Plagiarism Prevents Applicant from Sitting for Georgia Bar
The Georgia Supreme Court yesterday upheld the decision of Georgia's "Board to Determine Fitness for Bar Applicants" to refuse to permit an applicant to sit for the bar exam. See decision, In the Matter of Wilie Jay White. The reason for the denial was White's lack of candor regarding an incident of plagiarism in his 2d year of law school.
According to the court, White "submitted a paper at the end of his second year of law school that was a virtually verbatim reproduction of sections of five previously published sources, none of which was cited in the paper. The Board gave White multiple opportunities to provide a fuller and more convincing explanation for his conduct, but he declined to do so. "
Note that it was not the plagiarism itself that led to the Board's decision, but instead, the applicant's failure to accept responsibility for the action. In other words, absolution is possible, if a penitent attitude is shown.
Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog, who tipped the hat to the Legal Profession Blog,
