Ms. Edith G. Osman
President
The Florida Bar
Carlton Fields
4000 International Place
100 Southeast Second Street
Miami, Florida 33131-901

Re: Ronald C. Kopplow and The Florida Bar - Conflict Of Interest

Dear Ms. Osman:

Thank you so much for responding to my recent e-mail in your correspondence dated May 12, 2000. Because of the very serious nature of my claims, of which you have been informed, I also thank you for taking your time to inquire as to the status of any files that relate to my complaints both against Ronald C. Kopplow, Esq. and The Florida Bar. As you know, based upon the facts as they have transpired, it is transparent that The Florida Bar has wrongfully dismissed my claims saying that it was a fee dispute, when much more serious allegations and issues have been raised as to unethical lawyer conduct. Indeed, after conducting considerable research, in an attempt to try and understand how The Florida Bar could have proceeded in such a nonsensical and illogical manner, I learned (which was not disclosed to me as it should have been) that Mr. Kopplow is insured by The Florida Bar's created and formed malpractice insurance carrier, Florida Lawyer’s Mutual Insurance Company, and has also been an employee/agent of Florida Lawyer’s Mutual Insurance Company as a defense attorney representing attorneys in malpractice litigation.

Apparently, the very same members of The Florida Bar’s lawyer regulation division have been providing you with inaccurate and misleading information as to the status of this matter. In your letter you say that you discovered that the staff of the headquarters office of lawyer regulation has had frequent contact with me. You also say that they are waiting for me to provide additional information. Further, you state that they told you that I advised them that there is additional information in my possession that they are waiting for. Let me address each of these fabricated statements below in the hope that you will be instrumental in undertaking the necessary steps, whatever and wherever they may be, to insure that I receive a hearing in front of an acceptable and impartial Grievance Committee and that The Florida Bar conduct hearings regarding those involved in the failure of the system, in this instance, and that the appropriate sanctions be taken against all those who have acted unethically.

As to the statement regarding frequent contact with me, there has been no contact from The Florida Bar or its employees since June 18, 1999, almost one year ago, when Kathi LeeKilpatrick sent me a letter in response to my letter dated June 1, 1999 (copies of both letters enclosed). As you can see from the correspondence, the information you have been provided by the "staff" of the headquarters office of lawyer regulation is clearly false and misleading. Perhaps, this will begin to illuminate for you the unethical conduct of staff at The Florida Bar’s headquarters office of lawyer regulation requiring you, under the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, to institute the appropriate disciplinary proceedings against such individuals for the false and misleading information that you have been provided.

As to the information you have been provided by staff of The Florida Bar’s headquarters office of lawyer regulation, that they are waiting for me to provide additional information, I again direct you to the attached correspondence. I am not aware of any request from anyone at The Florida Bar or The Supreme Court of Florida that I provide any additional information. In fact, a Binder consisting of approximately 500 pages, that support our claims, in addition to numerous correspondence to the Florida Bar and The Supreme Court of Florida, setting forth my position have been provided. An individual Binder has been provided to numerous members of The Florida Bar including the following: John Harkness, Tony Boggs, Bill Hendrix, Kathi Lee Kilpatrick, Arlene Sankel, Cynthia Ann Lindbloom and the Honorable Major B. Harding, Chief Justice of The Supreme Court of Florida. Accordingly, this information should be easily available for your review. If not please let me know.

As to the information you have been provided by staff counsel of the headquarters of lawyer regulation at The Florida Bar, that they are waiting for additional information that I advised them that is in my possession, this statement is an absurdity. First, currently, unless some additional recent request has been made that has not yet reached my mailbox, e-mail or fax machine, no one from The Florida Bar has indicated that they are awaiting to receive anything from me that I have advised is in my possession. The documents that substantiate our claims have been duly provided and apparently ignored in hopes that this situation would simply disappear. Also, you are being misled that I have advised any Florida Bar staff that there is anything additional to provide. If you examine closely, why you are being fed such lies, the only reasonable explanation could be for the Bar to now claim that, "see, Mrs. Lanson hasn’t provided anything else and therefore we were justified in our original determinations." I hope an intelligent person such as yourself could see through such hollow circuitous statements designed solely to support the failure of The Florida Bar to properly investigate this matter and appoint an appropriate independent committee to review this matter in light of the clear conflict of interest.

While you may be confident that this matter has been thoroughly reviewed to the extent of the material already provided it is apparent from your letter that you have undertaken no independent investigation to determine whether that it is true or not. If you take the time to understand the nature of the underlying grievance it will be readily apparent to you that no review of the material provided, since this matter was dismissed by The Florida Bar as a fee dispute, when in fact the severe ethical violations which occurred, having nothing to do with a fee dispute, are abundantly and clearly and articulately specified in my Bar complaint, the accompanying exhibits thereto and the follow-up correspondence in response to the absurd position taken by Messrs. Kopplow and Cooper. In light of the misrepresentation by staff counsel of the headquarters of lawyer regulation at The Florida Bar I hope you will no longer trust in your confidence that this "matter has been thoroughly reviewed as to the extent of material already provided."

Your statement that if I provide new material to Bar staff, it will be given close consideration, I hope you will agree, is rendered nonsensical in light of what has transpired over the past two years. It is also information you are being provided to shield Bar staff from their own unethical prior conduct in this matter by claiming that I haven’t provided additional information when it is well known that the information, which supports clear and unambiguous severe ethical violations by Ronald C. Kopplow, that have resulted in the financial destruction of my family, have been voluminously provide to The Florida Bar but ignored.

Your final statement that I provided that material as a "next step’ is also inapplicable in light of the above, and if suggested to you by Bar staff, is solely intended to detract from the merits of our claims as already voluminously and adequately submitted.

After reading this correspondence I hope you will realize that these actions of The Florida Bar indicate to you we have truth and justice on our side. As a result, no matter how hard this matter is sought to be skirted by the culpable individuals, we will prevail due to the rightfulness and justice of our claims. We are only hoping that you, as President of The Florida Bar, will put an end to the wrongfulness that we have endured at the hands of a system acting in a corrupt manner.

I await your response.

Sincerely,

Meryl M. Lanson

Enclosures (All subsequent letters, to date, after submission of The Binder)