What does the future portend for your career if it takes a Supreme Court decision to allow you to practice law in Wisconsin? One man is determined to find out and his case goes before the court this Friday. 05AP2061 Dominic J Anderson v Board of Bar Examiners.
This is a petition to review a determination of the Board of Bar Examiners (BBE), an agency of the Supreme Court that checks the fitness and character of people seeking to practice law in the state of Wisconsin. The BBE also administers the Bar Exam and monitors lawyers’ compliance with continuing education requirements.So should the State preemptively refuse to license someone they simply don’t like? More interesting is the idea of how long the stigma of past indiscretions should last. So much information is retained and accessible in this computer age it is easy to loose the perspective of the age and time of events. I hope any Judge who was not perfect in their youth would recuse themselves from this case.
This case involves a former Monona Police Department officer who graduated ninth out of 148 in his law school class but was not admitted to the Wisconsin Bar because of concerns about his character and fitness for the practice of law. He is appealing this decision, and the Supreme Court will decide whether he will be permitted to practice law in Wisconsin.
Here is the background: Dominic J. Anderson is a native of Richland Center who interrupted his college career to serve in the military during Operation Desert Storm. He earned a number of medals for his service and ultimately led a platoon. He returned home to finish college at UW-Platteville, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a criminal justice major.
Anderson’s career in law enforcement began with a job at the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. He soon moved to the Monona Police Department, where he served from February 1996 through June 2000. While Anderson’s performance was good during his first three years in Monona, things unraveled during the final year. A performance evaluation ranked him below standard in 11 of 21 categories, and he was, at one point, placed on administrative leave following some issues with the proper performance of his duties as a police officer.
In October 1999, Anderson was charged with four counts of criminal wrongdoing relating to his conduct during a social gathering that occurred while he was off-duty. He allegedly demonstrated what he called a “titty twister” on one woman (a colleague at the police department), and fondled and purchased drinks for another woman, who was underage. Although a jury found him not guilty of all offenses following a two day trial in June 2000, Anderson resigned from the Monona Police Department.
Anderson enrolled in law school at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas in fall 2001 and graduated near the top of his class. He also worked as an unpaid legal extern for a federal district judge and served as an intern in the Criminal Defense Clinic.
Anderson applied for admission to the Wisconsin Bar in April 2004 and passed the Bar Exam that July. In December 2004, the BBE issued its preliminary decision to deny Anderson’s Bar application based upon a character-and-fitness report. Anderson requested and received a hearing, which was held April 6, 2005. His application was still denied, based upon concerns about his temperament, his ability to take responsibility for his actions, and his conduct as a police officer.
Now, Anderson has appealed that ruling. He argues that the record does not support a finding that he is unfit to practice law. He says that his job performance as a police officer was not egregious, but simply on occasion not up to standards. He also acknowledges that he showed poor judgment at the party that led to the criminal charges, but points out that he was acquitted by a jury. He also downplays the BBE’s concerns about his employment patterns (he was terminated from jobs at the Country Kitchen in Richland Center and Kwik Trip in Richland Center prior to going to college), arguing that two terminations from jobs in one’s youth does not show a negative pattern, especially when they occurred nearly 15 years before his application for Bar admission.
The BBE, on the other hand, points to a number of incidents in Anderson’s work history that, it says, demonstrate a pattern of poor judgment and an inability to make decisions without close supervision.
The Supreme Court will decide whether to admit Anderson to the Wisconsin Bar.
