Law School Character and Fitness Questions 2026-27, Quoted

Law School Character and Fitness Questions 2026-27, Quoted

This page reproduces what law schools themselves publish about their character-and-fitness questions, quoted, linked, and dated to September 5, 2026. It classifies the published wording by what the words reach. It does not interpret those words, does not say whether any event falls inside any question, and does not compare a reader's situation to anything. Two of the twenty-nine schools below print their question text in full on a public page. Most do not, and for those the honest entry is that the wording lives inside the application form.

The reason a page like this exists is that the authority applicants reach first declines to answer the question they arrived with. LSAC's own LawHub article on these questions says so twice over:

"You may have been advised by others, such as a parent, an academic advisor, a friend, or even an attorney, that you do not need to disclose a particular event. This advice is almost always incorrect."

"While the questions asked by different law schools may be similar, they are not identical. It is critical that you read each question carefully and respond accurately to what has been asked."

"If you are uncertain whether you should disclose a particular event, contact the admission office and ask that school. Don't assume that the answer will be the same for every school."

— LSAC / LawHub, "Character and Fitness" Questions for Law School, retrieved September 5, 2026. The page carries no publication or update date.

That is the whole premise. The text that governs is the text printed on the application in front of you, and it differs school by school. What follows is a record of what is public, not a substitute for that text.

What this page will not do

It will not tell you whether to disclose anything, whether a record "counts", what an expungement does, or what any school or bar authority will conclude. Those are not our calls to make, and the sources contradict each other in public — which is reported below, in their own words, without resolution. Nothing here is legal advice. If you are uncertain about a question, the schools quoted below and LSAC both direct the same way: ask the school that printed it.

How to read the table

• Published in full — the school prints the question text on a public page. We quote it below the table.
• Instruction only — the school publishes a sentence about the questions (what happens on a "yes", who reviews it, what the subjects are) but not the question text.
• Not publicly posted — we found no character-and-fitness question text or instruction on the school's own admissions pages on September 5, 2026. That is a statement about what is published, not about what the application asks.
• Retrieval blocked — the school's page did not return to us that day, and we do not substitute a copy from anywhere else.
• What the wording covers classifies the words the school published. Where a school published nothing on a category, the entry is silent rather than empty of obligation; silence in a published summary settles nothing about the form.

What each school publishes: 29 schools, checked September 5, 2026

Retrieval note. Michigan, UVA, GW, Minnesota and Baylor refused a plain automated request on September 5, 2026 and were read that day through a text-extraction fetch of the same URL; every sentence attributed to them came from that read. Fordham redirected to a login gateway and did not return. Every other page returned a normal response and was read as text on September 5, 2026.

Quoted: the published text, school by school

Notre Dame — both questions, printed in full (quoted September 5, 2026):

"Have you ever been disciplined (i.e., suspended, dismissed, expelled, asked to withdraw, or placed on probation) or found responsible for any academic, scholastic, disciplinary, or other misconduct by any school, college, or university? Please include in your response an explanation of any instances where you have been accused of wrongdoing and are subject to a pending or incomplete academic, scholastic, disciplinary or other misconduct-related proceeding at any postsecondary institution."

"Have you ever been charged with or convicted of a misdemeanor, felony, or other crime? This includes charges that are pending or to which you have plead 'guilty' or 'no contest,' but this excludes expunged convictions or arrests."

The same page states: "Applicants will be asked the following questions regarding Character and Fitness. If an applicant answers 'Yes' to either question, they must submit a full explanation of circumstances involved and resolution of the situation(s) for each question so answered as an electronic attachment."

Emory — all four questions, printed in full alongside guidance (quoted September 5, 2026):

Question 1, Academic Conduct: "Have you ever been subject to any academic disciplinary action while in college or any educational setting since high school, regardless of the outcome of the action? This includes academic probation, warning, reprimand, suspension, expulsion, dismissal, or any type of academic discipline."

Question 2, Social Conduct: "Have you ever been accused of, reprimanded for, detained for, or charged with any criminal offense or school conduct violation, regardless of the outcome? This includes any criminal accusations, including traffic offenses, except for parking violations. This also includes any reprimands or social actions while in college or any educational setting since high school (such as noise violations)."

