The propriety of broadly worded mental health inquiries on bar application forms.

Abstract

Many of our states continue to make broadly worded inquiries on bar application forms as to the mental health of the applicants. Constitutional attacks on the propriety of such inquiries have been unsuccessful. Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, however, the courts have ruled against the legality of nonspecific inquiries into issues that are not relevant to the applicant's competence to practice law. The current status of litigation in this area is discussed and recommendations are made for dealing with this issue.