NJ Bar Asks Supreme Court to Remove Mental Health Disclosure Question from Lawyer Application

According to the New Jersey State Bar Association and the state's two law schools, law school graduates should not disclose personal mental health information when they apply to become lawyers in New Jersey. As a result, the bar recently requested that the Supreme Court of New Jersey remove question 12B from a compulsory "character and fitness" questionnaire. This question requires all applicants to indicate if they have any medical conditions that could hinder their legal practice, including substance abuse, mental, emotional, or nervous disorders, and whether they are undergoing treatment.
 
Efforts to Encourage Mental Health Support for Lawyers in New Jersey

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Jeralyn Lawrence, the president of the New Jersey State Bar, wrote in a letter to the state supreme court on March 21 that rather than creating a reluctance to seek mental health support, efforts should be made to encourage bar applicants and attorneys to seek help as soon as possible. Peter McAleer, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Judiciary, stated that the court is currently examining the state bar's request and emphasized that disclosing a mental health issue does not automatically disqualify a candidate from bar admission. He also noted that the court had altered both the questionnaire and regulations governing the Committee on Character's limited assessment of mental health issues over time to prioritize the well-being of candidates.

Other States' Approach to Mental Health Disclosure in Lawyer Applications

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According to the New Jersey bar, 26 states have either never asked law graduates and lawyers about mental health issues, considerably revised those questions, or abolished them entirely. New York State, adjacent to New Jersey, abolished its mental health disclosure requirement for bar admission applicants in 2020 after advocates argued that it stigmatized mental health conditions and discouraged law students from seeking assistance. Ohio discarded its character and fitness question about mental or psychological disorders in January, and Virginia law students successfully campaigned in 2019 to halt the inquiry into mental health.
 
Alternative Methods for Assessing Fitness to Practice Law in NJ
 
In a 2022 national study on law student well-being, 44% of the survey participants stated that the possibility of jeopardizing their bar admission might discourage them from seeking assistance for mental health issues. At Rutgers University in New Jersey, law students frequently inquire whether they must report referrals for on-campus counseling to the bar and whether it will impede their character and fitness assessment, according to co-deans Kimberly Mutcherson and Rose Cuison-Villazor in their letter to the court in January.

Mutcherson and Cuison-Villazor argued that there are alternative methods for assessing the personal characteristics that influence an individual's fitness to practice law, which is more effective and less intrusive. They further stated that such an inquiry should be based on behavior rather than medical records.