"ABA OKs Conditional Admission to Bar for Would-Be Lawyers with Addiction, Mental Problems"

Edward Adams (ABA Journal.com, 2/11/2008)
reports on the ABA's adoption of a model rule that
would grant conditional admission to the practice of law
to applicants who have experienced chemical dependency
or mental health conditions that may otherwise have
rendered the applicants unfit to practice law.

The model rule states that applicants "may be conditionally
admitted to the practice of law if the applicant demonstrates
recent rehabilitation from chemical dependency or successful
treatment for mental or other illness, or from any other condition
this Court deems appropriate, that has resulted in conduct or
behavior that would otherwise have rendered the applicant
currently unfit to practice law, and the conduct or behavior, if
it should recur, would impair the applicant’s current ability to
practice law or pose a threat to the public. The [Admissions
Authority] shall recommend relevant conditions that the applicant
to the bar must comply with during the period of conditional
admission."