Law Examiners; Christine Kenefick, Deputy Executive Director, New York State Board of Law Examiners; Bradley Skolnik, Executive Director, Indiana Office of Admissions and Continuing Education)

Mental Health and Wellness Issues in the Bar Admissions Process Terry Harrell, Yvette Hourigan

What Makes an Exam Day Occurrence an “Irregularity”? C. Beth Hill, Douglas Ripkey (both NCBE)

Differences in Character and Fitness Models Kathleen Harrington (CT, moderator), Michele Gavagni (FL), Allison Drish (TX), Nancy Vincent (IL)

Test Site Security: How to Protect Your Exam Site Bradley Skolnik (IN), Christine Kenefick (NY), Nahdiah Hoang (TX), Emily Eschweiler (MN)