A decade and a half ago, a 25-year old journalist named Stephen Glass was busted for having committed one of the cardinal sins of the profession: Making stuff up.
And Glass hadn't made stuff up here and there to embellish otherwise accurate stories.
He made whole stories up. And people. And quotes.
Basically, he wrote fiction and sold it as journalism. And he published his fiction in some of the country's most prestigious publications — 42 stories worth, over two-and-a-half years.
Then he enrolled in Georgetown law school.
Then he got busted and outed and famous. And destroyed any remaining career he might have had in journalism (had he wanted it, which one suspects he didn't, which is presumably part of what continues to so gall some journalists about him).
And now, nearly 15 years later, a decade after graduating magna cum laude from Geoergetown, flagging and acknowledging all the stuff he made up, and apologizing to the publications and readers he defrauded, and otherwise staying out of trouble, Stephen Glass is applying for admission to the California bar so he can legally practice law in that state. He has already passed the bar exam. So the only question is whether he is "moral" enough to be admitted. And a group that is opposing Glass's admission to the bar has taken the case all the way to the California Supreme Court.
Although many journalists will never forgive Glass for his sins (more on this below), there's a simple answer here.
Of course he should be allowed to practice law.
Why?
If nothing else, because most people deserve a second chance.
(There are some crimes that do not deserve second chances, but Glass did not commit one of them. Glass did not kill people. He did not blow up buildings or commit treason. He didn't poison drinking water or torture school-children. He didn't steal gobs of money or cackle in greedy glee as he nearly brought the financial system to his knees. Glass committed professional fraud. Then, eventually, he acknowledged it and apologized for it. And, by many accounts, he has behaved ethically ever since.)
And here are some other reasons:
- Glass has already paid a big penalty for his duplicity. Even 15 years later, he's still paying for it — publicly and privately. He has paid for his duplicity a lot longer than a lot of people in this society who are convicted of crimes and sent to prison pay for them.
- Glass wrote his fiction when he was 25. He's now nearly 40. If there's anyone who didn't do dumb things in their 20s when they were learning what it really means to be a professional, let them please step forward.
- Behaving sleazily obviously does not disqualify people from being lawyers — or, for that matter, from being bankers, or politicians, or journalists. Thankfully, there are wise, honest, and highly competent people in most professions, including law. And, generally, their efforts offset those of the sleazebags, if that is what Glass turns out to be. (The evidence suggests he has learned his lesson, but anything's possible).
- Being admitted to practice law does not mean that Glass will be allowed to practice law forever. If he acts unethically, he can get booted out of the profession. And everyone he interacts with for the rest of his life will be very quick to suggest that he is acting unethically.
- Many former actual criminals are allowed to practice law, and many of their clients are much the better for it.
- And so on...
But the real reason, again, is that most people deserve a second chance. (And, yes, I say that as someone who many employers and millions of people gave a second chance — and I will be eternally grateful for that.)
I understand why some journalists will never forgive Stephen Glass. By making a mockery of the hardest part of the job — telling the truth — he disgraced the profession.
And as Jack Shafer recently noted, he hasn't exactly taken full responsibility for what he did: On the contrary, he appears to have blamed some of it on pressure from his parents, which is pathetic.
But he did what he did a long time ago, and he has paid a big price for it.
So, yes, Stephen Glass should be allowed to practice law in California. And if, in fact, he hasn't learned his lesson and privately rubs his hands together and cackles "fooled them again!" the moment he is admitted to the bar, so be it. The truth will eventually come out. And society will still have been right to give him the chance.
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