Fellow CA applicants,

I just sent in my moral character determination application in. How long did it take for your application to be complete? I'm on a deadline for work.

Thanks.

I'm at 15 months and counting. :-(

15 months! What did you do? Kill the Calbar grader?

3 months for me

Several factors seem to affect this, (assuming you have filled out that giant-book-of-an-application correctly and thoroughly): 

Shorter time:  you are younger, lived a simple life, only one job, one home, no divorce, good credit, no legal issues, your references respond promptly, and the grader is not busy.

Longer time: you have lived a long, full  and complex  life, several job and home changes, divorced, any issues on your credit reports or any other legal issues, your references fail to respond, you stupidly published facebook items and embarassing  photos, googling your email address turns up really awful comments associted with them, and the grader is having a crappy day.

I'd have liked to have killed a bar grader! (oh, just kidding, State Bar)

"Lived a full life" describes it well... divorced 20 years ago, bankruptcy as a result, self-employed with three minor complaints of prior customers many, many years ago, so much so that they don't even know what the complaint was about. Yet, that's all it takes for the committee to drag its feet. I think I'm on round 4 or 5 of questions and responses, each of which takes about 2 months or more.

Worst part is, they won't tell you what they are investigating so that you can save them the trouble! I could have told them what was behind door number 3 a year ago, if they'd have just been honest about what they were poking around about. It changes every few months. Unfortunately, there's no end in sight yet. You can't operate a business for 17 years without a few people getting upset with you. We figured out that one was for $200. No idea what for, but for $200. Is that really "material"?

Oh, and then there was "please explain line number such and such on page 67 of your 20 year old divorce decree." I mean really. My ex-wife even still likes me, so could it be that bad to delay my license to practice law?

If it takes that long then would it be a good idea to send it in as soon as possible, even before bar exam results and mpre cos my gosh 15 months is a hell of a long time. Does New York take that long as well? I am a foreign bar taker, UK

About 6 weeks

glowie and meand me,

it was that quick for the california moral character determination???

I'm at 2 months, and still no one has been assigned to my file. I know they contacted all my references though, and the guy who took my fingerprints said the FBI check takes only a few weeks. What else do they do? Anyway, I'm very curious to know other peoples wait times in CA.

mine took about 1 year. had a dui on it and a couple of alcohol-related minor citations/infractions, though. other than that, every else was straight as can be. good credit, verifiable work history, not involved in former lawsuits, etc.

i know someone personally who has been waiting for nearly 2 years, and his attempts to get answers from the State Bar have been uninforming. he really has no idea how long it'll take for either a positive or negative determination. could be next month, 1 year from now, several years from now.

he had a really checkered history, though.

Blistceleb and others:

While you were waiting, did they contact you for more information? Did you ever contact them and if so, did they tell you anything interesting about what they were doing? Did you learn anything that you can see in retrospect might have made the process faster? Thanks in advance for your input :)

Yes, mine took a little less than 3 months(September - November). I recently had a divorce, 3 small claims and 1 serious injury accident case. I even had to turn in a statement of good standing from another jurisdiction. Tell them every little thing because any thing they dig up may look suspicious and stay in touch with your references (they contacted only 2 of mine)

For those who passed the bar and waited a year or more for the moral character approval, what did you do in the meantime?? Did you have to explain/apologize to prospective employers?

Mine was done in less than a month.  It was actually a bit terrifying.

meandme:

Did they contact the lawyers (or opposing parties) in your lawsuits? I had lawsuits too, won a couple as plaintiff so it shouldn't ultimately be a cause for their concern, but maybe it can be a cause of delay? I'm just asking because if they are waiting to hear back from the other lawyers or parties, I might be able to move things along faster by contacting them. But of course I don't want to contact them. I don't really like them, and had to sue them, you know what I mean? But I could probably muster up the will to contact the parties/lawyers human being to human being and ask if they would please return their questionnaire, if I knew this would make a difference.

no wai!

I am waiting at one year and no reply from the bar examiners. Should I be worried? Should I contact the person assigned to my file?

I did not receive any supplemental questions either. Jeff, did your investigator to ask if they needed anything else? Or why they were delaying, and if you did, what did they say?

Thanks in advance,
Worried bar applicant

I meant 'blistceleb' instead of 'jeff' in my previous post. Oh, by the way, I got a DUI a LONG time ago, if that helps any responses...

please help, i'm in need! i can't focus because of this!

Definitely call them if its been a year and you haven't heard from them. Just explain that you filed a year ago and haven't heard anything and that you are wondering about your status. See what they say. Also, you may want to contact the references you supplied and find out if/when they received a form from the bar. A lot of my references initially told me they were about to mail back their form, but upon asking them later several times would say "oh yeah, I forgot about that, I will make sure I send it tomorrow." Mine all eventually sent their forms in, but I had to remind myself that this wasn't going to be as important to them as to me and that I had to patient with them and keep reminding them.

Has anyone heard of a faster track for those who pass the bar? For those of you who reported getting your MCD within a few months, had you already passed? Also, how many of you were contacted for additional information?

Shelly:

Were you in california? When did you apply?

filed a week ago, forms went out to references already. All I know.

hey jeff,

did you get your moral determination back yet? mine has been 12 months and counting and i haven't heard anything back yet. that is to say that i have heard NOTHING from them, no questions on "please answer this," or please explain this. did you receive anything like that during the time that you waited the 15 months? it is almost 13 months and i am starting to worry. any word of advice?

thanks,
guy

Have you talked to anyone yet, guyeichberg? Keep us posted !

