In the Matter of Timothy Michael Orange

Timothy Michael Orange, a member of the State Bar of Georgia since October 2022, entered an Alford plea (a guilty plea in which a defendant accepts conviction while not admitting to the underlying facts) to one count of theft by taking. A court sentenced him to 10 years of probation, fines, and more than $67,000 in restitution. Because a felony conviction violates the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, the State Bar began disciplinary proceedings against him. After a hearing, Orange asked to voluntarily surrender his law license rather than continue fighting the case, and he wanted this to resolve two other pending disciplinary matters as well. A Special Master reviewed the situation and recommended the Supreme Court of Georgia accept his request. The court agreed, and Orange's name will be removed from the rolls of lawyers licensed to practice in Georgia.

The court accepted Orange's Petition for Voluntary Surrender of License because his felony guilty plea conviction for theft by taking violated Rule 8.4(a)(2) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, and this surrender is treated as equivalent to disbarment.

The decision removes a lawyer with a felony theft conviction from Georgia's list of licensed attorneys, protecting future clients from potential harm. It also shows how the State Bar and the Supreme Court of Georgia handle felony convictions among attorneys, typically treating voluntary surrender as equivalent to disbarment.

Voluntary surrender of license accepted (equivalent to disbarment)

1. Georgia's professional conduct rules (Rule 8.4(a)(2)) make it a disciplinary violation for a lawyer to be convicted of a felony, with disbarment as the maximum possible penalty.
2. Orange's Alford plea to felony theft by taking counted as a conviction under this rule, triggering the State Bar's disciplinary process under Bar Rule 4-106 after he was given a chance to explain why discipline should not follow.
3. Orange responded by filing a Petition for Voluntary Surrender of License, admitting the rule violation and asking to resolve this matter along with two other pending disciplinary cases at once.
4. The Special Master, after reviewing the record and the Bar's own recommendation to accept the petition, recommended that the Supreme Court of Georgia approve the surrender.
5. The court reviewed the record itself, found the outcome consistent with how it has resolved similar felony-conviction cases before, and accepted the petition, which under the court's rules counts as the same thing as disbarment.

• attorney disbarment
• voluntary surrender of license
• felony guilty plea
• State Bar of Georgia