character fitness questions

[characterfitness]

In undergrad, I took one class at a different school but did not disclose this in my law school application.  My undergrad transcript does not indicate any mention of the record at the other school. 

My failure to report was wrong, regardless of my excuse. 

It's already two years down the road, and I've transferred law schools as well (without disclosing this error to both schools).

What should I do now? 

(1) What is the likely sanction I can expect from my former and present law schools?
(2) If I don't disclose it at all, is the bar character and fitness likely to find out? 
(3) How does the bar character and fitness conduct education background checks?

[MyNameIsAlexander]

In undergrad, I took one class at a different school but did not disclose this in my law school application.  My undergrad transcript does not indicate any mention of the record at the other school.  

My failure to report was wrong, regardless of my excuse.  

It's already two years down the road, and I've transferred law schools as well (without disclosing this error to both schools).

What should I do now?  

(1) What is the likely sanction I can expect from my former and present law schools?
(2) If I don't disclose it at all, is the bar character and fitness likely to find out?  
(3) How does the bar character and fitness conduct education background checks?

Don't quote me on this, but I believe that there is a clearinghouse that schools use for enrollment verification. If the other school reported you as matriculated, then it is on record at that clearinghouse and it would be trivial for the examiner to find it.

The good news is that you can check your records on that site yourself. For the life of me, I can't remember the site's address.

In any event, bar examiners may have other ways of discovering enrollment that I'm unaware of. It's always best to disclose immediately. So your real question comes down to what the other law schools will do when they find out. That much I don't know.

[Denny Shore]

I've been told by numerous professors during lectures that if you believe there is something requiring disclosures, to discuss it immediately with a dean.
Start there: go speak to a dean at your school and find out what you can do to mitigate the issue.  For us, that person is the dean of academic affairs.  Your school may have a different name for that person.
If I were you, I'd seek that person out and see what they had to say.
Good luck.  It doesn't sounds like a huge deal, but it is always better to have come clean (even if late) about stuff like this.

[Thistle]

my god, the paranoia that grips this place over inconsequential *&^% is just a wonder to behold sometimes.

[MyNameIsAlexander]

my god, the paranoia that grips this place over inconsequential poo is just a wonder to behold sometimes.

To be fair, I've read stories of law students forging transcripts, inventing grades, etc and still passing c&f. Yet I've also read stories about bar examiners denying applicants to sit for the bar over seemingly 'inconsequential poo.' 

[Thistle]

granted, i have only read the appellate cases, but have never seen a denial for something like this.

the dont even deny *security clearances* for something like this.

[MyNameIsAlexander]

granted, i have only read the appellate cases, but have never seen a denial for something like this.

the dont even deny *security clearances* for something like this.

I agree... I've worked in government and underwent a background check far more thorough than any c&f background check. I think the main point I was trying to convey is that the c&f process, unlike govt background checks, is highly unpredictable and the results will probably vary depending on who your examiner is. I wouldn't take any omission lightly.

[christylove]

Hello I am not certain which bar you are taking, but don't panic, you will be fine. Just make sure that you disclose everything you can remember and even if you cannt remember some things, just make a disclaimer that there may be other issues which may be forthcoming that you may have forgotten. Let me tell you I just found out that after paying off a lot of debt, the board never even saw my file, even though my analyst said that they did. They actually never presented it because of a personal issue I had with one of the staffers. I am actually consulting a lawyer right now.