In the Matter of Michael P. Nash, Applicant to the Alaska Bar Association

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court vacated the denial of Michael Nash's application for admission to the Alaska Bar and independently determined that he satisfied the applicable moral-character requirement. The court concluded that the Board's dispositive candor finding rested on material misstatements, unsupported assumptions, and information outside the record, and that the hearsay evidence concerning alleged destruction of documents was insufficient. The court directed the Board to process Nash's application consistently with the opinion. FABE, Justice, dissenting, would have remanded for a new, impartial evidentiary hearing because the hearing master's adverse credibility finding left unresolved whether Nash had met his burden of proving the requisite character.