David Kaplan will step down on Nov. 1 as Colorado’s state public defender.
Kaplan is so well liked that when his appointment was announced in 1999, cheers went up in the Denver public defender’s office.
Michael Vallejos, who heads a division of the Denver public defender’s office, said Kaplan sent out a short e-mail Monday announcing his intentions.
The Colorado Public Defender Commission, which will choose Kaplan’s replacement, met Friday to map out a replacement process, according to Denver attorney Phil Cherner.
Veteran Denver attorney Larry Pozner, who hired Kaplan as a law clerk while Kaplan was still in law school and then partnered with Kaplan for 10 years, said Kaplan has been thinking about the move for six months.
“After seven years, he is going to step down and pass the reins to the next committed person,” Pozner said. “He’ll go back into private practice, do great work and try to put his kids through college.”
Pozner said that Kaplan is joining Haddon Morgan Mueller Jordan Mackey & Foreman.
In 1999, Kaplan was one of three finalists to replace outgoing state public defender David Vela, who stepped down after asserting that the commission would not give him a fair chance for reappointment. The other finalists were Bob Pepin and Forrest “Boogie” Lewis.
At the time, Chris Miranda, a member of the commission, said support for the then-45-year-old Kaplan was overwhelming.
Last year, Kaplan was reappointed to the position.
“I have a great deal of respect for David and the way he has managed his office,” former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter said at the time.
Kaplan’s longtime friend, Jeff Pagliuca, said last year that while many law students pondered over the type of law they wanted to practice, there was never a doubt in Kaplan’s mind – he wanted to be a defense attorney.
A native of New Jersey, Kap lan received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado and a law degree from the University of Denver. He said that at the age of 12 he was inspired to become a defense attorney while reading F. Lee Bailey’s “The Defense Never Rests.”
Pozner said Kaplan is an “incredible talent” who took the Colorado public defender system to “the next level.”
“He is capable of trying both the tough case and administering an entire system,” Pozner said.
He also said that Kaplan had a great relationship with the Colorado legislature.
“I think he respects the budget difficulties of the state,” Pozner said, “and I think the state respects that he spends their money carefully – that he doesn’t blow it, that he is looking to provide a lot of talented lawyers on a state budget.”
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
