--- title: In the Matter of Donald Richard Donovan collection: opinions id: S22Y0549 cite_as: In the Matter of Donald Richard Donovan, 313 Ga. 557 (2022) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S22Y0549 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S22Y0549.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S22Y0549/text source_url: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10679921/in-the-matter-of-donald-richard-donovan/ date: 2022-03-22 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/2022.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S21G0112.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S22Y0606.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/index.md omitted: opinion extras omitted_chars: 1678 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S22Y0549.md?full=1 docket: S22Y0549 citation: 313 Ga. 557 court: Supreme Court of Georgia case_type: bar discipline authoring_justice: Per Curiam disposition: Voluntary surrender of license accepted vote: All the Justices concur word_count: 402 date_filed_source: courtlistener citations: - 871 S.E.2d 282 record_source: courtlistener legal_areas: - professional discipline - criminal law upstream_id: "10679921" summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 --- # In the Matter of Donald Richard Donovan Supreme Court of Georgia, docket S22Y0549, filed 2022-03-22, 313 Ga. 557. ## Opinion 313 Ga. 557 FINAL COPY S22Y0549. IN THE MATTER OF DONALD RICHARD DONOVAN. PER CURIAM. Donald Richard Donovan (State Bar No. 225762), who was admitted to the State Bar in 1979, has submitted a petition for voluntary surrender of his law license. See Bar Rule 4-227 (b) (2). While serving as the District Attorney for Paulding County, Donovan was indicted on five felony counts, including allegations of bribery and false swearing. On January 6, 2022, Donovan pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of one misdemeanor count of unprofessional conduct pursuant to the First Offender Act. See OCGA § 42-8-60 (a). In connection with that plea, he admitted that he knowingly made false statements in an affidavit he prepared in response to a sexual harassment complaint filed against him. Donovan was sentenced to 12 months on probation. One of the conditions of his sentence is that he surrender his law license. Accordingly, he has petitioned this Court for a voluntary surrender of his license. Donovan admits that, by his actions, he is in violation of Rule 8.4 (a) (3) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct (“GRPC”) found in Bar Rule 4-102 (d). The maximum penalty for this violation is disbarment. See GRPC 8.4 (d); see also GRPC 8.4 (b) (2) (imposition of first offender probation constitutes conviction). He also acknowledges that the surrender of his license is tantamount to disbarment. See GRPC 1.0 (r). The State Bar has filed a response, asking the Court to accept the petition because Donovan’s misconduct warrants disbarment. See, e.g., In the Matter of Rogan, 309 Ga. 583, 583 (847 SE2d 308) (2020) (accepting petition for voluntary surrender of license by lawyer who entered nolo contendere plea under First Offender Act to obstruction of officers). Having reviewed the petition and response, we agree to accept Donovan’s petition for voluntary surrender of his license. Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that the name of Donald Richard Donovan be removed from the rolls of persons authorized to practice law in the State of Georgia. Donovan is reminded of his duties pursuant to Bar Rule 4-219 (b). Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. Decided March 22, 2022. 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. Lawrence J. Zimmerman, for Donovan. ## 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 former Paulding County district attorney's petition to voluntarily give up his law license after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for lying in a sworn statement about a sexual harassment complaint. ### Plain-language summary Donald Richard Donovan, a lawyer admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1979 who was serving as the District Attorney for Paulding County, was indicted on five felony counts including bribery and false swearing. He later pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of unprofessional conduct under Georgia's First Offender Act, admitting he knowingly made false statements in an affidavit he prepared responding to a sexual harassment complaint against him. As part of his probation sentence, Donovan was required to surrender his law license. He asked the Supreme Court of Georgia to accept his voluntary surrender, admitting the conduct violated the state's rules of professional conduct and that surrender is the same as disbarment. The State Bar agreed his misconduct warranted disbarment. The court reviewed both filings and accepted the surrender, removing his name from the rolls of lawyers allowed to practice in Georgia. ### Holding, as summarized The court held that voluntary surrender of a law license, which is treated as equivalent to disbarment, was warranted given Donovan's admitted false statements in a sworn affidavit, and it accepted his petition, ordering his name removed from the rolls of Georgia lawyers. ### Disposition Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. ### Why it matters The decision permanently ends Donovan's ability to practice law in Georgia, reinforcing that lying under oath and misconduct by public officials who are also lawyers can cost them their license, and signaling to other attorneys that criminal misconduct tied to their office carries professional consequences. > The summarized reasoning, checked quotes, suggested questions, and the CourtListener opinion records (1,678 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S22Y0549.md?full=1