Florida Bar Hearing Defense Attorney’s Tip of the Month for April 2014

If you have a history of drug or alcohol abuse it is important to consider the benefits of enrolling in Florida Lawyers Assistance before you appear in front of the Board of Bar Examiners for an Investigative Hearing. The Florida Bar is widely known as the toughest in the country when it comes to character and fitness evaluations. However, the Bar does not view a dependency problem as a character flaw, but rather as a treatable disease.

Many Applicants may be concerned that enrolling in Florida Lawyers Assistance of “FLA” would be evidence of bad character, while the exact opposite is true. The Board of Bar Examiners is not comprised of medical professionals who can assess the nature of any dependency disorder,  so they must rely upon FLA to do so for them. If enrolled in FLA the enrollee will have to abstain from all drugs (non prescribed) and alcohol and be subjected to random screening. This gives the Board the level of comfort they need to obtain to be able to conditionally admit you for a finite term with permanent admission to follow a successful term at FLA.

If enrolling make sure to enroll far enough out that you can have a meaningful interaction with FLA such as successfully completing several drug screens and obtaining a sponsor.  If however you feel that you do not have a dependency problem but your bar application may evidence otherwise, it is possible as an alternative to have a Florida Lawyers Assistance approved doctor conduct a chemical dependency evaluation and produce a report that may be offered at your investigative or formal hearing as evidence of no chemical dependency problem.

For more information or questions concerning this post you can contact Lars Soreide, Esq., at (954) 760-6552. Defending Florida Bar Applicants throughout Florida.