--- title: In the Matter of Paul Gerard Wersant collection: opinions id: S25Y1290 cite_as: In the Matter of Paul Gerard Wersant, 322 Ga. 600 (2025) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25Y1290 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25Y1290.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25Y1290/text source_url: https://www.gasupreme.us/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/s25y1290.pdf date: 2025-09-16 status: published corpus_version: opinions-2026-09-18 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/S25A0600.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25A0895.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/index.md omitted: opinion extras omitted_chars: 1966 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25Y1290.md?full=1 docket: S25Y1290 citation: 322 Ga. 600 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: 528 date_filed_source: courtlistener record_source: gasupreme court_note: 09-17-2025 Substitute opinion issued. legal_areas: - professional discipline - criminal law upstream_id: "10680419" summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 --- # In the Matter of Paul Gerard Wersant Supreme Court of Georgia, docket S25Y1290, filed 2025-09-16, 322 Ga. 600. ## Opinion 322 Ga. 600 FINAL COPY S25Y1290. IN THE MATTER OF PAUL GERARD WERSANT. PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the report and recommendation of Special Master Patrick H. Head, which recommends that this Court accept the petition for voluntary surrender of license filed by Paul Gerard Wersant (State Bar No. 748341) following his felony guilty plea convictions, which constitute a violation of Bar Rule 8.4(a)(2)1 of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct found in Bar Rule 4-102(d). The Bar initiated these proceedings under Bar Rule 4-106 when it became aware of Wersant’s convictions, despite his apparent failure to notify the Bar of his convictions, as required by Bar Rule 9.1(a)(2).2 The Bar then 1 Rule 8.4(a)(2) provides that it is a violation of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct for a lawyer to “be convicted of a felony.” 2 This Rule requires that “[m]embers of the State Bar of Georgia shall, within sixty days, notify the State Bar of Georgia of … being convicted of any felony or of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude where the underlying conduct relates to the lawyer's fitness to practice law.” petitioned this Court for the appointment of a special master, and this Court appointed Head as the special master. A show cause hearing was held, at which Wersant expressed his intention to file a petition for voluntary surrender. Wersant then filed such a petition, styled as a “Petition for Resignation/Voluntary Surrender of Licence [sic] to Practice Law.” Wersant, who has been a member of the Georgia Bar since 2004, admits that, in February 2025, he entered a guilty plea in the Forsyth County Superior Court to two counts of interstate interference with custody and one count of filing false documents. Both of these crimes are felonies. See OCGA § 16-5-45(c)(3); OCGA § 16-10-20.1(c). Wersant requests that the Court accept the voluntary surrender of his license. The Bar filed a response recommending that Wersant’s petition for voluntary surrender be accepted. The special master then issued a report and recommendation also recommending that Wersant’s petition be accepted. The special master noted that Wersant’s misconduct included the filing of false documents, which it characterized as particularly egregious misconduct, and concluded that the appropriate sanction for such misconduct was disbarment. Following the docketing of this matter in this Court, neither party submitted a response. Having reviewed the record, we agree to accept the special master’s recommendation, which is consistent with prior similar cases. See, e.g., In the Matter of Jones, 320 Ga. 448 (2024) (accepting voluntary surrender of license where attorney violated Rule 8.4(a)(2)); In the Matter of Williams, 291 Ga. 659 (2012) (same); In the Matter of Campbell, 282 Ga. 688 (2007) (same). Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that the name of Paul Gerard Wersant be removed from the rolls of persons authorized to practice law in the State of Georgia. Wersant is reminded of his duties pursuant to Bar Rule 4-219(b). Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. Decided September 16, 2025. Voluntary surrender of license. Russell D. Willard, General Counsel State Bar, Andreea N. Morrison, Lori Anderson, 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 a Forsyth County lawyer's request to give up his law license after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of interfering with child custody and filing false documents. ### Plain-language summary Paul Gerard Wersant, a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 2004, pleaded guilty in Forsyth County Superior Court in February 2025 to two felony counts of interstate interference with custody and one felony count of filing false documents. Under the rules that govern Georgia lawyers, a felony conviction is professional misconduct, and Wersant was supposed to report his convictions to the State Bar within sixty days but apparently did not. The State Bar found out anyway and asked the Supreme Court of Georgia to appoint a special master to look into the matter. At a hearing, Wersant said he wanted to give up his law license voluntarily instead of contesting the case, and he later filed that petition. The special master called the false-documents conduct especially serious and recommended disbarment-level treatment. The State Bar agreed, and the Supreme Court of Georgia accepted the surrender, removing Wersant from the rolls of attorneys allowed to practice law in Georgia. ### Holding, as summarized The court held that Wersant's felony guilty pleas violated the rule barring lawyers from being convicted of a felony, and accepted his voluntary surrender of his law license as the appropriate outcome, resulting in his removal from the rolls of Georgia attorneys. ### Disposition Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. ### Why it matters The case removes a convicted felon from Georgia's list of licensed attorneys, protecting clients and the public from being represented by someone with felony convictions for custody interference and falsifying documents, and reinforces that Georgia lawyers must report their own criminal convictions. > The summarized reasoning, checked quotes, suggested questions (1,966 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S25Y1290.md?full=1