Question 3, School Interruption: "Have you ever taken a voluntary or involuntary leave of absence or have your studies been interrupted during your undergraduate, graduate, or professional school attendance, apart from regularly scheduled breaks?"

Question 4, Military Separation: "Were you ever separated from any branch of the armed forces or the Coast Guard under conditions other than honorable?"

Emory also publishes the standard it applies to its own questions: "We understand that our character and fitness questions may be more rigorous than other schools to which you apply."

Duke (quoted September 5, 2026):

"Duke Law requires that you reveal knowledge of all disciplinary charges, arrests, criminal charges, or criminal convictions (except arrests, criminal charges or criminal convictions that have been expunged from your record)."

"You have an ongoing obligation to report any conduct that would require you to answer 'Yes' to any of the questions in this section during the pendency of your application."

Berkeley (quoted September 5, 2026):

"If you answer 'Yes' to any of the character and fitness questions in the application, we require that you attach an addendum explaining the circumstances."

"Should you need to submit an addendum, please use the following format: 11 point font, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins. There is no word or page limit, and you should feel free to take as much space as is required to fully address the incident."

Boston University (quoted September 5, 2026):

"If you answer yes to any of the character and fitness questions on the BU Law application, you must provide a detailed explanation, including a summary of the allegations and any sentence or punishment imposed. The admissions committee may require copies of court documents in addition to your explanation."

Vanderbilt (quoted September 5, 2026):

"With an eye toward these professional standards, the Vanderbilt application for admission asks specific questions concerning disciplinary actions in an academic setting, charges or convictions of crimes, and charges or findings of offenses (whether or not defined as crimes)."

Chicago (quoted September 5, 2026):

"The application contains a section of questions relating to character and fitness to practice law."

"An affirmative response to any portion of the Character and Fitness questions on the application will not automatically disqualify a candidate from admission."

Georgetown (quoted September 5, 2026): "If you answer 'yes' to any of the character and fitness questions in the application, please explain fully in a separate statement."

Michigan (quoted September 5, 2026, read through a text-extraction fetch): "Please note that if you answer either of our conduct questions in the affirmative, you must submit a supplemental statement providing complete details."

UVA (quoted September 5, 2026, read through a text-extraction fetch): "Our application requires candidates to disclose events that may call into question their character and/or fitness to practice law." and "Specific requirements for disclosure are included on the application."

Minnesota (quoted September 5, 2026, read through a text-extraction fetch): "You are required to answer two Character & Fitness related questions on our application."

Baylor (quoted September 5, 2026, read through a text-extraction fetch): "each applicant must fill out a series of questions regarding the applicant's character and fitness to practice law" and "If you answer affirmatively to any of these questions, you must submit an addendum explaining your affirmative answer."

Yale (quoted September 5, 2026): "Discrepancies between an applicant's answers to the questions in the Character and Fitness section of the admission application and the information provided in dean's certification forms will be considered sufficient grounds for the revocation of an offer of admission."

Harvard (quoted September 5, 2026): "Your application to Harvard Law School includes a set of Character and Fitness Questions."

NYU (quoted September 5, 2026): "In completing this application, be sure that your statements are accurate, you answer all the questions in the Character and Fitness section of the application, and you electronically certify the application by completing the Certification section of the application."

Cornell (quoted September 5, 2026): "It is always best to answer questions concerning your disciplinary record fully and openly, and to provide a detailed explanation."

Texas (quoted September 5, 2026): "Applicants are under a continued obligation to notify the law school immediately of any and all circumstances and events that may occur from the date an application is submitted to the first day of enrollment that may change any of the responses to their application."

Stanford (quoted September 5, 2026): "However, until the application has been finally acted upon (and until the first day of attendance, if you are accepted and enroll), you are obligated to advise the school of any changes in the information previously furnished."

UCLA (quoted September 5, 2026): "We do not require a dean's certification."

