In the Matter of Stephen Dana Morrison, Jr

Stephen Dana Morrison, Jr., a Georgia attorney since 1993, represented two clients in a personal injury case who later died. He settled their claims for $27,500 in January 2020 and deposited the money into his trust account, but never checked whether Medicare had a claim on the funds and never paid the money to the clients' estates. Instead, while dealing with mental and emotional struggles, he used the money for himself. After the State Bar of Georgia filed a formal complaint, Morrison asked to voluntarily give up his law license rather than fight the charges. A Special Master reviewed the case, found the misconduct serious enough to warrant disbarment, and recommended the court accept Morrison's surrender, though he also suggested requiring repayment as a condition of any future readmission. The Supreme Court of Georgia agreed to accept the surrender, treating it as equivalent to disbarment, but declined to add the repayment condition because the rules do not allow stricter conditions than a lawyer requests.

The court held that Morrison's admitted violations of the trust accounting rules, converting client settlement funds for personal use and failing to maintain proper trust account records, warranted accepting his voluntary surrender of license, which is treated as equivalent to disbarment.

The decision permanently removes an attorney who admitted misusing client trust funds from practicing law in Georgia, protecting future clients from similar harm. It also confirms that restitution to harmed clients, while not a required condition here, can still be weighed if the attorney ever seeks readmission.

Voluntary surrender of license accepted

1. The Special Master applied the ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, a framework courts use to decide discipline by weighing the duty violated, the lawyer's mental state, the harm caused, and any aggravating or mitigating factors.
2. Applying that framework, the Special Master found Morrison violated a duty to his clients, acted knowingly and intentionally, and caused serious injury, while also finding aggravating factors like a selfish motive and a pattern of misrepresentations about the funds.
3. Based on ABA standards providing that disbarment is generally appropriate when a lawyer knowingly converts client property or engages in dishonest conduct, the Special Master concluded disbarment-level discipline was warranted, making voluntary surrender an acceptable resolution.
4. The court noted that even though Morrison did not admit to a separate dishonesty rule violation the State Bar alleged, this did not matter because his voluntary surrender is already equivalent to disbarment, the maximum possible penalty, so addressing the extra charge could not increase his punishment.
5. The court declined to add the Special Master's suggested restitution condition for future readmission, explaining that Georgia's professional conduct rules do not let the court impose conditions on a voluntary surrender that are stricter than what the attorney requested.

• attorney discipline
• license surrender
• trust account violations
• client fund misuse
• State Bar of Georgia