Opinion ID: 1976214
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Mr Kleppin's Application To The District of Columbia Bar

Text: Mr. Kleppin's application to the District of Columbia Bar, the supporting documents, and his testimony at the Committee's hearing addressed his criminal record and responded to the reasons given by the Florida Board of Bar Examiners for rejecting his application to the Florida Bar. Mr. Kleppin freely admitted his having distributed marijuana and, to a lesser extent, cocaine over approximately eighteen months, from the Fall of 1989 to January 31, 1991. (R.18-25) He accepted responsibility for his criminal acts and acknowledged that he was motivated solely by money. (R.841) While in college, Mr. Kleppin aspired to a career as a professional golfer, and he testified that he was unable to find work to support his college studies and his golf career. (R.841, 852-854) As he had in Florida, Mr. Kleppin expressly disclaimed any contention that he had sold drugs to support a drug dependency. (R.128-129) In addition, Mr. Kleppin acknowledged that he had misrepresented his reason for leaving law school in October 1992, after he was incarcerated, as a family crisis. (R.866-869) He explained that he had followed the advice of his attorney, even though he recognized at the time that he was receiving poor advice. (R.868) According to Mr. Kleppin, the attorney prevailed upon him to cite family crisis as grounds for his withdrawal from law school, rather than admit to his conviction and incarceration, in order to preserve the option of a quick re-enrollment, with the law school none the wiser. (R.868) Mr. Kleppin's recollection of his attorney's advice was confirmed. The record before the Committee includes a letter to the Florida Board of Bar Examiners from Mr. Kleppin's counsel in the conspiracy case, in which the attorney stated that Mr. Kleppin's description of his advice is correct in all aspects, and he expressed regret for having failed to anticipate the long-term consequences of that advice. (R.480) With respect to the 1990 consumer credit application, Mr. Kleppin explained that he had unthinkingly copied from a previous, rejected loan application which contained the same falsehood. (R.857-861) The misrepresentation of his employment status was admittedly unnecessary because Mr. Kleppin's father, who was credit-worthy, co-signed both the second application and the loan. (R.859) Regarding his application to the masters program at The George Washington University Law School, Mr. Kleppin testified that he was too embarrassed by his incarceration to disclose it, and so he left blank his answer to the pertinent question. (R.871-873) He claimed that he had not intended to mislead the school, however, when he reported that his conspiracy conviction occurred as an undergraduate; instead, he meant to report that the crime and the arrest occurred during his undergraduate career. (R.872) Mr. Kleppin's application was supported by character evidence, in the form of letters, affidavits, and testimony (R.69-70, 436, 664-702, 723-827), which is summarized below.