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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS
No. 21-BG-18
IN RE KEVIN E. CLINESMITH, RESPONDENT.
A Suspended Member of the Bar
of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
(Bar Registration No. 984265)
On Report and Recommendation of the Board on Professional
Responsibility Hearing Committee Number Four
Approving Petition for Negotiated Discipline
(DDN 305-19)
(Decided: September 2, 2021)
Before GLICKMAN and DEAHL, Associate Judges, and NEBEKER, Senior Judge.
PER CURIAM: This decision is non-precedential. Please refer to D.C. Bar R.
XI, § 12.1(d) regarding the appropriate citation of this opinion.
In this disciplinary matter, Hearing Committee Number Four (the Committee)
recommends approval of an amended petition for negotiated attorney discipline. See
D.C. Bar R. XI, § 12.1(c). The amended petition is based on Respondent’s guilty
plea to one count of making a false statement in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(3)
2
for his actions in modifying a document while employed by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) as Assistant General Counsel in the National Security and Cyber
Law Branch of the FBI’s Office of General Counsel. The Committee determined
this was a serious crime in violation of D.C. Bar R. XI, § 10(d), but not one involving
moral turpitude, either per se or on the specific facts. The Committee concluded that
Respondent’s misconduct violated Rule 8.4(b) and (c) of the District of Columbia
Rules of Professional Conduct. The Committee determined that the negotiated
discipline of a one-year suspension nunc pro tunc to August 25, 2020—the date he
self-reported his conviction to Disciplinary Counsel—was not unduly lenient.
Having reviewed the Committee’s recommendation in accordance with our
procedures in uncontested disciplinary cases, see D.C. Bar R. XI, § 12.1(d), we agree
this case is appropriate for negotiated discipline and the proposed sanction is not
unduly lenient or inconsistent with dispositions imposed for comparable
professional misconduct. Accordingly, it is
ORDERED that Respondent Kevin E. Clinesmith is hereby suspended from
the practice of law in the District of Columbia for one year nunc pro tunc to August
25, 2020.
So ordered.