Character & Fitness

Each state establishes bar registration and admissions standards for individuals who wish to practice law in that state. One important aspect of admission to practice is an evaluation of an applicant’s character and fitness to practice law. Bar applicants must submit to a rigorous character and fitness investigation before admission to practice. Applicants are strongly encouraged, prior to matriculation, to contact the Board of Bar Examiners in the states where they intend to practice to determine the rules that will apply to their bar admission in those states, including what constitutes proof of sufficient character and fitness.

Given these standards, UF Law has an obligation to ensure incoming students demonstrate the character and fitness necessary to practice law. Our application therefore asks you five questions related to character and fitness.

Question 1 in the Character and Fitness section of the application requires candidates to report any disciplinary action taken against them by any college or university. Question 2 refers to any academic probation, warning, suspension and/or dismissal related to academic performance. Questions 3-5 are about specific violations of law, including any traffic violation resulting in a fine over $200 or which resulted in revocation or suspension of a candidate’s driver’s license.

Applicants must respond completely and accurately to all questions on the law school application. Please note that the existence of a criminal history will not, by itself, disqualify an applicant for admission.

Applicants answering “yes” to any question must provide both a detailed explanation for each response and official documentation from the college/university or court documenting the final disposition of each occurrence. For Question 2, your transcript from the associated institution should suffice as the required official documentation. Official documents must clearly identify the agency that is providing the disposition of the incident. Official documents obtained from an online source must include a web address (URL).

Applicants who are uncertain about their academic and/or disciplinary history should contact the appropriate office at each college or university attended. (Current or former UF students should contact Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution at 202 Peabody Hall, P.O. Box 114075, Gainesville, FL 32611, phone 352-392-1261).

Following a completed application, applicants are required to immediately notify the Levin College of Law of any changes in data that occur either prior to an admissions decision or matriculation. This includes information required by questions 1-5 in the Character and Fitness section of the application. Discrepancies or omissions may call into question the applicant’s fitness for admission to a state bar, since they reflect on the applicant’s character, ability to follow directions, trustworthiness, honesty and reliability.

Failure to furnish required information or misrepresentation of such information can result in the withdrawal of an offer of admission prior to matriculation, dismissal from the college after matriculation, rescission of the student’s degree after graduation, and/or forfeiture of all fees and charges paid and academic credit earned. Any such failure to disclose or any misrepresentation may result in an investigation by the Law School Admission Council’s Misconduct or Irregularities in the Admission Process Subcommittee. It may also affect admission to a state bar.

The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.

Character & Fitness

Tools

Website

Quick Links

The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY