In re Klipstine

894 F. Supp. 2d 1351, 2012 WL 3711897, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123346
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Mexico
DecidedAugust 28, 2012
DocketNo. 11mc21 RB/WJ/SMV
StatusPublished

This text of 894 F. Supp. 2d 1351 (In re Klipstine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Mexico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Klipstine, 894 F. Supp. 2d 1351, 2012 WL 3711897, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123346 (D.N.M. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER DENYING APPLICATION FOR RE ADMISSION

ROBERT C. BRACK and WILLIAM P. JOHNSON, District Judges and STEPHAN M. VIDMAR, United States Magistrate Judge.

THIS MATTER comes before this three-judge Panel1 on the Court’s Order to Show Cause issued June 12, 2012, see Doc. 8; and on Mr. James W. Klipstine’s Petition for Admission to Practice in this District, filed March 8, 2012, see Doc. 7. The Court will deny the petition.

I. Background

On January 14, 2011, the New Mexico Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Mr. Klipstine from the practice of law in the state courts. See Doc. 1. This is the third time that the New Mexico Supreme Court has taken disciplinary action against Mr. Klipstine since 1989. See Aug. 7, 2012 Tr. at 4-5 (Klipstine admitting that he was indefinitely suspended from the practice of law in 19892; that he was readmitted and [1352]*1352then issued a “deferred suspension” in 20043; and that he was again indefinitely suspended in 2011). According to his disciplinary file4, at the time his most recent disciplinary proceedings were begun in November 2009, Mr. Klipstine admits that he had refused to apply for reinstatement to good standing after he completed his two-year probationary period imposed in 2004. See In re Klipstine, State Disciplinary Proceeding No. 11-2009-583, November 30, 2009 Specification of Charges at 15; id. Klipstine’s Response to Specification of Charges at 4 (admitting that charge). After over a year of proceedings and negotiations, Mr. Klipstine consented to discipline in the state court, see N.M.R.A. 17-211 (providing for “discipline by consent”), and

admitted that he had failed to provide competent representation to a client; failed to abide by the client’s objectives for the representation; failed to provide prompt and diligent representation; failed to provide adequate communication; failed to properly safeguard client funds; failed to comply with the record keeping requirements for client funds; fail[ed] to withdraw from representation when the representation would violate the Rules of Professional Conduct; failed to make reasonable efforts to expedite litigation consistent with the interests of the clients; failed to make reasonable efforts to ensure his staffs conduct was compatible with his professional obligations; and engaging in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.

Doe. 10, Ex. 4 at 1-2 (Disciplinary Hearing Committee’s Nov. 15, 2011 Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law filed in In re Klipstine, Disciplinary No. 11-2009-583 (N.M.2011)). As part of his 2011 suspension, the New Mexico Supreme Court required Mr. Klipstine to “close his law practice” and prohibited him from “counselling], advis[ing], [or] holding] himself out as an attorney to any person in any legal proceeding,” but it permitted him to be employed by Melissa Honigmann, Esq. “as an investigator.” Doc. 3 at 1 (Mr. Klipstine’s “Consent to Discipline” filed in the case at bar on March 21, 2011).

The Supreme Court’s Order suspending Mr. Klipstine set out express requirements for potential readmission to practice in the New Mexico state courts, and ordered that Mr. Klipstine could only be potentially readmitted under a two-year probationary status. See Doc. 10, Ex. 4 at 3. The Order [1353]*1353provided that during that two-year probationary period, Mr. Klipstine' had to be employed by another attorney or law firm approved by Disciplinary Counsel; that Mr. Klipstine’s employer had to supervise him; and that Mr. Klipstine shall not

participate in the management or administration of a law practice; shall not conduct trust account transactions; shall not participate in the supervision or management of lawyer staff; shall not participate in the supervision or management of non-lawyer staff except as to the extent customary during the course of representing clients, and [his] caseload shall be supervised, maintained, and controlled by his employer.

Id. Melissa Honigmann5 subsequently offered Mr. Klipstine “employment ... should he be reinstated to the practice of law,” and “agreefd] to supervise [him] and report to the office of disciplinary counsel as required” by submitting quarterly reports concerning Mr. Klipstine’s compliance and supervision. Id. The Supreme Court Order specifically provided that, even when the two-year probationary period ended, these “conditions of employment are permanent and shall not expire upon completion of the period of probation.” January 14, 2011 Order suspending Mr. Klipstine from the practice of law6; Aug. 7, 2012 Tr. at 18 (admitting that the “Supreme Court Order says that these restrictions will be [continued] after the probation is over”). The Supreme Court also expressly required Ms. Honigmann/Sawyers to report to the Disciplinary Board thirty days prior to the conclusion of Mr. Klipstine’s probation to advise “whether [he] has satisfactorily complied with the supervisor’s instructions and directives and ... whether [he] has met applicable court and case deadlines.” January 14, 2011 Suspension Order at 4. It further requires Mr. Klipstine to “comply with the requirements of Rule 17-214(H) NMRA regarding reinstatement from probation” within 90 days after he completes the two-year probationary period after reinstatement, see January 14, 2011 Suspension Order at 4-5, which means that, after the probationary period is over, another hearing will be held “at which the respondent-attorney shall have the burden of demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence that the respondent-attorney has the moral qualifications; that the respondent-attorney is once against fit to resume the practice of law and that the resumption of the respondent-attorney’s practice of law will not be detrimental to the integrity and standing of the bar, the administration of justice or the public interest,” N.M.R.A. 17-214(H).

More than two months after Mr. Klipstine was suspended from the practice of law in the state courts, he filed a “Consent to Discipline” in this Court, agreeing to be suspended “from this court until such time [1354]*1354as he has complied with requirements for readmission to the courts of the State of New Mexico and of this court.” Doc. 3. This Court immediately entered an Order suspending Mr. Klipstine from the practice of law in the District Court and informed him that he would have to reapply for admission, should he desire to practice before this Court in the future. See Doc. 4.

Mr. Klipstine applied for reinstatement to the New Mexico State Bar, and on January 30, 2012, the New Mexico Supreme Court entered an order providing that Mr. Klipstine “has been reinstated to probationary active status.” Doc. 6. (“Clerk’s Certificate of Reinstatement to Probationary Active Status”) (bolding and underlining in original).

On March 8, 2012, Mr. Klipstine filed a petition for admission to practice in this Court on the form the Court provides, stating that he “is a member in good standing of the Bar of the State of New Mexico,” Doc. 7 at 1, but also admitting that he “is on probationary status with the Supreme Court of New Mexico,” id. at 2. The Court issued an Order to Show Cause on June 12, 2012, requiring Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
894 F. Supp. 2d 1351, 2012 WL 3711897, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123346, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-klipstine-nmd-2012.