Thursday, December 6, 2012

"DISABLED" LAWYER LOSES LICENSE DUE TO LYING ABOUT DISABILITY

California attorney, Leah Harmuth, has had her law license cancelled due to a false statement she used to get extra time on her bar exam due to an alleged disability.
 
For the July 2009 California bar exam, Harmuth claimed that she had been given disability testing accommodations while in undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania.  However, Harmuth only had been given testing accommodations by only one professor; she never had any official accommodations given to her by the University.  Due to this false statement, Harmuth was given time and a half in a semi-private room for the California bar exam. 
 
Her false statement came to light when the New York State Board of Law Examiners notified California that Harmuth had requested accommodations under the penalty of perjury for the Febraury 2011 New York bar exam.  Harmuth stated again that she received accommodations from the Uniersity of Pennsylvania.  After investigating and determining that this was not true, New York disqualified her from taking the exam as well as applying for admissiion to be a lawyer in New York for two years.  Harmuth self-disclosed the New York finding in September 2011.  California then conducted its own invetigation and recommended Wednesday that her license be canceled.  It appears that Harmuth agreed to the penalty.  The California Supreme Court must still approve. 


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