--- title: In the Matter of Gregory Bartko collection: opinions id: S21Z0853 cite_as: In the Matter of Gregory Bartko, 312 Ga. 630 (2021) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Z0853 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Z0853.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Z0853/text source_url: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10367690/in-the-matter-of-gregory-bartko/ date: 2021-10-05 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/S21Y1269.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21A0970.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/index.md omitted: opinion extras omitted_chars: 1680 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Z0853.md?full=1 docket: S21Z0853 citation: 312 Ga. 630 court: Supreme Court of Georgia case_type: bar discipline authoring_justice: Per Curiam disposition: Denial of waiver affirmed vote: All the Justices concur word_count: 446 date_filed_source: courtlistener citations: - 864 S.E.2d 39 record_source: courtlistener legal_areas: - professional discipline - bar admission upstream_id: "10367690" summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 --- # In the Matter of Gregory Bartko Supreme Court of Georgia, docket S21Z0853, filed 2021-10-05, 312 Ga. 630. ## Opinion 312 Ga. 630 FINAL COPY S21Z0853. IN THE MATTER OF GREGORY BARTKO. PER CURIAM. Gregory Bartko appeals the decision of the Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants (“Board”) denying his petition for a waiver of its policies regarding character and fitness applications and administratively withdrawing his application. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the Board’s decision. The record shows that Bartko was first licensed to practice law in Georgia in 1995. In 2014, Bartko voluntarily surrendered his license to practice law, which is functionally equivalent to disbarment, after he was found guilty of federal charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, and selling of unregistered securities. He was sentenced to 272 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $885,946.89 in restitution. The conviction was affirmed on appeal. See generally In the Matter of Bartko, 295 Ga. 862 (764 SE2d 553) (2014). In December 2020, while temporarily moved to home confinement under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), Bartko filed his application for certification of fitness to practice law. In his application, Bartko acknowledged that he has approximately ten years remaining of his original prison sentence. The record also shows that he has paid virtually none of the restitution. Bartko later petitioned the Board to waive application of its policy of not considering applications from currently incarcerated individuals until after the applicant’s sentence is completed. Though he is out of prison, Bartko is still serving his sentence of incarceration at home under the CARES Act. The Board denied the petition, explaining that Bartko had not shown sufficient cause to warrant any waiver of the policies. The Board’s purpose is to protect the public from unfit lawyers. See In the Matter of Huddleston, 297 Ga. 726, 730 (777 SE2d 438) (2015). Permitting someone to practice law while serving a prison sentence would undermine the public’s trust in the legal profession. See In the Matter of Stoner, 246 Ga. 581 (272 SE2d 313) (1980) (“[T]he appearance of a convicted attorney continuing to practice does more to disrupt public confidence in the legal profession than any other disciplinary problem.”). Bartko is still serving a lengthy sentence for serious offenses, including fraud, and he has made little progress toward satisfying his obligation to pay restitution. Consequently, we affirm the Board’s decision denying the waiver. Denial of waiver affirmed. All the Justices concur. Decided October 5, 2021. Certification of fitness to practice law. Heidi M. Faenza, Rebecca S. Mick, for Office of Bar Admissions. Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Bryan K. Webb, Deputy Attorney General, Russell D. Willard, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Lee M. Stoy, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, for Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants. ## 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 upheld a decision denying disbarred attorney Gregory Bartko a waiver that would have let him seek certification to practice law while still serving a federal prison sentence at home. ### Plain-language summary Gregory Bartko was a Georgia lawyer who surrendered his law license in 2014 after being convicted of federal fraud and securities crimes, receiving a 272-month prison sentence and owing nearly $886,000 in restitution. While temporarily on home confinement under the federal CARES Act in late 2020, he applied to the Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants for certification of fitness to practice law again, and asked the Board to waive its rule against considering applications from people still serving a criminal sentence. The Board denied the waiver, and Bartko appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia. The court had to decide whether the Board was right to refuse an exception to its policy given that Bartko still had roughly ten years left on his sentence and had paid almost none of the restitution he owed. The court agreed with the Board and affirmed its decision. ### Holding, as summarized The Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants properly denied Bartko a waiver of its policy against considering fitness applications from individuals still serving a criminal sentence, because he remained under a lengthy sentence for serious fraud offenses and had paid almost none of his restitution. ### Disposition Denial of waiver affirmed. All the Justices concur. ### Why it matters The ruling reinforces that Georgia will not let people still serving criminal sentences, even from home confinement, seek reinstatement to practice law, protecting public trust in the legal profession and signaling to other disbarred attorneys that unpaid restitution and incomplete sentences weigh heavily against readmission. > The summarized reasoning, checked quotes, suggested questions, and the CourtListener opinion records (1,680 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21Z0853.md?full=1