N.Y. Bar Association Calls for Mental Health Question Ban

N.Y. Bar Association Calls for Mental Health Question Ban

11.2.2019

By Keshia Clukey

Bloomberg Law quoted President Greenberg and reported on the Working Group on Attorney Mental Health’s report approved by the House of Delegates. (may require subscription)

The New York State Bar Association wants the state court system to remove all questions about mental health history from the bar application.

The association’s House of Delegates voted Nov. 2 in Albany to adopt a report from a working group of attorneys recommending the step.

“The hard truth is that stigma around mental illness remains a significant barrier to treatment within the legal profession, and society at large,” bar association president and Greenberg Traurig shareholder Henry M. Greenberg said in a statement. “There is compelling evidence that mental health questions on bar applications are ineffective and unnecessary, and several states have already done away with them.”