--- title: In the Matter of Nathan E. Hardwick IV collection: opinions id: S23Y0502 cite_as: In the Matter of Nathan E. Hardwick IV, 315 Ga. 840 (2023) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S23Y0502 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S23Y0502.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S23Y0502/text source_url: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10680143/in-the-matter-of-nathan-e-hardwick-iv/ date: 2023-03-07 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/2023.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S22A1116.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S23Y0201.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/index.md omitted: opinion extras omitted_chars: 1390 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S23Y0502.md?full=1 docket: S23Y0502 citation: 315 Ga. 840 court: Supreme Court of Georgia case_type: bar discipline authoring_justice: Per Curiam disposition: Voluntary surrender of license accepted; name removed from rolls vote: All the Justices concur word_count: 340 date_filed_source: courtlistener citations: - 884 S.E.2d 893 record_source: courtlistener legal_areas: - professional discipline upstream_id: "10680143" summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 --- # In the Matter of Nathan E. Hardwick IV Supreme Court of Georgia, docket S23Y0502, filed 2023-03-07, 315 Ga. 840. ## Opinion 315 Ga. 840 FINAL COPY S23Y0502. IN THE MATTER OF NATHAN E. HARDWICK IV. PER CURIAM. This matter is before the Court on a petition for voluntary surrender of license filed by Nathan E. Hardwick IV (State Bar No. 325686) prior to the filing of a formal complaint. See Bar Rule 4-227 (b) (2). Hardwick, who has been a member of the Georgia Bar since 1991, was suspended by this Court following his convictions in federal court on numerous felonies involving financial fraud. See In the Matter of Hardwick, 305 Ga. 37 (823 SE2d 301) (2019). In his petition, Hardwick admits that his convictions have been affirmed. See United States v. Hardwick, 25 F4th 829 (11th Cir. 2022). A felony conviction constitutes a violation of Rule 8.4 (a) (2) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct (“GRPC”) found in Bar Rule 4-102 (d), and the maximum penalty for a violation of Rule 8.4 (a) (2) is disbarment. The State Bar has filed a response, requesting that the Court accept Hardwick’s petition. Based upon our review of the petition and response, we agree that acceptance of Hardwick’s petition for voluntary surrender of his license, which is tantamount to disbarment, see GRPC 1.0 (s), is in the best interests of the Bar and the public and is consistent with prior similar cases. See, e.g., In the Matter of Celello, 308 Ga. 339 (840 SE2d 349) (2020); In the Matter of Fudge, 301 Ga. 793 (804 SE2d 59) (2017). Accordingly, the name of Nathan E. Hardwick IV is hereby removed from the rolls of persons entitled to practice law in the State of Georgia. Hardwick is reminded of his duties pursuant to Bar Rule 4-219 (b). Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. Decided March 7, 2023. Petition for voluntary surrender of license. Garland Samuel & Loeb, Kristen W. Novay, for Hardwick. 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 the voluntary surrender of law license from attorney Nathan E. Hardwick IV after his federal fraud convictions were upheld on appeal, permanently ending his ability to practice law in the state. ### Plain-language summary Nathan E. Hardwick IV, a Georgia lawyer since 1991, had already been suspended from practicing law after a federal court convicted him of numerous felony financial fraud crimes. Those convictions were later affirmed on appeal by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Rather than face formal disciplinary proceedings, Hardwick asked the Supreme Court of Georgia to accept the voluntary surrender of his law license. The State Bar of Georgia supported his request. The court agreed that accepting the surrender, which counts the same as disbarment, served the best interests of the legal profession and the public and matched how the court had handled similar cases involving lawyers convicted of felonies. The court removed Hardwick's name from the rolls of attorneys allowed to practice law in Georgia. ### Holding, as summarized A felony conviction violates the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct's rule against criminal acts reflecting adversely on a lawyer's fitness, and disbarment is the maximum penalty; here, voluntary surrender of license, treated as equivalent to disbarment, was accepted as appropriate given Hardwick's affirmed federal fraud convictions. ### Disposition Voluntary surrender of license accepted; name removed from rolls. All the Justices concur. ### Why it matters The decision permanently removes a lawyer convicted of financial fraud felonies from the practice of law in Georgia, protecting clients and the public from further harm and reinforcing that felony convictions carry disbarment consequences for attorneys statewide. > The summarized reasoning, checked quotes, suggested questions, and the CourtListener opinion records (1,390 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S23Y0502.md?full=1