Benjamin Zeev's general principle that in matters of conversion we should be lenient rather than too strict is revealed in the summary of the law as found in the Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 268. There we are told that while a court of three is required, nevertheless if a person is converted before two, the conversion is valid as a fait accompli(bedi-avad), although not as a preferred procedure. So, too, while the whole conversion process must be consciously directed with full understanding of the implications, nevertheless a formal bathing for some other purpose than conversion can be considered valid for conversion as a fait accompli. All these opinions are based upon earlier legal decisions. Besides the clear evidence of the preference for leniency in this matter, the Shulhan Arukh also reveals the uncertainty as to the types of judges required. Whereas in 268:3 it merely says"three men who are eligible to judge," i.e., not relatives, nevertheless when the words of admonition are repeated after the ritual bath(in 268:1) Isserles adds to the statement that it must be scholars who
give him the final instruction. However, the Shulhan Arukh in 268:12 sums it up by saying that if he were circumcised and bathed in the presence of three hedyotot(i.e., three average men) he is fully a ger.
Ben Zion Uziel , the late Sephardic Chief Rabbi , in his very last book of Responsa Mishp’tei Uziel, Even Haezer 13, p. 54, Jerusalem , 1964 says:"It is the halakhah, as we learn from the words of the Rambam , that the reception of proselytes does not require a Bet Din of skilled men, but even with three ordinary men (hedyotot) it is quite sufficient.”