--- title: In the Matter of Evelyn A. Miller collection: opinions id: S21Y0672 cite_as: In the Matter of Evelyn A. Miller, 311 Ga. 81 (2021) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Y0672 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Y0672.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Y0672/text source_url: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10367854/in-the-matter-of-evelyn-a-miller/ date: 2021-03-01 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/2021.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Y0357.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Y0582.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/index.md omitted: opinion extras omitted_chars: 1599 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Y0672.md?full=1 docket: S21Y0672 citation: 311 Ga. 81 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: 668 date_filed_source: courtlistener citations: - 855 S.E.2d 628 record_source: courtlistener legal_areas: - professional discipline upstream_id: "10367854" summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 --- # In the Matter of Evelyn A. Miller Supreme Court of Georgia, docket S21Y0672, filed 2021-03-01, 311 Ga. 81. ## Opinion 311 Ga. 81 FINAL COPY S21Y0672. IN THE MATTER OF EVELYN ANN MILLER. PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on a petition for voluntary discipline filed by respondent Evelyn Ann Miller (State Bar No. 506579) before the initiation of an action for reciprocal discipline. See Rule 9.4 (b) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, found in Bar Rule 4-102 (d); see also Bar Rule 4-227 (b). In her petition, Miller requests that this Court accept her petition for the voluntary surrender of her license to practice law, which she acknowledges is tantamount to disbarment. In its response, the Bar urges the Court to accept Miller’s petition. Miller, who has been a member of the Bar since 2002, admits that she had been licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia; that, on October 2, 2020, the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board entered an order accepting her consent to the revocation of her license to practice law in Virginia; that she notified the Bar in Georgia of the action taken against her license in Virginia, as required by Georgia Rule of Professional Conduct 9.4 (b); and that she is subject to the imposition of substantially similar discipline in Georgia. See Rule 9.4 (b) (3). With regard to the wrongdoing that resulted in the discipline imposed in Virginia, Miller explained that, from 2015 to September 2018, she was employed by Monarch Title Agency and that her primary role there was conducting or managing live settlements. Also, during the same time frame, Miller had her own law firm, for which she maintained two checking accounts. Miller admitted that, in 2017, she was the settlement agent and/or supervisor of junior settlement agents for six settlements in which funds were required to be held in escrow for an extended period post-settlement. The total amount of escrowed funds across the six transactions was more than $250,000. In each such settlement, the affected customers directed Monarch to forward the funds for long-term escrowing. Instead of holding these funds in a designated escrow account, these funds were wired directly from Monarch to the checking account associated with Miller’s law firm. Miller states that for four of the six transactions, some or all of the funds that were supposed to be held in an escrow account were spent. She asserts, however, that all the funds identified by the Virginia State Bar that should have been held in escrow, but were instead transferred to her law firm checking account, have now been repaid. She further maintains that she has terminated her signature authority of the co-signer on her law firm’s bank accounts. Based on the above, Miller requests that she be allowed to voluntarily surrender her license to practice law in Georgia. In its response, the Bar notes that Miller’s petition contains admissions of fact and conduct sufficient to authorize the imposition of the discipline she has requested and that the conduct she admitted in the Virginia disciplinary proceedings would violate Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct 1.15 (I) (a) and 1.15 (II) (b). Thus, the Bar asserts that it would be in the best interest of the public and the profession for this Court to accept Miller’s petition for voluntary discipline and allow her to surrender her license to practice law in Georgia. Having reviewed the record, we agree to accept Miller’s petition for voluntary discipline and to allow her to voluntarily surrender her license to practice law in Georgia, an action which is tantamount to disbarment. Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that the name of Evelyn Ann Miller be removed from the rolls of persons authorized to practice law in the State of Georgia. Miller is reminded of her duties pursuant to Bar Rule 4-219 (b). Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. Decided March 1, 2021. Voluntary surrender of license. Paula J. Frederick, General Counsel State Bar, William D. NeSmith III, Deputy General Counsel State Bar, Jenny K. Mittelman, 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 an attorney's request to give up her law license after she admitted diverting more than $250,000 in escrow funds meant for real estate settlement clients, discipline that mirrors sanctions already imposed in Virginia. ### Plain-language summary Evelyn Ann Miller, a Georgia attorney also licensed in Virginia, worked handling real estate closings for a title agency while running her own law firm. She admitted that in 2017, funds from six settlements totaling more than $250,000 were supposed to be held in escrow for clients long-term, but instead were wired directly into her law firm's checking account, and that money from four of those six transactions was spent rather than kept safe. After Virginia's bar disciplinary board accepted her consent to revoke her Virginia law license, Miller notified the State Bar of Georgia and asked the Supreme Court of Georgia to let her voluntarily surrender her Georgia license rather than face a formal disciplinary case. She said all the misused escrow funds have since been repaid. The State Bar supported her request, and the court agreed, treating the surrender as equivalent to disbarment. ### Holding, as summarized The court accepted Miller's petition for voluntary discipline and allowed her to surrender her law license, an action treated as equivalent to disbarment, because her admitted conduct in diverting and spending escrow funds would violate Georgia's rules on safekeeping client property and she faced substantially similar discipline already imposed in Virginia. ### Disposition Voluntary surrender of license accepted (tantamount to disbarment). All the Justices concur. ### Why it matters Clients and title companies who trust attorneys to safeguard escrow money can see how Georgia disciplines lawyers who misuse those funds, even when the misconduct occurred through reciprocal discipline from another state, reinforcing accountability for lawyers handling real estate settlement funds. > The summarized reasoning, checked quotes, suggested questions, and the CourtListener opinion records (1,599 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Y0672.md?full=1