In the Matter of William D. Thompson, Jr

William D. Thompson, Jr., a Georgia lawyer, was suspended for one year in Florida for mismanaging his trust account, including improperly transferring at least $27,000 in client funds to his own accounts. After Thompson's first request to have Georgia impose matching discipline was rejected for missing key information, he filed an amended petition explaining which Georgia ethics rules his conduct violated, showing he had completed his Florida suspension and was in compliance with his Florida probation, and asking that Georgia's suspension count retroactively from the date his Florida suspension began. The State Bar of Georgia supported the amended petition. The Supreme Court of Georgia had to decide whether Thompson's fixed-up petition now met the requirements for reciprocal discipline and whether a one-year suspension, backdated to when his Florida suspension started, was the right punishment. The court agreed, accepted the petition, and suspended Thompson for one year effective retroactively, though he remains separately suspended for failing to pay his bar license fee.

The court held that Thompson's amended petition adequately established that a one-year suspension, without an added probationary period (which Georgia's rules do not provide for), is substantially similar to his Florida discipline, and that the suspension should be imposed retroactively to the date his Florida suspension began.

The decision shows how Georgia handles lawyers disciplined in other states, ensuring out-of-state misconduct involving client trust funds carries consequences here too. It also illustrates that Georgia will backdate suspensions to avoid double-punishing lawyers who already served equivalent discipline elsewhere.

Amended petition accepted; one-year suspension imposed nunc pro tunc

1. The court first noted that Thompson's original petition had been rejected for failing to identify which Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct (the state's ethics rules) his conduct violated and for other missing information, and it assessed whether the amended petition fixed those defects.
2. The court found Thompson's amended petition now identified the specific Georgia ethics rules his Florida misconduct would violate, including rules on safekeeping client trust funds, and included the missing Florida disciplinary documents.
3. Applying its rule for reciprocal discipline (Rule 9.4), which lets Georgia impose punishment matching discipline from another state's bar, the court looked at precedent holding that when another state adds a probation period Georgia's rules do not provide for, Georgia can still impose a matching suspension without extending it to cover that probation.
4. Because Thompson had already completed his one-year Florida suspension and shown compliance with his ongoing Florida probation terms, the court concluded a one-year Georgia suspension, without added probation time, was substantially similar discipline.
5. The court then applied its practice of backdating suspensions (nunc pro tunc) to when a lawyer actually stopped practicing under discipline, and concluded backdating to the start of Thompson's Florida suspension was appropriate since he was not practicing in Georgia at the time of his misconduct.

• attorney suspension
• reciprocal discipline
• trust account mismanagement
• State Bar of Georgia
• Florida Bar