I don't get it. Do you get a letter saying that you "passed" the moral determination part? Or, is it that if you don't hear anything back from the bar examiners then you're free and clear. I juelst talked to a friend outta state who is practicing and he said that he did receive anything "official" telling he passed the moral determination part. He just said that he was sworn in after passing the bar exam.

Anyone with experience know about this and could help us is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance. Guy.

I as you know from my previous posts have not received any questions from the examiners.

They’ll send you an “official” mail after the investigation confirming your eligibility. They usually do. For those of you who are worried, I think it is always better to contact them directly to clear these doubts, to give you a peace of mind, and most importantly to stay on your case, ensuring that it’s moving forward. One little unclear fact may be causing the delay.

Jeff:

When you say you had several complaints against your business, are you talking about actual legal complaints filed in court? Or are you saying they just found customers somehow that had complaints? What do you mean by 'we figured out that one was for $200'? Are you saying like that there was a small claims complaint against you years ago that you had forgotten about? I am just trying to compare your situation to mine. I had a complaint filed against me in court, and I filled out that little form the bar has on complaints and sent in proof that I had a good faith dispute and that I did everything I was ordered to by the judge. Is this the kind of thing that you had? I am just trying to gage if this is going to cause a long delay?

For those of you who have shared your story about how long it took to get a moral Character determination, and those of you who would be kind enough to share in the future, would you please give us the following information?

a) how long did it take from the time you applied until the time you received a favorable reccommendation?

b) had you passed the bar at the point in time when you applied?

c) what year did you apply? (This will help us tell what to expect at the present speed -- maybe the time was shorter or longer years ago)

d) any potential issues on your record that might have caused a delay?

I submitted mine in December 2008 and got the okay in March 2009. I was in my last year of law school, but I'm older - 31 - had lived in two states and had 13 years of work experience.

I think it takes longer when you have some not so great stuff in your report (like bankruptcy because of the fiduciary stuff). For those of you who have heard nothing, does that mean you didn't even get a confirmation that they got your application and are reviewing it? 'Cause if you haven't gotten that, I'd suggest calling to confirm they have what they need.

It's also important to note that when the Bar contacts your references, they ask your references to refer others. I've known two people whose references suggested others to contact and those others, for one reason or another, provided very bad information, resulting in a delay of approval. You might want to follow up with your references to see if they've a) gotten the form and b) suggested other people. If your references haven't responded to the form, that's a problem so make sure they do that.

Hope that helps.

Well that's interesting -- so the 3-month timeline is not just for 25 year olds who lived at home and didn't work while going to the local law school right after college. Did you have anything on your record other than a long history that might have temporarily given them pause? For instance, did you have debts, any former employers that might have said something nasty, any lawsuits? Could it be the time of year of application that is accounting for some of these faster time periods, i.e., maybe since (presumably) not that many people apply in December, the whole thing just gets done faster?

i heard they have a serious backlog, but in the other hand an aquaintance who filed end of june just got her positive determination a week ago while i am going on 7 mos- does it just depend on which analyst you are assigned and how heavy their workload is? if there is a problem, at what point do they let you know??

Applied: March 5, 2008.
Confirmation letter rec'd: April 16, 2008
Successful moral determination: June 9, 2008

I guess that makes it about 3 months.

I had NO criminal issues, NO lawsuits. Just a name change.

Good luck all.

The MCD doesn't have any impact on your ability to sit for the CBX. It does, however, need to be completed in order for you to officially get your license, even if you pass the bar.

Trust me, I know from personal experience. I sent my MCD off after I took the Feb 09 exam (I passed), around April or so. I was expecting a 3 month turnaround time, but I am still waiting!!! :@ I don't see what the delay is, I have a DUI and assault conviction from college (I was in a frat), but nothing involving integrity. Ridiculous.

Maybe they're waiting for you to sober up.

11 mos

11 mos? Any idea why it took so long? How long ago was this? Just trying to get an idea what to expect thanks

I received a letter from State Bar today indicating my Moral Character Application has to be approved by November 2, 2009 or there would be a delay in my certification as a licensed attorney (should I pass the July 2009 Bar Exam in California).

Seemed kind of an odd communication since the power to grant that approval lies in the same entity that sent the letter!

It took 3-4 months in my case. I had a bankruptcy and a divorce. They only contacted 3 of my references, one law school professor and 2 attorneys. My personal non-attorney friends were not contacted.

I got mine back in 2.5 months !!!

I'm close to 5 months. Why does it take so long? I guess once this gets approved, we all go on to solve larger injustices and nobody looks back to fix this injustice. If they get more applications at a certain time of year, why don't they just gets some temp staff or hire their work out to some larger organization that can handle an ebb and flow of 1000 applications like the FBI or some private security organization? People get background checks in all kinds of fields these days in weeks. I know some small law offices that handle 1000 or 2000 small cases per year. Don't tell me it's really that hard to get 1000 applications checked over, when the FBI already ran the fingerprints. Give me a break.

6 months exactly from the day they said they received it. April 14th date of submission; got approved Oct. 14. *Phew*!

Any idea why they didn't do it sooner? Did they ask any questions or do any investigation? Or are they just waiting until the 6 months elapses because they are overworked?

I've been assigned to someone in LA. is this bad?

my file has also been assigned. i think that's the standard process: your file is initially filed, references are mailed the survey, and your file is assigned to an investigator. a few months later (hopefully), you receive a determination.

I was the OP on this thread. Today I received a positive determination. It took almost four months to complete.

Congrats! Or, as some people here would say, Congrads!

jeff,

did u get a response yet?