Law Grad Without a Credit Card Will Take Bar Exam, Thanks to Calif. Supremes

confused
Jul 28, 2009 12:56 PM CST

Why do we want someone who can’t follow simple directions that state a credit card is required to be an attorney?

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tim
Jul 28, 2009 1:18 PM CST

more proof that

Liberalisim is a mental disorder

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B. McLeod
Jul 29, 2009 4:31 PM CST

When I was a new law grad, I did not have a credit card either, but my state did not require that as a qualification for admission.

I guess California wants to make sure all their lawyers understand credit and being in debt, since that appears to be integral to their entire state system.

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Richard Jack
Jul 31, 2009 5:29 AM CST

Anybody who has the guts to get through UCD with her conditions only to get slammed by the CABar ought to consider going to another state: someplace where a brain coupled with courage is appreciated.  There are 49 of those plus the US territories and DC.  When she passes the damn bar she ought to give those pukes the metaphorical finger.

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chuck
Jul 31, 2009 6:13 AM CST

Obviously she didn’t learn much in her time at UC Davis :snicker @ the dismissal.

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chubbs
Jul 31, 2009 7:14 AM CST

looks like she’ll have trouble with the civil procedure section.

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Dave
Jul 31, 2009 7:26 AM CST

Re comment No. 11.:  Win.

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wraparound
Jul 31, 2009 8:03 AM CST

Calf. requiring credit card?  that’s absurd…I hate credit card companies…charging people 24-29% interest rates…that’s criminal!!!!
I have torn all my cards up and don’t owe a dime…btw…I never got in any credit trouble…ever…I just pay cash.  Also, I have been a lawyer for obver 20 years.  As far a a Bar Assn. being called liberal…there is probably more conservatives in the bar than liberals…

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RD
Jul 31, 2009 8:14 AM CST

Somewhere the ghost of Kafka is smiling.

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JN
Jul 31, 2009 8:54 AM CST

#16,

Why bad mouth credit cards.  In your position, you could have several credit cards, pay the balances off each month and owe no interest or fees.  In fact, you could probably swing a rebate deal where the credit card companies pay you.  If you want to avoid the hassle of writing checks to the CC company each month, set up auto-debit at the bank.  (Presumably you do maintain a bank account, even though banks have been known to charge interest and fees as well.)  Having a credit card can also make your life easier when it comes to things like checking into hotels or renting cars.  Finally, credit card companies can aid your accounting for tax purposes (remember the IRS), providing detailed payment info which can be downloaded monthly into your accounting software.  Credit cards are not worthy of hate, they are just a tool; it is all up to the user as to how the tool is used.

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Jonathan Rhein
Jul 31, 2009 9:43 AM CST

This seems to be an attention-getting lawsuit.  Hint: she surely has a bank account.  If so, she has a debit card with the Visa symbol.  That’s how I paid for my CA bar exam.

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T.R.Thompson
Jul 31, 2009 10:05 AM CST

Congratulations to Sara! I hope she aces the exam! It’s unfortunate that she was made to file suit in order to sit for the bar. Law school is hard under ordinary circumstances and so for Sara to get through and graduate is fantastic! I used to be a notetaker for one of my fellow law students who was in a similar physical situation as Sara. It warms my heart to hear of her success! Oh yeah, just because you have a bank account does not mean that you have a debit card. It is not mandatory to carry the plastic. There may be a very good reason why she does not have one. Besides - as it has been said - what happened to good old greenbacks anyway? Didn’t the CA bar examiners take commercial paper?

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J.D.
Jul 31, 2009 10:12 AM CST

The fact that the libs on here don’t understand why this is a liberal issue illustrates that liberalism, in fact, is a mental disorder.

California is a state run by liberals. The CalBar is run by liberals. The judges in the area are almost all liberals. And one of the lone republicans in the state—Schwarzenegger—is coming to her defense.

Or, perhaps the fact that that the state’s Department of Rehabilitation (run by liberals) “has paid for her post-high school education – three college degrees” is the sign of a liberal mental disorder; the state’s billions in debt, and taxpayers are footing these bills? The liberal-run state is ALSO paying for all bar exam fees.

How can the state afford this? Answer: it can’t. Liberals are running California’s economy like drunk shopaholics with credit cards.

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gea
Jul 31, 2009 10:27 AM CST

This article shows how hypocritical this country is. It appears that it is okay for a governor (Schwarzenegger) to issue a memo criticizing the actions of a legislative body, California Bar Examiners and write a letter interceding on a citizen’s behalf, but it is not okay for a president (Obama) to criticize the actions of an executive body, police employee in handling a citizen who returned from China to find his front door inoperable. I wonder if the California Courts are going to stage SIT-INS to signal their outrage over the California’s governor but-inski-ism? Who cares what the police employee’s motives are or disabled law student’s motives are in not getting a debit card. What matters is that the police employee should have talked to th Harvard professor or gotten someone else to do it, if it was not in his ability to deescalate the situation. Before the tax payers were charged for fighting Granda’s or soon Gate’s arguments of discrimination. Strongarmism appears to be the modus operandi over pragmatism. I hope that California and Massachusetts have learned their respective lessons.

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prosecute1966
Jul 31, 2009 11:14 AM CST

Everyone who is suggesting that she use a debit card instead of a credit card might be missing or ignoring that the article said she is INDIGENT.  That may mean she has no bank account—certainly it is not a requirement to be licensed that she have one.  As far as filling out the application and sending it in goes, the article also said she is a quadriplegic—perhaps writing is difficult when your upper limbs are paralyzed (while there are ways for a quad to use a computer).  Sweet lord, people, is this what our profession has become?  Are lawyers really the obnoxious, cynical, obstructionists that the public thinks we are?  If this woman made it through law school, and is capable of passing a bar exam, then we should give her a big YEE HAW and applaud her tenacity and intelligence.  How many have been able-bodied and couldn’t keep up in law school—this woman made without the use of her arms or legs.  Big ups to her.  Cali could quite simply offer to make a relatively small accommodation without doing violence to their bureaucratic efficiency.

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gea
Jul 31, 2009 12:18 PM CST

Number 29, Free speech is the right to call someone a dolt or criticize a court or police employee’s behavior.  It doesn’t matter whether you are governor, president or U.S. senator. If George Bush read or heard about a English-American woman of European descent not being allowed to vote in Massachusetts because she didn’t have a bank account, credit card or debit card and he expressed an opinion that based on what he read or heard, the reaction of the police employee or court employees was wrong, I think he would ‘go’ for it. If it turned out both parties were wrong, it would not change the fact that the employees did not handle the situation properly, in order to avoid the tax payers shelling out lots of money to defend against discrimination suits, which could have been easily avoided by a dose of pragmatism.

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Pedro
Jul 31, 2009 2:00 PM CST

Under Obama we should get free college education.  Why should the white man make us pay to get a college education?  Life will only be good when we are all equal and have the same .

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Vicki821
Jul 31, 2009 4:55 PM CST

NUMBER 30:  Thank you for demonstrating that there still exists sympathy for those less fortunate, especially for someone like this woman, who graduated from law school and passed the bar!
NUMBER 33:  Do you think that just because she may have been at fault for the accident that rendered her a quadriplegic that means that her condition is any less tragic?  I guess you have never made a driving error, right?  Furthermore, your comments about the state paying for her bar courses, education, and disability makes it sound like you think she is lucky.  I guess you would love to be in her position, huh?  Lastly, I was most disgusted by your comment that if her first 2 degrees did not help her get a job, it is “unlikely that passing the bar will suddenly open all the doors to gainful employment.”  What is wrong with you???

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John Martin
Jul 31, 2009 7:59 PM CST

Wow, I feel like I have been slapped in the face by the great majority of posters who apparently have no empathy for this young woman. As to “...banks will open accounts for anyone these days.” 1) this is Wrong, if an applicant has either bad credit or tax problems then the bank will probably not open an account for the individual and 2) even if the bank opens an account for an individual the “debit card” is not automatically approved if an account is opened. Sometimes the debit card will not be issued. There are many individuals who would like to have a checking account but do not for thiis reason or other reasons. Any money placed in a checking account is considered an asset and is subject to garnishment, etc. Again this woman is “indigent” which doesn’t mean that she is necessarily “homeless”; that is not the legal determinant of indigence. As to Cal Bars stupidity of refusing to make a reasonable accomadation for individuals in extraordinary circumstances is sad and mind bogging. By the way even if it is in the CA statute that requires an electronic payment for the CA bar exam fee clearly they weren’t thinking. U.S. currency is “Legal Tender” good for all debts public and private in the United States. CA is a U.S. state. CA does not require graduation from an ABA Law school to take the CA Bar Exam. Also CA does not require any prior college degree, only sixty semester hours of college credit or successfully taking and passing the CLEP exams, in order to qualify to attend law school or take the CA Bar Exam.  I totally agree with Vicki821 I think those who attacked this young lady should take some classes on empathy and ethics. Probably wouldn’t hurt to watch “The Rainmaker” and “To Kill A Mockingbird”

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Caroline
Aug 2, 2009 12:25 PM CST

What this article fails to mention is that she had sought and received assurance that her application could be processed with a check and not a credit card, which means the lack of processing the application is a result of a failure of communication that was not her responsibility.

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DR
Aug 3, 2009 11:37 AM CST

J.D.:  Another well-thoughout post. (?)  No one states in this article or elsewhere that Sara had bad credit or was a tax dodger.  In fact, No. 38 was only implying that banks in general are wary of opening accounts for people with tax or credit problems. 

Sara became paralyzed when she was seventeen.  She spent most of the last twelve years in facilities because she cannot even scratch her nose.  I highly doubt that she has even applied for a credit card in her short life.  If she hasn’t offered an excuse for her so-called “credit and tax problems,”  it is probably because she doesn’t have any.  I don’t care if you have problems with her disability payments or state-funded education….but please, don’t go off on a tangent that has no known factual basis but present it as fact.  Are things slow over on “Above the Law?”

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J.D.
Aug 3, 2009 1:01 PM CST

That’s my point, Durrr.

There isn’t much evidence here, BUT #38 claims we are insensitive while simultaneously suggesting that she may have tax or credit problems.

I’m sorry, but I’m not going to feel sympathy for someone if they’ve failed to pay taxes, bills, etc.

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J.D.
Aug 4, 2009 9:35 AM CST

Yes, #45, as I’ve explained to you multiple times, Bush behaved like a drunken liberal. That’s what neocons are: liberals in Republican clothing. We call them RINOs.

This is why conservatives—actual conservatives—gave Bush such a low approval rating. That’s why conservatives did not come out to vote for McCain—he’s another RINO.

The fact is, no Democrats can run a country (or a state), and only half of Republicans (the conservative ones) can do a decent job.

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MzCaliAttorney
Aug 7, 2009 9:02 AM CST

CA State Vocational Rehabilitation paid for her to take the bar and for her law school education, the state only issues payments directly to vendors via CHECK, that’s why there was know credit card information, instead the State Bar of California was issued a check from The State of California…Cali were supposed to be advanced, get it together!

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