In the Matter of Nathan E. Hardwick IV

Nathan E. Hardwick IV, a Georgia lawyer since 1991, had already been suspended from practicing law after a federal court convicted him of numerous felony financial fraud crimes. Those convictions were later affirmed on appeal by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Rather than face formal disciplinary proceedings, Hardwick asked the Supreme Court of Georgia to accept the voluntary surrender of his law license. The State Bar of Georgia supported his request. The court agreed that accepting the surrender, which counts the same as disbarment, served the best interests of the legal profession and the public and matched how the court had handled similar cases involving lawyers convicted of felonies. The court removed Hardwick's name from the rolls of attorneys allowed to practice law in Georgia.

A felony conviction violates the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct's rule against criminal acts reflecting adversely on a lawyer's fitness, and disbarment is the maximum penalty; here, voluntary surrender of license, treated as equivalent to disbarment, was accepted as appropriate given Hardwick's affirmed federal fraud convictions.

The decision permanently removes a lawyer convicted of financial fraud felonies from the practice of law in Georgia, protecting clients and the public from further harm and reinforcing that felony convictions carry disbarment consequences for attorneys statewide.

Voluntary surrender of license accepted; name removed from rolls

1. A felony conviction automatically counts as a violation of Rule 8.4 (a) (2) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, which bars lawyers from committing criminal acts that reflect adversely on their honesty or fitness to practice law.
2. The maximum penalty for that rule violation is disbarment, so the court measured Hardwick's request against that baseline.
3. Hardwick's federal fraud convictions had already led to his suspension, and those convictions were affirmed on appeal, removing any doubt about their finality.
4. The State Bar of Georgia asked the court to accept Hardwick's petition, and the court found that accepting a voluntary surrender, which is treated the same as disbarment, matched how it had resolved similar past cases involving convicted lawyers.
5. Based on that consistency and the interests of the Bar and the public, the court granted the petition and struck Hardwick's name from the list of lawyers allowed to practice in Georgia.

• attorney disbarment
• voluntary surrender of license
• financial fraud conviction
• State Bar of Georgia