And not for important people, like nominees for federal appeals courts. Thomas Griffith, Bush's appointee to the federal appeals court in Washington, has been practicing law without a license for the past four years in Utah. His excuse? He forgot. Or the dog ate it. Something like that.
He's been general counsel to Brigham Young University since August 2000, and that role includes giving legal advice, for which Utah law requires that he have a Utah law license. Under normal circumstances, he could get one through reciprocity - except that he didn't meet the requirement that he be a member in good standing of another bar for three of the previous five years. Why not? Because he had let his D.C. law license lapse for failure to pay his bar dues. For three years in a row.
The Utah State Bar even advised him that he needed either to get a Utah license - by passing the Utah bar exam - or to associate himself with a Utah bar member so that any advice was given by the licensed associate. He evidently did neither, and although he once applied to take the Utah bar exam, he never actually took it.
His continuing to practice law without a license in Utah, after being advised of what steps he needed to take to bring himself into compliance with the Utah regulations, takes his actions out of the realm of negligence and places them firmly into willful, unethical, unlawful activity.
And this intentional, unethical, unlawful course of activity should bar him from consideration for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. Although I can see why it would cause him to fit in well with the current Administration.
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