New to Bar Admissions? Introducing NCBE Services: NCBE’s Online Character Report Application

This article originally appeared in The Bar Examiner print edition, Winter 2024-2025 (Vol. 93, No. 4), pp. 35-36.Demonstrating character and fitness, sometimes referred to as “moral character,” is among the essential elements required for bar admission. Each jurisdiction develops its own process for character and fitness evaluations, including many that utilize NCBE’s investigations services and/or NCBE’s Character Report Application. Below we outline this application and the role it plays in jurisdictions’ character and fitness evaluation process.

What is NCBE’s Character Report Application?

The Character Report Application is offered as an online service to jurisdictions to support character and fitness investigations of applicants seeking a license to practice law. Applicants access the application by logging in to their NCBE Accounts on NCBE’s website. In 2018, NCBE launched the third generation of this service. Dozens of jurisdictions have successfully integrated this tool into their admissions processes. The application provides jurisdictions with key features that help streamline their processes. These features include:

• Availability: Jurisdictions may use the online application for some or all applicants regardless of whether they use NCBE’s investigations services.
• Security: Applicants use two-factor authentication when signing in to their NCBE Accounts.
• Integration: NCBE offers tools to facilitate direct import of applications and application information into jurisdiction systems in data and PDF formats.
• Customization: Jurisdictions may use a standard question set or jurisdiction-specific questions. Other customizations are available for the Directions page, which provides guidance to applicants when completing the online application and a checklist that displays at the end of the completed application providing jurisdiction-specific instructions on what to do next. Additionally, some jurisdictions require applicants to execute a separate Attestation Page (an applicant acknowledgment that they answered all questions truthfully and have not altered the questions in any way), which can be customized as well.
• Error Checking: Various error checks throughout the application help prevent omissions that may require follow-up with applicants and result in delays in admission. For instance, error checking prevents an applicant from completing the application if any question is left unanswered, eliminating the need for follow-up to obtain missing information.
• Documentation: Applicants can upload supporting documentation while completing an application or amendment. Such documentation is transmitted with the finalized application.
• Support: NCBE provides technical support for issues encountered while completing applications and amendments.
• NCBE Authorizations and Payments: All are integrated into the application and completed during the finalization sequence. Credit card payment is made online, and the release form is electronically delivered to NCBE and/or the jurisdiction. It is also sent to applicants’ NCBE Account file cabinets.
• Usability/Accessibility: The online application and application PDFs are cleanly formatted and meet accessibility standards.
• Delivery: Jurisdictions can opt for electronic delivery of completed applications (including uploaded supporting documentation) and amendments to the NCBE Secure Site, which may negate the need for applicants to mail printed copies and admissions staff’s management of that material.
• Online Amendments: Applicants can amend applications with the same error checks and ability to upload documentation. The same delivery options as applications are in place for amendments, including the ability to upload documentation.
• Subsequent Applications: Application data is made available to copy into subsequent applications, giving applicants the ability to reapply or apply to another jurisdiction (that uses NCBE’s online application) with ease.

Implications for Bar Admissions

As a bar admissions professional, the character and fitness investigation process is an essential part of your work. Processes differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but it is important to understand the role NCBE plays for many bar admissions communities. The NCBE Character Report Application is an essential and beneficial tool many jurisdictions use to aid in their investigations and help ensure applicants are properly vetted before practicing law.

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