On Thursday, September 22, 2022, the Supreme Court of Kentucky ruled on the Appeal of Anniston attorney Christopher D. Jefferson of the Character and Fitness Committee’s determination of his ineligibility for admission by reciprocity to the State Bar of Kentucky.

The case, titled Christopher D. Jefferson v. Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions, was brought by Christopher D. Jefferson. Case #2022-SC-0298-KB.

According to the filing:

“At some point prior to July 5, 2022, Jefferson applied to the Office of Bar Admissions for admission to the Kentucky bar by reciprocity. SCR 2.110. On that date, Valetta H. Browne, Director and General Counsel of the Office of Bar Admissions, advised Jefferson by letter that:

Your application for admission without Examination pursuant to SCR 2.110 has been under review by members of the Character and Fitness Committee. . . . The Committee members have determined that due to the fact that you did not earn a J.D.degree from a law school accredited by the [ABA], you are not eligible for admission without examination.

Ms. Browne further advised Jefferson that theSupreme Court Rules provided a path for admission to the bar by examination for graduates of non-accredited law schools and that the Board of Bar Examiners was the appropriate body under Kentucky rules to make the determination of the quality of the legal education. “

The filing continues:

“Jefferson argues that the Committee impermissibly interposed into SCR2.110 the requirement that he was required to have graduated from either an ABA or AALS accredited law school. He further argues that he has met all the requirements of admission by reciprocity, set forth in SCR 2.110, by having earned a degree in “Doctorate of Jurisprudence from The Birmingham School ofLaw” in 2011; passed the “Alabama Universal [sic] Bar Exam (UBE)” with a score of 269.4;4been admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 2013, and practiced law in five of the last seven years. He further states that Alabama grants reciprocity to Kentucky lawyers.”

Rule SCR 2.010 governs Kentucky’s bar licensing which Jefferson ignores, states in full:

All applicants for admission to the bar of this state must meet certain basic requirements regardless of whether admission is sought by examination, by transferred Uniform Bar Examination score; without examination, for a limited certificate, or as an attorney participant in a defender or legal services program. Those requirements are set forth in the following sections SCR 2.011 through SCR 2.017.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court of Kentucky in denying Jefferson’s motion, stated among others:

“In this regard, SCR 2.014(1) clearly and unambiguously states that“[e]very applicant for admission to the Kentucky Bar must have completed degree requirements for a J.D. or equivalent professional degree from a law school approved by the American Bar Association or by the Association of American Law Schools. The fact that The Birmingham School of Law may be regulated and “accredited” by the Alabama legislature or the Alabama Supreme Court, as argued by Jefferson, does not meet the requirements of our rules.” 

Moreover, the Court states:

“Unfortunately for Jefferson, the appropriate body within the Office of Bar Admissions to evaluate his legal education is the Board of BarExaminers, not the Committee.6Id. And, even assuming that the Board were to evaluate Jefferson’s legal education favorably, that positive review would permit Jefferson to apply for admission to the bar by examination, not by reciprocity.”

In its Opinion and Order, the Court concluded that the Character and Fitness Committee of the Office of Bar Admissions appropriately evaluated Christopher D. Jefferson’s application for admission without examination and correctly determined that by virtue of his not having “completed degree requirements for a J.D. or equivalent professional degree from a law school approved by the American Bar Association or by theAssociation of American Law Schools[,]” SCR 2.014(1), he is ineligible for admission without examination.

The dispositive portion of the Order reads:

“The Petition of Christopher D. Jefferson to vacate the Character and Fitness Committee’s decision with respect to his application under SCR 2.110 is hereby DENIED.”

Mr. Jefferson practices in Anniston, Alabama. He has been licensed in Alabama. His info can be found on linkedin.com here.

A copy of the original filing can be found here.