Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA LENGTH: Medium
The Board of Bar Examiners requires applicants to reveal treatment in the past five years ``for any mental, emotional or nervous disorders.''
The ``broadly worded mental health question discriminates against disabled applicants,'' U.S. District Judge James Cacheris wrote.
The question doesn't help assess whether a lawyer is fit to practice, he wrote.
The state board, which administers the bar exam and screens potential lawyers, argued that the question helps protect the public.
Julie Ann Clark, of Springfield in Fairfax County, was denied a law license last year when she refused to answer the question.
She sued under the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act.
The U.S. Justice Department filed a friend of the court brief supporting Clark.
Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval Patrick said Thursday that the Virginia question represents ``open-ended fishing into an individual's mental health history.''
``Mental health inquiries unrelated to a person's current ability to practice law perpetuate stigmas about persons with mental disabilities,'' Patrick said.
Cacheris ordered the board to immediately strike the question from its ``character and fitness questionnaire.'' The board should be able to ask for information on specific, severe mental problems, and it should rewrite the questionnaire accordingly, the judge said.
The Board of Bar Examiners referred questions about the case to Virginia Attorney General Jim Gilmore.
``We'll take a look at it, view it and get with the client on it,'' said Don Harrison, a spokesman for Gilmore. ``That's about all I can say on it today.''
Clark, 38, testified in January that she received treatment for depression several years ago, before graduating from George Mason University Law School.
``We're delighted. This really will have a big effect, being one of the first to actually get an opinion,'' said Lee Carty, spokeswoman for the Baselon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington. The nonprofit group helped represent Clark.
The federal court decision applies only to Virginia. But it is expected to help establish a precedent in a tide of suits nationwide challenging mental health questions for professionals such as doctors, nurses and lawyers.
The Virginia board, which handles about 2,000 applications annually, said in court filings that in the past two years 47 applicants acknowledged receiving counseling or treatment. None was denied a law license.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.