Section 5 - Duties and PowersA.Investigation. The Committee on Character and Fitness, or its subcommittees, shall consider applications at such time and place and in such manner as it may elect, and may require the personal presence of any applicant at such time and place as the Committee may prescribe for interview and examination touching on his character and fitness. The Committee may also propound written interrogatories, requests for admissions and requests for production of documents to be answered by applicant under oath within thirty (30) days of service thereof. The Committee may take evidence under oath before a court reporter or notary public and shall have the power to compel attendance of witnesses and the production of documents by the filing of a praecipe for a subpoena with the Clerk of the Supreme Court. The committee shall also have the power to receive information touching on the character and fitness of any applicant from any source deemed relevant and reliable by the Committee and to give such information the weight and credibility which the Committee deems proper.B.Meetings and Votes. The Committee, or the subcommittees thereof, shall act upon each application at a special or regular meeting at which a quorum is present. A quorum for a meeting of the Committee shall be five (5) members. A quorum for a meeting of a subcommittee shall be three (3) members. Action on any matter may be taken by a majority vote of a quorum. However, the members of the Committee or of a subcommittee may separately and without assembling in meeting consider any application together with the data submitted in support of such application by written or oral poll conducted by the Chairman. Any unanimous action of the Committee or subcommittee, so taken, shall constitute valid action, but if such is not unanimous, the Committee, or subcommittee shall further consider and act upon such application in meeting assembled.C.Special Counsel. In cases where the Committee, or subcommittee thereof, deems a formal hearing to be necessary, the Committee, or subcommittee, may appoint an attorney to appear on a voluntary basis as Special Counsel for the purpose of preparing and presenting evidence concerning applicant's character and fitness. Such counsel shall be an attorney in good standing with the Mississippi State Bar Association and shall have no conflict of interest in regard to application under consideration.D.Procedure at Formal Hearings. During formal hearings before the Committee, or its subcommittees, an applicant shall have the right to be represented by counsel, to call and examine witnesses, to introduce exhibits, to cross-examine witnesses on any matter relevant to the issues, even if not covered in direct examination, to impeach the credibility of any witness regardless of by whom called and to rebut the evidence against him. The applicant may be called and examined as if under cross-examination whether or not he testifies on his own behalf. The hearing need not be conducted according to technical rules relating to evidence and witnesses. Hearsay evidence may be used for the purpose of supplementing or explaining other evidence but shall not be sufficient standing alone to support a finding unless it would be admissible over objection in civil actions. Except as required to be waived under other provisions of these Rules, the rules of privilege shall be effective to the extent that they are required by civil rules to be recognized. Irrelevant and unduly repetitious evidence shall be excluded. Hearings shall be private unless the applicant shall request that they be public. A complete stenographic record of the hearing shall be kept, and a typescript may be ordered by the applicant at his or her own expense.E.Reports. The Committee shall report to the Board its recommendations as to approval or disapproval of each law student registrant and each applicant for admission by examination. Recommendations shall be filed with the Board as soon as reasonably practical after the completed application is referred to the Committee, provided that the Committee shall file with the Board not later than thirty (30) days before the examination at which the applicant purposes to sit, a recommendation with respect to each applicant who has filed a timely Application for Admission for that examination. If the Committee has not been able to complete its investigation of an applicant before thirty (30) days prior to the examination, the Committee shall so report to the Board along with the status of the case and a recommendation as to whether the applicant should be allowed to take the examination pending the outcome of the investigation.R. Gov. Admi. Miss. Bar. 5
Effective 11/1/1991; amended effective 8/24/2002.