Henderson choose candidate denied admittance to Kentucky bar
The Kentucky Supreme Courtroom has denied a Henderson-area district choose candidate’s attraction to be admitted to the state’s bar affiliation after it decided the regulation college he attended will not be accredited in Kentucky.
Christopher D. Jefferson is listed in election filings as difficult Henderson District Decide Leslie Newman in District 51, Division 2. However the supreme court docket’s ruling throws Jefferson’s candidacy into query.
The Kentucky Workplace of Bar Admissions beforehand decided Jefferson’s regulation diploma was not issued by an establishment accredited by both the American Bar Affiliation or the Affiliation of American Regulation Colleges, as is required by Kentucky regulation.
Jefferson didn’t reply to an emailed request for remark previous to the publication of this text.
In a written opinion issued Thursday, the court docket sided with the bar affiliation and decided The Birmingham Faculty of Regulation, the place Jefferson attended, was not correctly accredited.
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In court docket filings, Jefferson argued the college was accredited by related establishments in Alabama, and stated Kentucky ought to reciprocate these accreditations, a line or argument the state’s highest court docket flatly rejected in its Thursday ruling.
“The actual fact the Birmingham Faculty of Regulation could also be regulated and ‘accredited’ by the Alabama legislature or the Alabama Supreme Courtroom, as argued by Jefferson, doesn’t meet our necessities or guidelines,” the court docket wrote in its opinion.
Jefferson additionally requested the court docket to remand questions on his diploma to the bar affiliation’s character and health committee, however the judges stated this committee couldn’t make that willpower.
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The Board of Bar Examiners might determine that Jefferson’s diploma constitutes “the substantial equal of the authorized training supplied by accepted regulation faculties in Kentucky,” the judges wrote. However, even when the board dominated in Jefferson’s favor, he would nonetheless want to use for − and go − Kentucky’s bar examination.
The following examination is scheduled to be held in February, in accordance with the bar affiliation’s web site.
In its conclusion, the Kentucky Supreme Courtroom determined the workplace of bar admissions appropriately evaluated Jefferson’s utility for admission and appropriately dominated that “he’s ineligible for admission with out examination.”
Jefferson stays an lively candidate
The supreme court docket’s ruling doesn’t disqualify Jefferson from in search of the district choose place, in accordance with Michon Lindstrom, a spokeswoman for Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams.
Lindstrom did say Jefferson’s credentials might be questioned in court docket previous to the election beneath a separate “bona fides” problem.
The Kentucky State Board of Elections says a district choose candidate should be “licensed to observe regulation within the courts of the Commonwealth, and a licensed legal professional for at the least two years.”
“A choose might decide that he doesn’t meet the minimal {qualifications} and he would not be a candidate, however his title would stay on the poll,” Lindstrom stated. “However there can be indicators at polling locations noting he isn’t a candidate.”
If no bona fides problem is filed previous to the election, Jefferson might stay a candidate and win the election.
However, in that situation, a choose might nonetheless decide he doesn’t meet the minimal {qualifications} to carry the workplace, briefly leaving District 51, Division 2 with out a choose.
Houston Harwood will be contacted at [email protected] with story concepts and questions. Twitter: @houston_whh.