In the Matter of Melvin Raines, II

Melvin Raines, II, a Georgia lawyer since 2006, was accused of misconduct in three separate client matters. In one, a mother paid him $5,000 she thought would go toward a plea deal for her son; instead Raines deposited it into his trust account and spent it on himself, then lied to her about where the money went before eventually repaying it in cash months later. In the other two matters, Raines repeatedly failed to appear in court, missed deadlines, and ignored his clients' attempts to reach him, leading judges to remove him from cases and hold him in contempt. Raines did not answer the State Bar's complaints in time, so the facts were treated as admitted by default. A Special Master and the State Disciplinary Review Board both recommended disbarment. Raines asked for a lesser punishment like a public reprimand, arguing disbarment was too harsh, but the Supreme Court of Georgia agreed with the recommendation and ordered him removed from the practice of law.

The court held that disbarment is the appropriate sanction for an attorney who converted a client's funds for personal use, lied about the funds' status, and repeatedly failed to communicate with or appear for clients, because these violations involve dishonesty and mishandling of client property, among the most serious forms of attorney misconduct.

Clients who hand lawyers money for fees or settlements can trust that Georgia's disciplinary system treats misuse of that money as serious misconduct warranting the harshest sanction. The ruling also signals that chronic failure to show up in court or communicate with clients, especially vulnerable, incarcerated clients, can end a legal career.

Disbarred

1. Because Raines failed to timely answer the State Bar's formal complaints, the factual allegations against him were deemed admitted by default, so the Special Master and the court treated those facts as established.
2. The court applied the ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, a framework that weighs the duty violated, the lawyer's mental state, the injury caused, and any aggravating or mitigating factors, to decide the right punishment.
3. Applying that framework, the court found Raines knowingly converted a client's $5,000 for personal use, knowingly failed to appear in court and communicate with clients, and caused real harm, including a client's distress and delayed trials.
4. Aggravating factors, such as a dishonest motive, multiple offenses, refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing, vulnerable incarcerated clients, and Raines's years of experience, outweighed the limited mitigating factors of no prior discipline and cooperation in the proceedings.
5. The court found that mishandling client trust account funds combined with dishonest conduct toward a client are among the most serious types of misconduct a lawyer can commit, matching the outcome in prior Georgia disbarment cases involving similar violations.
6. Because disbarment was consistent with how the court has handled comparable trust-account and communication violations in past cases, the court adopted the Special Master's and Review Board's recommendation without modification.

• attorney disbarment
• State Bar of Georgia
• client trust account
• misuse of client funds
• default judgment