Following graduation, she joined Sidley Austin, a corporate law firm in Chicago. But a few years later, in 1994, while working for the Public Allies project in Chicago, Obama voluntarily had her license placed on “inactive” status.
A search for Barack Obama shows he was admitted to the Illinois State Bar Association on December 17, 1991, but that he is no longer authorized to practice law.
Neither of the Obamas was irrevocably stripped of a law license through the action of “surrendering” it.
A viral Facebook post features a photograph of the Obamas along with text that reads: "Barack Obama surrendered his law license in 2008 to escape charges of lying on his bar application.
President Obama graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991 and was admitted as a lawyer by the Supreme Court of Illinois on Dec. 17, 1991. Prior to being elected to the Illinois state Senate in 1996, he worked as a civil rights lawyer at the firm formerly known as Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland.
He surrendered his license back in 2008 in order to escape charges he lied on his bar application.
From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996.
Michelle Obama graduated from Harvard Law School in 1988, and was admitted as a lawyer by the Supreme Court of Illinois on May 12, 1989. Following graduation, she joined Sidley Austin, a corporate law firm in Chicago.
Then, after becoming president, he elected to change his status to “retired” in February 2009.
A: No. A court official confirms that no public disciplinary proceeding has ever been brought against either of them, contrary to a false Internet rumor. By voluntarily inactivating their licenses, they avoid a requirement to take continuing education classes and pay hundreds of dollars in annual fees.
The difference is crucial: a lawyer who has surrendered his law license has given it up and therefore no longer has a license, while a lawyer who has gone on inactive status still holds a valid law license but is not currently engaged in any professional activities that require it to be active.
The bar record says that [Michelle Obama] is “Voluntarily inactive.”. This is even more common for lawyers who don’t need a bar card, such as many lawyers who don’t appear in court or counsel clients other than [their] employer.
Bill Clinton hung onto his law license until he was convicted of making a false statement in the Lewinsky case and had to “Voluntarily Surrender” his license too. President Barack Obama, former editor of the Harvard Law Review, is no longer a “lawyer”.
Splitt told us Michelle Obama filed a motion to transfer to inactive status in 1994. Barack Obama elected to have his license placed on inactive status after he announced his candidacy for president in 2007 and changed it to retired after becoming president in early 2009.
No, the Obamas didn’t surrender their law licenses to avoid discipline. A years-old hoax that claims Barack and Michelle Obama surrendered their law licenses to avoid disciplinary action has resurfaced on social media.
The Obamas no longer hold active licenses to practice law, but they were not forced to surrender their licenses over any disciplinary proceedings. On the website for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois, Barack Obama is listed as retired and was last registered in 2008.
The website shows neither of the Obamas has any public record of discipline or pending proceedings. Steve Splitt, a spokesman for the commission, confirmed to PolitiFact that there is no record "of any sort of disciplinary proceedings" involving the Obamas.
Bill Clinton hung onto his law license until he was convicted of making a false statement in the Lewinsky case and had to “ Voluntarily Surrender” his license too. President Barack Obama, former editor of the Harvard Law Review, is no longer a “lawyer”. He surrendered his license back in 2008 possibly to escape charges that he “fibbed” on his bar ...
Michelle and Barack Obama are also listed on the Illinois State Bar Association’s official website as honorary members (as are Hillary Clinton and Harper Lee for her portrayal of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird) which would be extremely strange if they had both lost their licenses in disgrace.
In early October 2018, many people in the United States and abroad were closely watching the twists and turns around a Supreme Court nomination as multiple women accused the nominee of committing or abetting sexual assault.
He surrendered his license back in 2008 in order to escape charges that he lied on his bar application.
It’s true that, although both President Obama and the University of Chicago have stated at various times that he was a “professor of law” or “professor of constitutional law” at the U.C. Law School, he never officially held that title. He was first a Lecturer (1992-1996) and then a Senior Lecturer (1996-2004) until elected to the Senate in 2004.
Barack Obama was not a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago. 5. The University of Chicago released a statement in March 2008 saying that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) “served as a professor” in the law school but that is a title Obama, who taught courses there part time, never held. 6.
Law School website, which nevertheless pointedly states that Barack Obama served as a professor there regardless of his official title.
Just because you read the same blog post expounded upon at a thousand different sites doesn't make it any more credible. Michelle Obama left Sidley Austin in 1992 and took a job with a non-profit in 1993 that clearly was not in the natire of practicing law.
Active vs. inactive cannot possibly be court ordered. It is a choice the attorney makes each year when registering. If not engaged in the regular practice of law then you choose inactive status (still a member of the bar, but on inactive status because well, you are inactive).