No. 20-1423

Robert Grundstein v. Vermont Board of Bar Examiners

Lower Court: Vermont
Docketed: 2021-04-09
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: bar-admission character-and-fitness civil-rights due-process equal-protection fundamental-rights separation-of-powers
Key Terms:
DueProcess Securities
Latest Conference: 2021-05-13
Question Presented (from Petition)

What Levels of Due Process are Required for Bar Admission?

Can A State Impose a Five Year Maximum Between Date Applicant Graduates from Law School and Sits for Exam?

Is an informal interview before a State Character and Fitness Committee, without additional hearings or standards of evidence and burdens of proof similar to those required by the Administrative Procedures Act, sufficient Due Process if a party is denied summary admission to a State Bar? (Most states have an administrative hearing and appeal after informal interview. Vermont doesn't)

Can Vermont limit Bar Exam seating to those who graduated within Five Years of a scheduled exam? There is no rational relation between this restriction on a fundamental right to pursue a profession.

If an applicant successfully completes all Vermont State Bar requirements under the Rules for Admission to the Bar, does it violate Equal Protection and Due Process if the State requires one, discrete, solitary party to do things not described in the Rules and which no other applicant has to do?

If a Supreme Court writes its own Rules for Admission to the Bar, does not send them to the legislature as required by State Statute, appoints parties to administer these rules and adjudicates activities under these rules, does it violate separation of powers?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

What levels of due process are required for bar admission?

Docket Entries

2021-05-17
Petition DENIED.
2021-04-21
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/13/2021.
2021-04-14
Waiver of right of respondent VT Bd. of Bar Examiners to respond filed.
2021-02-19
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 10, 2021)

Attorneys

Robert Grundstein
Robert H. Grundstein — Petitioner
VT Bd. of Bar Examiners
Benjamin Daniel BattlesOffice of the Attorney General, Respondent