--- title: In the Matter of Richard M. Colbert collection: opinions id: S19Y1650 cite_as: In the Matter of Richard M. Colbert, 307 Ga. 675 (2020) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S19Y1650 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S19Y1650.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S19Y1650/text source_url: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10367622/in-the-matter-of-richard-m-colbert/ date: 2020-01-13 status: published corpus_version: opinions-2026-09-14 license: Public record of the Supreme Court of Georgia, via CourtListener and the court's own website; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/2020.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S19A1641.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S20Y0434.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/index.md omitted: opinion extras omitted_chars: 1312 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S19Y1650.md?full=1 docket: S19Y1650 citation: 307 Ga. 675 court: Supreme Court of Georgia case_type: bar discipline authoring_justice: Per Curiam disposition: Voluntary surrender of license accepted, tantamount to disbarment vote: All the Justices concur word_count: 372 date_filed_source: courtlistener citations: - 837 S.E.2d 761 record_source: courtlistener legal_areas: - professional discipline upstream_id: "10367622" summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 --- # In the Matter of Richard M. Colbert Supreme Court of Georgia, docket S19Y1650, filed 2020-01-13, 307 Ga. 675. ## Opinion 307 Ga. 675 FINAL COPY S19Y1650. IN THE MATTER OF RICHARD M. COLBERT. PER CURIAM. Richard M. Colbert (State Bar No. 176530), who was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1986, has filed a petition for voluntary surrender of his license, stating that he is currently incarcerated in federal prison as a consequence of his December 2016 guilty plea to 13 felony counts in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. He states that he notified the Florida Bar of the convictions; that the Florida Bar granted his petition for disciplinary revocation, which is tantamount to disbarment; that he failed to notify the State Bar; and that the State Bar notified him in July 2019 that it had become aware of his convictions and Florida revocation and requested that he submit this petition. He acknowledges that because of his convictions and failure to notify the Bar of them, he is in violation of Rules 8.4 (a) (2) and 9.1 of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, found in Bar Rule 4-102 (d). The maximum sanction for a violation of Rule 8.4 (a) (2) is disbarment and for 9.1 is a public reprimand. He also states that he is subject to reciprocal discipline under Rule 9.4 and that imposition of substantially similar discipline would be disbarment. Finally, he acknowledges that the voluntary surrender of his license is tantamount to disbarment. See Bar Rule 1.0 (r). The State Bar has filed a response, asking the Court to accept the petition. Having reviewed the petition and response, we agree to accept Colbert’s petition for voluntary surrender of his license, which is tantamount to disbarment. See Bar Rule 1.0 (r). Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that the name of Richard M. Colbert be removed from the rolls of persons authorized to practice law in the State of Georgia. Colbert is reminded of his duties pursuant to Bar Rule 4- 219 (b). Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. DECIDED JANUARY 13, 2020. Voluntary surrender of license. Paula J. Frederick, General Counsel State Bar, William D. NeSmith III, Deputy General Counsel State Bar, Jenny K. Mittelman, James S. Lewis, Assistant General Counsel State Bar, for State Bar of Georgia. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the opinion above and is not part of the court's opinion. Quote the opinion, not the summary. The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted a Florida-convicted lawyer's request to give up his Georgia law license, a move the court treats as equivalent to disbarment. ### Plain-language summary Richard M. Colbert, a lawyer admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1986, pleaded guilty in December 2016 to 13 federal felony counts in a Florida federal court. Florida's bar responded by revoking his license there, a step Florida treats as equivalent to disbarment. Colbert never told the Georgia State Bar about his convictions or the Florida revocation, and Georgia only learned of it in July 2019, after which the Bar asked him to formally surrender his Georgia license. Colbert admitted he had violated Georgia's rules requiring honesty (barring criminal acts reflecting on fitness to practice) and requiring him to notify the Bar of discipline elsewhere, and that the likely punishment would be disbarment either way. The Supreme Court of Georgia reviewed his surrender petition and the Bar's response and agreed to accept it, removing him from the rolls of lawyers allowed to practice in Georgia. ### Holding, as summarized The court held that Colbert's voluntary surrender of his Georgia law license, given his federal felony convictions and failure to notify the Bar as required, is appropriate and is treated as equivalent to disbarment under the Bar's rules. ### Disposition Voluntary surrender of license accepted, tantamount to disbarment. All the Justices concur. ### Why it matters The decision removes a felony-convicted lawyer from Georgia's list of licensed attorneys, protecting clients and the public from someone whose federal convictions and failure to self-report already led another state to revoke his license. > The summarized reasoning, checked quotes, suggested questions, and the CourtListener opinion records (1,312 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S19Y1650.md?full=1