--- title: In the Matter of Alan Christopher Norton collection: opinions id: S25Y0899 cite_as: In the Matter of Alan Christopher Norton, 321 Ga. 586 (2025) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25Y0899 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25Y0899.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25Y0899/text source_url: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10680453/in-the-matter-of-alan-christopher-norton/ date: 2025-05-13 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/2025.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25A0172.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25A0428.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/index.md omitted: opinion extras omitted_chars: 1245 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25Y0899.md?full=1 docket: S25Y0899 citation: 321 Ga. 586 court: Supreme Court of Georgia case_type: bar discipline authoring_justice: Per Curiam disposition: Voluntary surrender of license accepted vote: Peterson, C. J., Warren, P. J., and Bethel, Ellington, McMillian, LaGrua, Colvin, and Pinson, JJ., concur word_count: 406 date_filed_source: courtlistener record_source: courtlistener also_known_as: - CourtListener cluster 10583134 legal_areas: - professional discipline upstream_id: "10680453" summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 --- # In the Matter of Alan Christopher Norton Supreme Court of Georgia, docket S25Y0899, filed 2025-05-13, 321 Ga. 586. ## Opinion 321 Ga. 586 FINAL COPY S25Y0899. IN THE MATTER OF ALAN CHRISTOPHER NORTON. PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on a petition for voluntary surrender of license, filed by Alan Christopher Norton (State Bar No. 142506), before the issuance of a formal complaint. See Bar Rule 4-227 (b). Norton, who has been a member of the Georgia Bar since 2005 and who has been a member of the Tennessee Bar since 2019,1 admits the following. On December 20, 2024, Norton was indicted on three counts of forgery and three counts of criminal simulation in the State of Tennessee for signing, without permission, the name of a Chancellor of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit on three emergency orders in a conservatorship matter in which Norton represented one of the parties. Norton was not authorized to sign the orders and admits 1 Norton states that his Tennessee license is currently suspended. that he forged the Chancellor’s signature on the orders. Based on his forgery, Norton admits that he violated Rule 8.4 (a) (4)2 of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct found in Bar Rule 4-102 (d). The maximum penalty for a violation of this Rule is disbarment. Norton further acknowledges that the voluntary surrender of his license is tantamount to disbarment. See In the Matter of Williams, 291 Ga. 659 (732 SE2d 85) (2012). See also Bar Rule 1.0 (s). Wherefore, Norton requests that the Court accept the voluntary surrender of his license. The State Bar has responded, recommending that the Court accept Norton’s petition. Having reviewed the petition, we agree to accept Norton’s petition for voluntary surrender of his license. See In the Matter of Griffieth, 298 Ga. 436 (782 SE2d 443) (2016) (accepting petition for voluntary surrender of license filed by attorney based on her first-degree forgery conviction). Norton is reminded of his duties pursuant to Bar Rule 4-219 (b). 2 Rule 8.4 (a) (4) provides that it shall be a violation of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct for a lawyer to engage in professional conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. Voluntary surrender of license accepted. Peterson, C. J., Warren, P. J., and Bethel, Ellington, McMillian, LaGrua, Colvin, and Pinson, JJ., concur. Decided May 13, 2025. Voluntary surrender of license. Russell D. Willard, General Counsel State Bar, William D. NeSmith III, Deputy General Counsel State Bar, Andreea N. Morrison, A. Leigh Burgess, 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 of an attorney who admitted forging a Tennessee judge's signature on court orders, a step treated as equivalent to disbarment. ### Plain-language summary Alan Christopher Norton, a member of the Georgia Bar since 2005 who also held a Tennessee law license, was indicted in Tennessee on forgery and criminal simulation charges. He admitted signing, without permission, the name of a Tennessee judge on three emergency orders in a conservatorship case where he represented one of the parties. Before the State Bar of Georgia filed a formal complaint against him, Norton asked the Supreme Court of Georgia to accept the voluntary surrender of his Georgia law license, admitting his conduct violated the rule against dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. The State Bar recommended the court accept his request. The court agreed, treating the surrender as the equivalent of disbarment. ### Holding, as summarized The court held that Norton's admitted forgery of a judge's signature on court orders violated the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct's prohibition on dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation, and accepted his voluntary surrender of license as the equivalent of disbarment. ### Disposition Voluntary surrender of license accepted. Peterson, C. J., Warren, P. J., and Bethel, Ellington, McMillian, LaGrua, Colvin, and Pinson, JJ., concur. ### Why it matters The decision removes Norton's ability to practice law in Georgia and signals that Georgia attorneys who forge judicial signatures, even in another state, face the same consequence as disbarment, protecting clients and the integrity of court proceedings. > The summarized reasoning, checked quotes, suggested questions, and the CourtListener opinion records (1,245 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25Y0899.md?full=1