Friedman v. Connecticut Bar Examining Committee

• Citation: 824 A.2d 866,77 Conn. App. 526
• Decision Date: 24 June 2003
• Docket Number: (AC 23051).
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: DAVID A. FRIEDMAN v. CONNECTICUT BAR EXAMINING COMMITTEE

77 Conn. App. 526

824 A.2d 866

DAVID A. FRIEDMAN v. CONNECTICUT BAR EXAMINING COMMITTEE

(AC 23051).

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued February 19, 2003.

Officially released June 24, 2003.

Lavery, C. J., and Bishop and Stoughton, Js. Kenneth A. Votre, with whom was Charlene Lynton, for the appellant (petitioner).

John B. Farley, with whom were Ralph W. Johnson III and, on the brief, Dan E. LaBelle, for the appellee (respondent).

Opinion

LAVERY, C. J.

The petitioner, David A. Friedman, appeals from the judgment of the trial court, denying his petition for admission to the bar of Connecticut. The petitioner argues that the court improperly (1) denied his petition for admission to the bar, (2) remanded this matter two times to the respondent, the Connecticut bar examining committee, for additional factual findings and (3) failed to make a determination of his current fitness to practice law. We disagree with the petitioner, and, accordingly, affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The record reveals the following facts. The petitioner, a graduate of Quinnipiac College School of Law (Quinnipiac), passed the Connecticut bar examination in 1998. On November 16, 1998, the standing committee on recommendations for Fairfield County interviewed the petitioner regarding allegations that he had cheated while in law school. Following its investigation, the standing committee recommended the petitioner for admission to the bar. On January 4, 1999, the respondent, however, notified the petitioner that it would hold a formal hearing on his application. The hearing took place on January 7 and June 25, 1999. On January 14, 2000, the respondent recommended that the petitioner be denied admission to the bar of the state of Connecticut on the basis of its finding that the petitioner "lack[ed] present good moral character."

The petitioner then filed a petition for admission to the Connecticut bar with the Superior Court, claiming that the respondent's decision constituted a manifest abuse or injustice, or was made arbitrarily, unreasonably, in abuse of discretion or without a fair investigation of the facts. By decision dated April 24, 2002, the court concluded that the respondent's findings were supported by adequate facts in the record.¹ The court, therefore, denied the petition for admission to the bar. Thereafter, the petitioner filed the present appeal.

I

The petitioner first argues that the court improperly affirmed the respondent's decision denying his application for admission to the bar. According to the petitioner, the respondent's findings were arbitrary, unreasonable and not based on a fair investigation of the facts. We disagree and conclude that sufficient evidence existed to support the respondent's decision.

"When reviewing the legal conclusions of the trial court concerning the adequacy of evidence before the respondent, we need only determine whether the respondent's finding, that the petitioner lacked good moral character, is supported in the record of the application proceedings. . . . [T]he issue before the court is whether the committee or the bar, in withholding its approval for admission, acted arbitrarily or unreasonably or in abuse of its discretion or without a fair investigation of the facts. . . . Because the trial court exercises no discretion, but rather is confined to a review of the record before the [respondent], we are not limited to the deferential standard of manifest abuse or injustice when reviewing its legal conclusions about the adequacy of the evidence before the [respondent]." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Doe v. Connecticut Bar Examining Committee, 263 Conn. 39, 50, 818 A.2d 14 (2003); Scott v. State Bar Examining Committee, 220 Conn. 812, 823, 601 A.2d 1021 (1992).

Before commencing our review, we note that "the Superior Court's role in reviewing a petition for admission is not that of factfinder." Scott v. State Bar Examining Committee, supra, 220 Conn. 822. The trier of fact, rather, "determines with finality the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded their testimony." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id. We also emphasize that "[g]ood moral character is a necessary and proper qualification for admission to the bar. . . . In this state, the ultimate burden of proving good character rests upon the applicant. . . . [W]hile there is no litmus test by which to determine whether an applicant for admission to the [b]ar possesses good moral character . . . no moral character qualification for [b]ar membership is more important than truthfulness and candor. . . . It is not enough for an attorney that he be honest. He must be that, and more. He must be believed to be honest." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Doe v. Connecticut Bar Examining Committee, supra, 263 Conn. 51-52.

