Legal Ethics
| Publication year | 2012 |
Legal Ethics
Patrick Emery Longan
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This Article covers the period from June 1, 2011 through May 31, 2012.1 As it does every year, the Georgia Supreme Court decided a number of lawyer-discipline cases and other matters related to licensure. The supreme court and the Georgia Court of Appeals decided cases involving legal malpractice, ineffective assistance of counsel, attorney disqualification, and judicial ethics. The State Bar of Georgia Formal Advisory Opinion Board took several actions that relate to the professional responsibilities of Georgia lawyers, and the supreme court promulgated a number of changes to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.
A. Disbarments2
The Georgia Supreme Court disbarred eight lawyers during the survey period for misconduct that was primarily, if not exclusively, financial. One lawyer voluntarily surrendered his license because in two cases, he settled claims for clients but did not notify them of the receipt of the funds or deliver or account for them.3 The court disbarred another attorney because he collected funds in numerous garnishment actions,
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but he failed to deliver the funds and instead commingled them with his own.4 Another lawyer settled cases for three clients and converted the proceeds to his own use.5 The court disbarred a lawyer because he collected money for a client on a promissory note but did not notify the client or deliver the money; instead, the lawyer commingled the funds with his own and failed to communicate with the client about the status of the matter.6 Another attorney lost his license after he purported to represent a client in a real estate transaction while the lawyer's license to practice law was suspended, and in connection with that transaction the lawyer wrongfully withheld $18,000 in funds that the client had deposited with the lawyer.7 A lawyer was disbarred for converting $30,000 to his own use and not following his client's instructions as to disbursement of an additional $330,000.8 The court disbarred another lawyer who, in his third year of practice, settled a case for $2,250 without the client's authority and took the money for his own use.9 Justice Benham dissented on the basis that a two-year suspension would have been more appropriate, given that the lawyer had little experience and no prior disciplinary history.10
The court disbarred eight lawyers during the survey period primarily for abandonment of clients. One lawyer accepted advance payments from three clients but neither completed the work nor returned the money, and he eventually became totally unresponsive to the clients.11 Another lawyer, who had a lengthy disciplinary history, lost his license because he solicited employment to represent a client in a criminal case but did not appear for the client's bond hearing and did not respond to telephone calls from the client or the client's mother.12 One attorney abandoned six clients and was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of theft of services.13 The court disbarred her despite her claims, otherwise unsupported, that her misconduct resulted from health problems.14
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The court disbarred a lawyer who failed to appear for a client's hearing, did not respond to repeated attempts by the client to contact her, did not refund the fee, and made false statements in the disciplinary proceedings.15 Another lawyer lost his license because he accepted fees but abandoned a series of bankruptcy clients.16 The court disbarred a lawyer who, in a federal case, stopped communicating; the client learned that the court had granted summary judgment against her only when she hired another lawyer.17 Finally, a lawyer who had been disciplined twice before for abandoning clients was disbarred because he filed a claim to enforce a mechanic's lien too late, failed to appear for the hearing, did not inform the client of the dismissal, and obtained a "release" from the client but falsified the notarization and failed to advise the client to seek the advice of an independent lawyer.18
Three lawyers voluntarily surrendered their licenses because theypled guilty to felonies. One pled guilty to four counts of forgery.19 Another admitted that he violated federal law against bringing in or harboring aliens.20 The third entered a guilty plea to bank and wire fraud in connection with a real estate transaction for which he acted as the closing attorney.21
The court disbarred three lawyers because they had been disbarred in other states. One had lost his license in Florida because of improper withdrawals from bis trust account and because he inappropriately certified that bis trust account was in compliance with the rules.22 Another was disbarred, also in Florida, because she did not cease practicing law after she had been suspended indefinitely.23 The third lost her license in the District of Columbia because she filed a fraudulent voucher seeking payment for services she had not rendered to an indigent client.24
Finally, five lawyers were disbarred for other reasons. One had a significant history of prior discipline and bed to two clients when he told
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them that default judgments had not been entered in their cases; the lawyer's response to the complaint contained a forged signature for the notary.25 Another was disbarred after being suspended for failing to pay bar dues and not fulfilling continuing legal education requirements, but nevertheless representing a client in a real estate transaction.26 Yet another lawyer created and introduced false evidence at a trial in support of her own personal injury claim.27 Finally, the court disbarred two lawyers with no prior disciplinary history after more than a decade of litigation because the lawyers used "runners" to obtain business.28 Justice Melton and Justice Hines dissented in that case because disbarment was too severe a punishment in light of the punishment given in similar cases.29
B. Suspensions
The supreme court unanimously issued indefinite or lengthy suspensions in three cases. One lawyer who had experienced unspecified personal or emotional problems was suspended indefinitely for abandoning a client.30 The court imposed as conditions of reinstatement that the lawyer pay restitution to the client and obtain a certification that the lawyer is mentally competent to practice law.31 Another was suspended for five years as reciprocal discipline after he was suspended for that time in North Carolina for assisting in mortgage fraud and for intentionally misleading the courts.32 One lawyer closed her law firm without telling her clients and submitted false information in letters to the bar about clients whose claims were apparently handled by non-lawyers who purported to act on behalf of the closed firm. She was suspended for three years and may be reinstated only if she obtains a certification from a licensed social worker and a finding from the Review Panel that she is competent to practice law.33
Another lawyer received a three-year suspension, with reinstatement conditioned upon a certification that no physical impairment impedes his ability to practice law,34 over the dissent of three Justices.35 In one
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matter, the lawyer failed to send a client his file after the representation ended and falsely told the Investigative Panel that he had done so. In another matter, the lawyer was appointed to serve as appellate counsel in a criminal case but did not order the transcript or work on the appeal before lying to the Office of General Counsel about it or before a formal complaint was filed. The lawyer submitted letters of support and some evidence of health issues but also had a prior disciplinary history.36 Although the special master recommended a one-year suspension, a bare majority of the supreme court issued the three-year suspension.37 The dissent emphasized that the lawyer had been untrathful with the Investigative Panel and the Office of General Counsel, and it noted the lack of any substantial evidence of a physical impairment.38 The three dissenting justices would have disbarred the lawyer.39
The court issued suspensions of between one and three years in five cases, one of which has already been discussed in the previous paragraph. One lawyer was suspended for eighteen months because she had a prior disciplinary history and had entered into a fee-splitting relationship with a non-lawyer and then lied about it to the Office of General Counsel.40 Another lawyer pled guilty to the felony of aggravated assault but avoided disbarment, receiving instead a suspension of approximately seventeen months, because he had no disciplinary history and because he affirmatively sought and received extensive treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol abuse.41 The court suspended a lawyer for eighteen months because the lawyer withdrew from representing a client, did not refund the client's money, kept the file, and did not keep a proper accounting of her trust account; the court described her conduct as "inexcusable" and her attitude toward the disciplinary process as "cavalier."42 Finally, a lawyer received an eighteen-month suspension for "wholesale abandonment" of a client who suffered an adverse judgment as a result of the lawyer's failure to appear in court or communicate with the client.43
The court suspended three lawyers for one year. One was a solo bankruptcy practitioner who neither investigated when a client's property was scheduled for foreclosure nor filed a bankruptcy petition to
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stop the sale.44 Another had been suspended for one year in North Carolina for representing clients with adverse interests and received the same discipline in Georgia.45 The court suspended the third lawyer because he borrowed a client's money from his trust account twice and on several occasions took money that was not his from a joint account with the same client.46 Because the client was...
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