KNOW, the Magazine for Paralegals Spring 2014 | Page 19

The Right to
Practice Law
Should disbarred attorneys be able
to get paralegal jobs?
KNOW Columnists explore the question.
Stacey Hunt:
Do you remember Stephen Glass?

I didn’t, until I read an article in the New York Times on January 27, 2014 by Julie Bosman,
entitled “California Denies Scorned Journalist Stephen Glass
Right to Practice Law.” Mr. Glass was the infamous journalist
who was exposed in 1998 of fabricating some or all of the articles he wrote for Rolling Stone, George, and other publications.
Mr. Glass subsequently attended law school, but was told by the
New York Bar not to bother applying for a license to practice there.
He moved to California, passed that Bar exam in 2006, but was
found morally unfit to practice law and was denied a license in 2009.
So what is Mr. Glass doing for employment these days? You
guessed it – he is working as a paralegal. His attorney, Arthur Margolis, was asked by Ms. Bosman if Mr. Glass would
continue to work as a paralegal in light of a recent California
Supreme Court ruling upholding the denial of his license, and Mr.
Margolis responded, “I don’t see why not.”

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