It has been mentioned on the Internet and briefly on page 32 of the newspapers that Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama does not have a license to practice law in the State of Illinois. In fact, it has been in the news mill for months. The media has stated that Mrs. Obama voluntarily surrendered her law license in 1993, a mere 4 years after taking the Bar exam twice before having the license issued to her.
A query of the ARDC, the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, reveals that Michelle Obama “voluntarily” surrendered her law license under “court order”!
From the ARDC website:
| Full Licensed Name: | Michelle Obama |
| Full Former name(s): | Michelle Lavaughn Robinson |
| Date of Admission as Lawyer by Illinois Supreme Court: |
May 12, 1989 |
| Registered Business Address: | Not available online |
| Registered Business Phone: | Not available online |
| Illinois Registration Status: | Voluntarily inactive and not authorized to practice law – Last Registered Year: 1993 |
| Malpractice Insurance: (Current as of date of registration; consult attorney for further information) |
No malpractice report required as attorney is on court ordered inactive status. |
| Public Record of Discipline and Pending Proceedings: |
None |
https://www.iardc.org/ldetail.asp?id=514560103
Is Michelle Obama’s law license of any importance in an Obama administration? Absolutely not. But what it does show is just another example of the incredulous manner in which the mainstream media did not treat the Obama campaign with the same magnifying glass that it used on the Republican candidates, and in particular the treatment of Gov. Sarah Palin. Todd Palin’s possible affiliation with Alaska’s Independence Party was news, but a legal proceeding against Michelle Obama leading to the loss of her law license is not. Kinda makes you wonder, you betcha!
In a bit of irony, in an Illinois State Bar Association program publication, ISBA Lawyers in the Classroom, Michelle Obama, along with her husband, is listed as one of the “notable lawyers” in Illinois!
Note: The Bar record for the President-Elect shows that he put his license into inactive status due to his political office and his Presidential campaign.
Just Americans Making Ethical Statements Weblog 
14 comments
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November 12, 2008 at 5:35 pm
ahrcanum
Why does everyone in this new administration have so many surnames and why exactly did the both of them choose to put licenses in escrow at the paramount of their careers? Where is the court order?
November 12, 2008 at 6:12 pm
ahrcanum
I must have missed the part about a court order requiring her to give up her license–where’d you c that?
November 12, 2008 at 6:18 pm
JAMES
ahrcanum: the “court order” is mentioned as the reason why she does not have to carry malpractice insurance
December 12, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Travis Beach
Ironically the website mentioned has now been scrubbed clean…no mention of MO or her court ordered inactivity…COURT ORDERED turn in of her license..could that mean she commited something that while short of needed to me disbarred, the court and possibly her negotiated her license turn in?
December 21, 2008 at 11:45 pm
anon
The “court ordered” phrase from her Il atty report is likely due to former Il Supreme Ct Rule 770 requiring attys before Nov 1999 to go through a court proceeding when they VOLUNTARILY chose to become inactive. The above provides absolutlety no proof whatsoever of any wrongdoing on her part.
see the link describing that process here:
https://www.iardc.org/rule770inactivestatus.html
which says:
CHANGING FROM RULE 770 INACTIVE STATUS
Prior to November 1, 1999, former Supreme Court Rule 770 provided for a proceeding in the Court for any voluntary transfer to inactive status, whether because of some incapacitating condition or solely as a matter of the lawyer’s preference because the lawyer would not be practicing law.
The current registration rules provide a procedure for lawyers on Court-ordered inactive status under former Supreme Court Rule 770 who might wish to register. Whatever registration status the lawyer wishes to assume (active, inactive, or retired), the lawyer must first file a motion with the Supreme Court for restoration to active status under Rule 759. The motion process is necessary to screen for those who transferred due to circumstances that require some review of present fitness, and the motions will be contested only in such cases. In all other cases, the ARDC will consent to the transfer, and when a consent is submitted, the Supreme Court typically allows the motion within a few weeks of when it is filed.
December 28, 2008 at 3:12 pm
skylark
“The media has stated that Mrs. Obama voluntarily surrendered her law license in 1993, a mere 4 years after taking the Bar exam twice before having the license issued to her.”
————————————-
First of all, Michelle Obama is listed as “registered” in 1993. Meaning she did not go on inactive status until 1994.
Secondly, when one goes on voluntary inactive status, one does not “surrender” one’s license to practice law. One retains one’s license, pays a reduced annual fee, and is subject to the oversight and discipline of the state bar. In many if not most states, one can immediately begin practicing again upon payment of the full fee. According to the ARDC rules cited above, an Illinois attorney who went on inactive status before November 1, 1999, needs to reactivate through a court procedure…that is not the same as having a license reinstated.
January 1, 2009 at 9:41 pm
John Flynn
As skylark and anon have pointed out, this is a tempest in a teapot. Focus instead on the fact that Obama is not a natural born citizen, and is a homosexual drug and sex addict. Notwithstanding those character defects, I still think we’ll be better off than we would have been under John “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” McCain.
June 1, 2009 at 7:29 pm
OhTheHubris
You are pathetic. I can’t wait until you faux-republican turds get flushed down the toilet with the rest of the neocon hijackers, leaving us REAL conservatives at the helm to pull the party back from the abyss and save our country’s two party system.
June 1, 2009 at 7:46 pm
JAMES
May I ask what precipitates the vile rhetoric in your comment. You may disagree with my point of view, but I’d appreciate it in an adult manner. What does Michelle Obama’s law license revocation have to do with by conservatism? Perhaps, REAL, you should push more for electing true Americans, True Patriots, rather than a two party political system. Maybe the concept of the two party system has seen its time. After all, our founding fathers did not mandate a two party system.
March 3, 2009 at 10:58 pm
cnation
It’s still there:
https://www.iardc.org/ldetail.asp?id=477008224
March 4, 2009 at 7:35 am
JAMES
The question is “why is she on court-ordered inactive status since 1993”, just 5 years after getting her license?
No malpractice report required as attorney is on court ordered inactive status.
March 3, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Katy-Tx
To John Flynn: –
As opposed to having “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Pahki-stahn” Obama?
March 4, 2009 at 8:46 am
Coyote99
“Mrs. Obama voluntarily surrendered her law license in 1993, a mere 4 years after taking the Bar exam twice before having the license issued to her.”
So the “brilliant,” Harvard-educated Mrs. Obama flunked her first bar exam?
June 20, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Year One Online
The style of writing is very familiar . Did you write guest posts for other blogs?
p.s. Year One is already on the Internet and you can watch it for free.