Character and Fitness - how much detail is necessary?

janea2018janea2018 Alum Member
in Law School Admissions 20 karma

I have two traffic violations that are both pretty old (one was 8 years ago and I was a juvenile, so the record is sealed if not expunged, the other one was 4 years ago). I remember the date of one, the general time period of the other, and I know the gist of what happened in both but I don't remember what I was specifically charged with, etc. Neither is a major deal and the fines for both were like less than $200, it's not like I forgot all the details of a hit-and-run or something.

The driving record thing I can request from my state only goes back 3 years. Is there another way to find this info? Should I be worried about having all the specifics since it was so long ago? If I had it I would have no problem sharing everything but I don't really want to have to take off work to go to a county clerk's office for the records or something.

I apologize if there's a guide for this stuff somewhere, I've been searching for an answer for a while and I'm not finding anything besides recommendations to request that driving record thing, which again won't actually be helpful.

Comments

  • LSAT_WreckerLSAT_Wrecker Member ⭐
    4850 karma

    FWIW, I called the county clerk for a adjudication of mine from 21 years ago. They looked it up in the system and told me the details on the phone. I no longer live in that state, but had zero difficulty getting the details.

  • _oshun1__oshun1_ Alum Member
    3652 karma

    If you remember the county it occurred in, just google ie Los Angeles County Superior Court traffic case search. Most court websites allow you to search your name for $1. If it doesn’t work out you can just write around XYZ years ago I was cited for speeding or whatever.

  • janea2018janea2018 Alum Member
    20 karma

    I went down a crazy rabbithole of calling 3 different clerks offices and found the info on one, that was surprisingly easy! Thanks LSAT_Wrecker.

    The other one (that I received as a juvenile) they won't release the info to me over the phone but I left a message with a clerk that can tell me if it has been expunged. I wish someone had warned me about this more thoroughly when I started drafting stuff for my apps, but I guess I just assumed that since some places didn't care about traffic violations, most places wouldn't. I guess I fell for the trap there.

  • Patz4lifePatz4life Alum Member
    edited January 2020 214 karma

    As much as possible ideally

  • Leah M BLeah M B Alum Member ⭐
    8392 karma

    Nice work folks! If you can't get the exact information on the oldest one, it's ok. I had a couple speeding tickets from 15+ years ago that I couldn't really track down either. I put in my C&F disclosure vague details, and didn't have questions from any schools on it. I don't think they will mind. Here is what I wrote (do not copy directly, but feel free to use similar wording if necessary):

    "I have two minor citations for speeding in the state of [state name]. I do not have documentation on them and they no longer appear on my driving record, but to the best of my recollection they occurred in the years 2001 in [city, state] and 2003 in [county name]. The fines for both were paid."

    Also as a side note to @NickIllini and @janea2018 (just in case you're not aware), some schools will also specifically say that you need to disclose any violations even if they were expunged from your record. Be mindful of that - you may still need to disclose them.

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