In the Matter of Donald Francis Hawbaker

Donald Francis Hawbaker, a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 2013, pleaded guilty in Spalding County Superior Court to five felony counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer after he refused to leave his home when deputies arrived to arrest him on lesser charges and instead opened fire on them. He was sentenced to 20 years on each count, to serve 10, running concurrently. After the State Bar asked the Supreme Court of Georgia to appoint a special master, Hawbaker submitted a petition to voluntarily surrender his law license rather than face a full disciplinary trial. The special master recommended accepting the petition, finding that letting someone with such serious felony convictions keep practicing law would damage public trust in the legal profession. The Supreme Court of Georgia agreed, noting Hawbaker never expressed remorse or acknowledged the harm he caused, and it approved the surrender, which functions as disbarment.

The court held that voluntary surrender of a law license following felony convictions for violence against peace officers is appropriate and equivalent to disbarment, particularly where the attorney showed no remorse or acknowledgment of wrongdoing and the mitigating evidence did not justify a lesser penalty.

The decision removes a convicted felon from Georgia's list of licensed attorneys, protecting clients and the public from being represented by someone convicted of violently assaulting law enforcement officers, and reinforces that felony violence typically ends a lawyer's career in Georgia.

Voluntary surrender of license accepted, tantamount to disbarment

1. Under Rule 8.4(a)(2) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, a felony conviction is itself a violation subject to the maximum penalty of disbarment, so Hawbaker's five felony convictions triggered potential discipline.
2. The court considered whether mitigating factors could justify a lesser penalty than disbarment, noting that disbarment is the typical punishment for violent felonies but is not automatically required if circumstances are sufficiently mitigating.
3. Weighing the mitigation, the court found that although Hawbaker cooperated with the disciplinary process and had no prior disciplinary record, he never acknowledged the wrongfulness of his conduct, expressed remorse, or admitted harm to the legal profession, so the mitigation was insufficient to reduce the penalty.
4. The court compared the case to prior Georgia attorney discipline cases involving aggravated assault and even murder convictions, where voluntary surrender or disbarment was accepted, and found this case consistent with that pattern.
5. Because the special master's recommendation aligned with precedent and no party objected, the court accepted the petition for voluntary surrender, which under GRPC Rule 1.0(r) is treated the same as disbarment.

• attorney disbarment
• aggravated assault conviction
• voluntary surrender of law license
• State Bar of Georgia
• felony conviction