Convicted felon Tarra Simmons, who was recently awarded a fellowship from a foundation affiliated with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, saw her quest to practice law recently hit a hurdle when the Washington State Bar Association ruled against her bid to take the state bar exam.

Simmons, who just graduated magna cum laude from the Seattle University School of Law, enrolled in the school's J.D. program after a 20-month prison term for drug offenses. This year she was one of 30 recipients of Skadden's prestigious public interest law fellowship, which allows recent law school graduates to spend two years working to improve legal services for the poor. As a legal extern at the Public Defender Association, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization, she strives to help former prisoners re-enter society.

But according to Northwest Public Radio, the state bar's character and fitness board voted 6 to 3 last month against allowing Simmons to take the bar exam. The bar's general counsel, Jean McElroy, told the radio station that “when deciding on character and fitness, the board considers how recent and serious the misconduct was, and its cumulative nature.”