Mental Health Inquiry Is Halved for Conn. Bar Applicants

Douglas S. Malan
The Connecticut Law Tribune
10-24-2006

Beginning in February, Connecticut Bar exam applicants will only be asked to reveal mental health issues that occurred within the previous five years rather than the previous 10, as the inquiry now requires. But opponents of such questioning argue that the screening process should focus more on current conduct than personal history.

The Connecticut Bar Examining Committee recently voted to adjust the language in questions 34 and 35, starting with the February 2007 Bar exam application.

Question 34 now asks if a person has been hospitalized for treatment of a disorder or condition "since you graduated from college or for the past five years, whichever is shorter ... ." Question 35 inquires about treatment "during the last five years" for a host of disorders and health conditions, including "major depressive mood disorder."

The inclusion of those four words on the July 2006 Bar exam application created a furor from those who believe the question was unnecessarily invasive, leading to delayed acceptance into the Bar and discouraging applicants from receiving treatment. Depression had been off the list for six years prior to its reintroduction in 2000.

"It's an incremental improvement," said Jon Bauer of the upcoming change. Bauer, a clinical law professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, is one of the application's most vocal critics. "It makes some significant difference, though I feel it doesn't go far enough."

The adjustment allows for a typical law school graduate to avoid having his or her possibly turbulent adolescent years fall under bar examiner's scrutiny, Bauer said.

"It was a way for the committee to tweak the application to make it as least invasive as possible," said Rome McGuigan attorney Anne C. Dranginis, chairwoman of a CBEC subcommittee that analyzes the application questions. "We're making slow and steady progress. I've been advocating that we ... ask conduct questions, but I'm in the minority."

Discussions are ongoing regarding the wording and appropriateness of the questions, said Dranginis, a former state Appellate Court judge.

CBEC Chairman Raymond W. Beckwith has downplayed the impact of the questions concerning mental health history. He said, in his 15 years with the committee, he has heard from only one applicant who objected to the questions, adding that "there's no stigma attached" to applicants who disclose mental health issues.

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