In the Matter of Richard M. Colbert

Richard M. Colbert, a lawyer admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1986, pleaded guilty in December 2016 to 13 federal felony counts in a Florida federal court. Florida's bar responded by revoking his license there, a step Florida treats as equivalent to disbarment. Colbert never told the Georgia State Bar about his convictions or the Florida revocation, and Georgia only learned of it in July 2019, after which the Bar asked him to formally surrender his Georgia license. Colbert admitted he had violated Georgia's rules requiring honesty (barring criminal acts reflecting on fitness to practice) and requiring him to notify the Bar of discipline elsewhere, and that the likely punishment would be disbarment either way. The Supreme Court of Georgia reviewed his surrender petition and the Bar's response and agreed to accept it, removing him from the rolls of lawyers allowed to practice in Georgia.

The court held that Colbert's voluntary surrender of his Georgia law license, given his federal felony convictions and failure to notify the Bar as required, is appropriate and is treated as equivalent to disbarment under the Bar's rules.

The decision removes a felony-convicted lawyer from Georgia's list of licensed attorneys, protecting clients and the public from someone whose federal convictions and failure to self-report already led another state to revoke his license.

Voluntary surrender of license accepted, tantamount to disbarment

1. Colbert admitted his federal felony convictions violated Georgia Rule 8.4(a)(2), which bars lawyers from committing criminal acts reflecting adversely on their fitness to practice law, a rule that can carry disbarment as its maximum penalty.
2. He also admitted violating Rule 9.1, which requires lawyers to notify the State Bar when they are disciplined in another jurisdiction, because he failed to tell Georgia about his Florida revocation.
3. Because Florida had already revoked his license in a manner equivalent to disbarment, reciprocal discipline under Rule 9.4, which lets Georgia impose similar punishment for out-of-state discipline, would also point to disbarment.
4. Given these admissions and the State Bar's response asking the court to accept the petition, the court agreed that voluntary surrender of his license was warranted and treated it as equivalent to disbarment under Bar Rule 1.0(r).

• attorney disbarment
• voluntary license surrender
• federal felony conviction
• State Bar of Georgia
• reciprocal discipline