The respondent based its determination that the petitioner lacked good moral character on (1) an incident in which he allegedly brought unauthorized materials into a closed book examination while he was a student at Quinnipiac and (2) its determination that he had been untruthful in his testimony before the respondent. In that regard, the record before the respondent reveals the following facts. On September 25, 1995, the petitioner was charged with having violated subsections (A), (C) and (D) of § 3² of the Quinnipiac student conduct code in connection with his spring, 1995, constitutional law examination. The student discipline committee held hearings on the matter on August 30, September 5 and September 6, 1996. That committee heard testimony from four witnesses and received nine exhibits during those hearings.³

Fellow law student Lynn Fiore testified at the hearing that she sat behind the petitioner at the May 5, 1995 closed book examination. Fiore testified that prior to the examination, as she was trying to study, she overheard another law student remark to the petitioner, "What are you so nervous about? Everybody does it; no one admits it." She testified that she noticed that the petitioner was studying an outline on a white piece of paper, and that immediately prior to the examination, she saw that paper on the petitioner's desk under a single piece of white paper.⁴ Fiore also testified that she overheard the petitioner ask Matthew Goldzweig, another law student, what he was leaving on his desk during the examination; according to Fiore, Goldzweig replied that he was taking everything off his desk.⁵

Fiore testified that once the examination began, she prepared a brief outline for the first eight to ten minutes and did not observe the petitioner. Fiore testified that when she finished preparing her outline, she looked up and saw, next to the petitioner, the white piece of paper with the blue ink that she had seen prior to the start of the examination. She was not able to read the paper and could not testify as to its contents. She did state, however, that once the examination began, she was writing constantly and could not have written as much as was written on the piece of paper she saw next to the petitioner.⁶

Goldzweig also testified at the hearing before the student discipline committee. His testimony was as follows. The petitioner was seated in front and to the right of him during the spring, 1995, constitutional law examination. When Goldzweig arrived for the examination, he noticed the petitioner studying a "condensed outline" on a piece of paper. After the proctor asked everyone to clear the desks because it was a closed book examination, Goldzweig observed the petitioner fold up the piece of paper and place it underneath the blue book. Goldzweig spent the first few minutes of the examination preparing a brief outline, and then looked up and observed that the petitioner had the outline on his desk and was referring to it.⁷ Goldzweig could not testify as to the content of the document he saw; he stated, however, that it would have taken him much more than the two minutes he took to prepare his outline to create the one he saw on the petitioner's desk.

The petitioner called as a witness Yvonne Shoff, another law student who was present at the spring, 1995, constitutional law examination. The petitioner sat behind and to the left of Shoff during the examination. Shoff testified that she looked back when the examinations were being handed out and saw that the petitioner had his exam facing up and was starting to read the first page. Shoff asked the petitioner to turn his exam over, which he did. Shoff observed the petitioner for only a "split second" and did not notice anything else unusual.

The petitioner testified at the hearing. According to the petitioner, when the proctor told the students to put away their study materials, he "removed everything from [his] desk except for [his] pen that [he] used for the exam, a spare pen in case [he] ran out and a blank sheet of white paper." The petitioner stated that he prepared an outline once the examination began, and he identified that at the hearing as respondent's exhibit one. He testified that once he wrote that outline during the examination, it remained on his desk and he referred to it while preparing his examination answers. He testified that he did not refer to any other materials during the examination. He testified that he did not cheat on the examination, and, when asked why others believe he did, he stated that those who testified against him, particularly Goldzweig, never liked him.⁸

The student discipline committee concluded that "there is strong, positive proof which is clear, decisive and free from doubt that [the petitioner] brought an outline or other written document with him into the examination room, and hid the document for the purpose of gaining an advantage on the examination. The committee has no evidence of the contents of the document and cannot conclude that the document was of material value to [the petitioner]. Despite this, we conclude that [the petitioner...