The categories these questions are drawn from

LSAC's own article lists the subjects that appear across applications. It is a list of topics, not a list of duties, and it is reproduced here because it is the only published inventory of the categories:

• "Prior or pending disciplinary proceedings at educational institutions, for academic or other reasons."
• "Prior enrollment at a law school."
• "Prior or pending discharge from employment, or a request to resign for disciplinary reasons."
• "Prior or pending disciplinary proceedings with respect to a professional or occupational license."
• "Prior or pending violations of law, including traffic violations. (Some schools require disclosure of detentions, arrests, formal accusations, and prosecutions; others only require disclosure of convictions; and still others do not require either.)"
• "Having been named in any lawsuit, litigation, or judicial proceeding."
• "Separation from the U.S. armed forces or any foreign military under something other than honorable discharge."
• "Delinquency with respect to financial obligations."

— LSAC / LawHub, retrieved September 5, 2026.

Set that inventory against the table and the pattern is visible in the published text itself: Emory's four questions reach academic discipline, criminal and school-conduct matters, interrupted study and military separation; Notre Dame's two reach academic misconduct and criminal charges or convictions; Houston's published instructions add involuntary confinement; and the majority of schools publish no category wording at all.

Where published guidance differs

Three institutions publish sentences about the same subject — records that have been expunged or sealed — that do not read the same way. All three are quoted below as published, with attribution and a retrieval date. This page does not reconcile them, does not say which is correct, and does not say which applies to any application other than the one it is printed on.

Cooley Law School, on its JD Application Disclosure page (source, retrieved September 5, 2026):

"Do not accept the advice or opinion of third persons unrelated to the law school with regard to these issues, including judges and lawyers, especially if they have not read what this application asks of you. That advice could be in error. For example, a lawyer or judge might tell you that if your criminal conviction was dismissed, sealed or expunged, disclosure is not required. This is not true."

"Sealed judgments, dismissals after plea or acknowledgment of wrongdoing, expunged convictions, and even juvenile offenses, must be disclosed. Pending matters must also be disclosed."

"We are asking about your criminal history, not your criminal record."

University of Houston Law Center, in the instructions it reprints for its own application questions (source, retrieved September 5, 2026):

"For questions 7.a. and 7.b., if the record has been expunged or sealed, you do not have to disclose the incident. You should not fail to disclose an offense based on its having been expunged or sealed unless, at the time you are filling out the application, you have in your possession either a written order of expungement or a written statement from an attorney or a responsible and knowledgeable official of the jurisdiction involved that the offense has been expunged."

And, in the FAQ on the same page:

"Expunged or sealed offenses, arrests, tickets, or citations need not be disclosed. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that the offense has, in fact, been expunged."

A third wording, reproduced by a pre-law advising office. The SBS Pathways pre-law resource at the University of Massachusetts Amherst reproduces two law schools' 2025-26 criminal-record questions to show how far the phrasing ranges. The wider of the two is UConn Law School's, and the clause that gets quoted out of context belongs to that school's question, not to the advising office (source, retrieved September 5, 2026, reproducing UConn Law School's 2025-26 question):

"Have you ever been arrested, charged with, and/or convicted of any criminal offense(s) in any criminal proceeding in any jurisdiction, including a general or special court martial? … Note: to the extent your answer to this question would be yes but for the fact that the law in the jurisdiction in which you were arrested, charged with, and/or convicted of a crime authorizes you legally to deny the same, whether because the matter was expunged or otherwise removed from your record through completion of a court-ordered or approved program, you may answer no. Depending on the jurisdiction(s) in which you apply to the bar, however, you may need to disclose the matter on your bar application."

The advising page's own summary of the range is short: "Some schools ask about arrests, others about 'charges' and still others only convictions. The applications also range widely in their opinions of whether traffic violations 'count', and if so, which kinds, and about whether you must report incidents that have been sealed or expunged." That quotation is a description of variation, and it is quoted here for that reason only. Two of those three wordings are last cycle's as reproduced by a third party; the current wording for any school is the wording inside that school's own current application.

