NOTICE: If you are not a U.S. citizen, you must submit certified copies of your U.S. government issued permanent resident alien or temporary resident alien documents certifying your legal U.S. residency status in order to attend Birmingham School of Law (BSL). BSL is not authorized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to admit non-resident students on a temporary or contingency basis while you seek residency status. Additionally, BSL is not allowed to issue student visas or assist you in obtaining a student visa, temporary residency status or permanent residency status. Non-U.S. citizens must submit certified copies of U.S. residency documents to: Birmingham School of Law, Office of the Registrar, 231 22nd Street South, Birmingham, Alabama 35233.
You must have a four-year undergraduate baccalaureate degree in order to attend law school and earn a law degree. If you do not yet have a four-year baccalaureate degree, please contact Assistant Dean Victoria Charles, vcharles@bsol.com for special instructions.
Please list all colleges, universities, graduate schools and programs, or technical/professional schools you have attended since high school or secondary school. NOTICE: you must provide an official transcript from each post-secondary institution you attended. All transcripts must be sent directly from the school to: Birmingham School of Law, Office of the Registrar, 231 22nd Street South, Birmingham, Alabama 35233.
The LSAT is not required for most applicants to BSL. However, if your undergraduate grade point average (GPA) is below 2.75, you may find it beneficial to take the LSAT and participate in the Law School Admission Council’s Credential Assembly Service (CAS). Members of BSL’s Admissions Committee use submitted test results to estimate your predicted performance in law school and judge whether or not you should be admitted as a regular student or admitted in a probationary status. NOTICE: If your undergraduate baccalaureate degree was earned from a college or university foreign to the United States you MUST participate in the LSAT and CAS. Please see www.lsac.org for more information concerning the LSAT and CAS programs, test dates, and required fees.
In addition to the normal academic screening law school applicants must endure, there are character and fitness qualifications for admission to law school and the various state bar associations in every U.S. jurisdiction. Law schools and state bar associations will ask questions similar to the questions below in assessing your character and fitness to attend law school and/or practice law. While there is no “correct” answer to these questions, you should err on the side of full, straightforward, and candid disclosure. Your character and fitness to practice law will be measured by your candor and not necessarily the quantity or quality of the “Yes” answers below. For example, the act of concealment or with withholding of information is oftentimes more critical to your evaluation as a potential law student or lawyer than the act or event itself.
If you answer “Yes” to any question below you must submit a detailed summary providing complete details including the dates, location or jurisdiction of the event, and the final resolution or the current status for any ongoing issue. YOU HAVE A CONTINUING DUTY TO DISCLOSE and the obligation to disclose the requested information below continues throughout your law school matriculation from the date you submit this application through the awarding of your diploma. If, following submission of your application or admission to BSL, circumstances arise that would require you to answer “Yes” to any of these questions, you must submit a written amendment to this application within fourteen (14) calendar days to the BSL registrar. Any required amendments should err on the side of speed of the disclosure of the basic facts and should not be withheld until the matter is fully resolved or adjudicated in any court hearing/trial, administrative hearing, administrative proceeding or professional association/licensing proceeding or hearing. The best approach is to disclose the requested information as soon as possible after the event occurrence or after discovery of the information related to any question below and then supplement the amendment with a second or third amendment as necessary as additional information becomes known.
NOTICE: No law or statute (including Alabama’s expungement law), no court order or legal proceeding removing or sealing any information from any record (including juvenile or youthful offender matters), no court order dismissing, vacating or setting aside any arrest, accusation, or conviction, and no purported authority authorizing any person to deny the existence of any matter related to the questions below shall excuse you from providing less than full disclosure.
Please read the following questions and answer below:
1. Concerning criminal offenses or situations, have you ever, either as a juvenile or an adult, been the subject of a criminal investigation, served with a criminal summons, questioned, arrested, taken into custody, indicted by a grand jury, charged with a crime without grand jury action, placed on trial (jury or non-jury), pleaded guilty to or been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony, or been the subject of an investigation involving the violation of any law?
If your answer is “Yes”, please provide FULL FACTUAL DETAILS of each and every incident or event in the section below. At a minimum, provide a narrative of each incident or event, information concerning the jurisdiction/location of each incident or event, a summary of all criminal charges filed (if any) and submit certified copies of all Court records adjudicating the final outcome of the matter. Please DO NOT include minor automobile traffic offenses such as parking tickets or single moving violations, like failure to wear a seatbelt. Please DO include any single MAJOR traffic offenses, such as DUI/DWI, eluding or attempting to elude, driving with a suspended, revoked or never issued driver’s license/vehicle registration, and ALL instances of more than two moving violations within the past five (5) years.
2. Concerning civil matters or cases, have you ever, either as a juvenile or an adult, been a named party to any civil lawsuit or civil administrative court case (examples of these situations include divorces or child support/custody cases, automobile accident lawsuits, landlord/tenant disputes, garnishments, property foreclosures, bankruptcy, worker’s compensation or social security hearings, etc.)?
If your answer is “Yes”, please provide full factual details of each and every incident or event, including the outcome of the matter. Please DO NOT include cases where you participated merely as a witness.
3. Concerning school or academic matters, have you ever, either as a juvenile or an adult, been placed on academic or personal conduct probation, suspension, or expelled while attending any school or educational training program (public or private)?
If your answer is “Yes”, please provide the full factual history of each and every matter including the school name, circumstances of the school’s administrative action, and the outcome of each and every event.
4. Concerning employment or professional licensing, have you ever, either as a juvenile or an adult, been investigated, charged, suspended, lost your professional license temporarily or permanently or been through an administrative or professional hearing to determine if your professional license would in any way be affected, regardless if the investigation or proceeding was public or private, for any reason?
If your answer is “Yes”, please provide the full factual history of each and every incident including the name of the administrative or professional hearing board, the circumstances of the administrative action, and the outcome of each and every event.
5. Concerning employment or volunteer work activities, have you ever, either as a juvenile or an adult, been placed on probation, suspension, or terminated by your employer or volunteer organization for any reason?
If your answer is “Yes”, please provide your detailed response of each and every situation in which you were involved.