Riave v. Committee of Bar Examiners

THE COURT. A resolution of the Committee of Bar Examiners denying Lionel L. Riave’s application, made under section 6060.8 of the Business and Professions Code, for admission to practice law without examination, declares that he has not complied with all of the statutory requirements. The record upon which the committee acted is before this court upon Riave’s petition to review its determination. (Rules on Original Proceedings in Reviewing Courts, rule 59 [b].)

Section 6060.8 excuses the requirement of a final bar examination (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6060, subd. (h)) in certain circumstances. One of them is that the applicant, after graduation from an accredited law school and prior to the next final bar examination, shall have “entered upon active duty in the armed forces during a period of hostilities between the United States and any other nation.” With the exception of this provision, it is undisputed that all of the requirements to allow Riave’s admission to practice have been satisfied.

According to his petition, Riave presently is a major in the Air Force Reserve. After serving in the Army Air Force during the second world war, he was released to inactive duty. His education, interrupted by the war, was resumed, and, in June, 1950, he graduated from an accredited law school. The first final bar examination after that date was in October, 1950.

Prior to his graduation, Riave received orders to report on June 17, 1950, to an air force base for a 14-day tour of “active duty for training.” On June 27th, three days before Riave’s tour of duty terminated, hostilities commenced between the United States and North Korea. When he was released from this tour of duty, he was advised by his superior officers that he soon would be called for extended active duty. Although he participated in voluntary training and orientation classes immediately thereafter, he was not called to duty until March, 1951. . Neither Riave nor the Bar Examiners rely upon these additional facts as being determinative of the present application. The narrow issue presented is whether his period of “active duty for training” amounts to entry upon “active duty in the armed forces during a period of hostilities” within the meaning of section 6060.8 of the Business and Professions Code.

Riave takes the position that “active duty in the armed forces” must be read as including training periods, since the section makes no express qualification concerning the type [837]of duty or length of tour. The Bar Examiners assert that the Legislature could not have intended to exempt from examination reservists in the armed forces who are called only for annual training duty.