A high-powered accountant with aspirations of becoming a lawyer was denied readmission to a New York City catholic law school after administrators claim he wasn’t truthful about his criminal past.
David Powers is suing St. John’s University School of Law to reverse their decision to rescind his admission after spending three semesters at the institution and becoming third in his graduating class, according to the lawsuit filed in Queens Supreme Court.
Powers, 32, graduated top of his class at both Monmouth and Pace Universities since his 1999 drug possession conviction in New Jersey. He served a year in in-patient rehab and three-years probation. After passing the CPA exam, he applied for a job a Price Waterhouse Coopers and was upfront about information needed for his background check. Despite his record, David was hired with the prestigious accounting firm.
In October 2005, the all-star number cruncher applied for his conviction to be expunged which was granted as he was simultaneously applying for admissions to become a Johnnie. With his application, he included all necessary paperwork explaining his conviction.
The university accepted him and gave him a $20,000 scholarship.
Three semesters into the program, David got the offer to manage a $2 billion investment fund in Hong Kong which he accepted and took a leave of absence from St. John’s.
He received an extension from the university to continue his leave and was anticipating finishing his degree for the Spring 2011 semester.
As Powers prepared for his admission to the New York State Bar, he decided to continue he streak of truthfulness and filed an application with the Appellate Division’s Committee on Character and Fitness to see if his expunged conviction would prevent him from becoming a lawyer. He requested a letter of support from St. John’s, but they refused.
The University’s Assistant Dean of Students, Katherine Sullivan informed Powers in an email that, “information that you now provide in your [application’]…was not included in your [admission] application.” The university claimed he omitted the original charges for selling LSD and ecstasy to an undercover cop, according to the suit.
After weeks of consistent correspondence between different assistant deans and himself, David was ultimately dismissed from the university.
“We do not comment upon pending litigation,” a St. John’s School of Law representative said.