How to get fingerprinted in France...

This is just a little story about me applying for the Oregon bar while in France. Note to all those who try...be aware and do it WAAAY in advance! (aka not the week leading up to exams).

One of the many crazy and paranoid requirements of the bar application (other than Oregon requiring 11, yes, you read right, 11 character and fitness statements -- those 11 people are relatively well defined as well, aka current and 5 pas employers + 5 personal witnesses of which at least 2 must be lawyers and no more than one a law professor and not your family or spouse) is that you be finger printed.

Great.

Can't they just call Vermont? Vermont has my prints for when I volunteered to read to kids at a nearby school...so again...fingerprints? grrr

I went to the police station yesterday to get fingerprinted. Logical place to go right? Took 10 minutes to get to the part where they said they could do it but to come back tomorrow because their fingerprint guy is only in on wednesdays. Ok, no problem!!

Here's how those 10 minutes went:
Me: Hello, I am applying for the bar exam in the United States and I need my fingerprints taken.
Them: What?
Me: I need my fingerprints taken for the bar exam in the United States.
Them: I dont understand
Me: My fingerprints (I pull out the form provided courtesy of the FBI)
Them: Yes, I understand that but I dont understand why.
Me: Its a requirement for the application to the bar (aka barreau)
Them: I dont understand
Me: one of the documents you need to submit to apply for the bar is a copy of your fingerprints
Them: I dont understand what you mean
....
Me: I am applying to be an American lawyer
Them: OH!!!!!! Ok, no problem, let me check.
It kind of felt like one of those situations where you had to find the magic word, and apparently "barreau + america" wan't it but "laywer + america"...Bingo!

Went back today around 1pm. Should have known better...the police station is closed at 1pm. These cops have to eat! Guess you can't get robbed at lunch time and expect help. I had an appointment elsewhere later that afternoon, and rushed back before they potentially closed at 5pm. You never know, and I was being cautious...the sign said open until 19h (aka 7pm for us western folks) but...it also said 8h - 19h which would imply that they were open during lunch time which they clearly were not.

So...make it back just before 5, go through the whole rigamarole again and then this guy in a pink rugby shirt comes out, pulls me outside like he has to tell me something no one else can hear, and explains that he can't fingerprint me. He is the fingerprint guy but he can't do it. Apparently the Nanterre Prefecture (again curses against that prefecture) ripped them a new one last time they did it, and so without the prefecture's express consent...its a no go. GREAT. He says "I'd really like to help, but short of you giving me a reason to put you in garde a vue..." (aka short of arresting you) there was nothing he could do.

Great.

Now I just have to wait for a call back from the people at the embassy who take your fingerprints to see when I can get that done. Either that or call the Oregon Bar Examiners people and have them try to contact the Nantere Prefecture (HA!) and explain why I need this done and thus get permission for my police to fingerprintme without arresting me. Not holding my breath.

Luckily, my fingerprints do not have to accompany the rest of my file...I just need to include a note explaining myself.

Moral of the story is...unless you go to the embassy, the only way to get fingerprinted is the criminal way.