How this connects to bar admission

Schools and LSAC both publish the same connection, and it is quoted here without addition. LSAC: "When you apply for admission to a state bar, you will be asked many of the same questions. If your answers differ from the ones you provided on your law school application, your admission to the bar may be delayed or even precluded." (LSAC / LawHub, retrieved September 5, 2026.) Chicago: "State Bar Associations may request a copy of your application, materials, and record, including answers to the character and fitness questions in this application, when determining your admission to the bar." (source, retrieved September 5, 2026.) The National Conference of Bar Examiners, for its part, publishes that it sets none of this: "The National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) does not set policy for any jurisdiction regarding which information is requested to help determine an applicant's character and fitness to practice law." (NCBE, Character & Fitness, retrieved September 5, 2026.) Requirements are per jurisdiction, and every school above points applicants to the jurisdiction they intend to practice in.

If a question asks for a written explanation

Several of the schools above attach a writing requirement to an affirmative answer: Georgetown asks for a separate statement, Berkeley for an attached addendum with a set format and no length ceiling, Notre Dame for an electronic attachment covering circumstances and resolution, BU for a detailed explanation including the allegations and any sentence imposed, Baylor for an addendum. That output is a document, and it has a reader — an admissions office working from the question its own form printed. Which document you are writing matters, because the same word covers two of them; explanatory versus character-and-fitness addenda separates the invited one from the triggered one, and the rest of the law writing map sits on the law school essays hub.

If you want that draft read as a document rather than as a decision, the law school addendum rubric is the one that fits it. Three limits, stated plainly. It reviews writing: it does not decide what you disclose, and it is not legal advice. It cannot see a transcript, court record, school file or bar application, so it cannot check a draft against a record it has never seen — paste the exact question you were asked and it works against that text. And schools set their own rules on authorship, AI and outside assistance, and they do not agree; read the certification inside your own application before using any review tool, and do not use one where outside assistance or AI review is prohibited. Our law school AI policy dataset is the lookup surface for what each school publishes on that.

Sources, all retrieved September 5, 2026

• LSAC / LawHub — "Character and Fitness" Questions for Law School
• National Conference of Bar Examiners — Character & Fitness
• University of Notre Dame Law School — Apply
• Emory University School of Law — J.D. FAQs, including the guidance on bar character and fitness requirements
• Duke Law — J.D. application
• Cooley Law School — JD Application Disclosure
• University of Houston Law Center — Supplemental information concerning questions 6, 7.a, 7.b and 8
• Vanderbilt Law School — J.D. Admissions
• Berkeley Law — Ready to Apply
• Boston University School of Law — J.D. application instructions
• University of Chicago Law School — Application Requirements
• Georgetown Law — Application Requirements
• University of Michigan Law School — Apply to the J.D. Program — direct request refused; read through a text-extraction fetch
• UVA Law — J.D. application information — direct request refused; read through a text-extraction fetch
• Baylor Law — J.D. applicants — direct request refused; read through a text-extraction fetch
• University of Minnesota Law School — How to Apply — direct request refused; read through a text-extraction fetch
• GW Law — J.D. Application Process — direct request refused; read through a text-extraction fetch
• NYU School of Law — Admissions information and instructions
• Yale Law School — Application Components
• Harvard Law School — J.D. Application Components
• Cornell Law School — J.D. FAQ
• Texas Law — Apply
• Columbia Law School — J.D. Admissions — no character-and-fitness text on the page; the only preview application we could retrieve on this date was still the Fall 2026 file
• Stanford Law School — J.D. Application Process
• University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School — J.D. FAQs
• Northwestern Pritzker School of Law — J.D. FAQ
• UCLA School of Law — First-year J.D. applicants
• Boston College Law School — JD Program
• WashU Law — J.D. program application
• University of Wisconsin Law School — J.D. Application Process
• Fordham School of Law — J.D. application requirements — redirected to a login gateway and returned no public text
• UMass Amherst SBS Pathways — Law school applications: Criminal records — a pre-law advising resource reproducing two schools' 2025-26 question wording

Verification note. These pages change between cycles, and two of the schools above published their question text in full while most published none. Whatever appears here, the wording that governs your answer is the wording inside your own current application. Open it and read it there.