--- title: In the Matter of Leonard Richard Medley, III collection: opinions id: S26Y0660 cite_as: In the Matter of Leonard Richard Medley, III, S26Y0660 (Ga. Apr. 21, 2026) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S26Y0660 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S26Y0660.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S26Y0660/text source_url: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10845979/in-the-matter-of-leonard-richard-medley-iii/ date: 2026-04-21 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/2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S26A0469.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S26Y0093.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/index.md omitted: opinion extras omitted_chars: 1396 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S26Y0660.md?full=1 docket: S26Y0660 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: 480 date_filed_source: courtlistener record_source: courtlistener legal_areas: - professional discipline upstream_id: "10845979" summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 --- # In the Matter of Leonard Richard Medley, III Supreme Court of Georgia, docket S26Y0660, filed 2026-04-21. ## Opinion NOTICE: This opinion is subject to modification resulting from motions for reconsideration under Supreme Court Rule 27, the Court’s reconsideration, and editorial revisions by the Reporter of Decisions. The version of the opinion published in the Advance Sheets for the Georgia Reports, designated as the “Final Copy,” will replace any prior version on the Court’s website and docket. A bound volume of the Georgia Reports will contain the final and official text of the opinion. In the Supreme Court of Georgia No. S26Y0660 In the Matter of Leonard Richard Medley, III Decided: April 21, 2026 PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the report and recommendation of Special Master Adam Hames, who recom- mends that the Court accept the petition for voluntary surrender of license filed by Leonard Richard Medley, III (State Bar No. 500685). Medley, who has been a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 2000, pled guilty in December 2025, pursuant to a negotiated agreement, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in violation of 18 USC § 371, a felony, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Thereafter, he filed a petition for voluntary surrender with the Special Mas- ter. In his petition, as amended, Medley admitted that, by virtue of his felony conviction, he violated Rule 8.4(a)(2) (lawyer shall not be convicted of a felony) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, see Bar Rule 4-102(d), the maximum penalty for which is disbarment. Based on those admissions, Medley requested that the Court accept his petition to voluntarily surrender his license to practice law, which is tantamount to disbarment. Medley has filed no exceptions to the Special Master’s re- port, and the deadline to do so has passed. See Bar Rule 4-218. Accordingly, the matter is now ripe for this Court’s review. We have reviewed the record and agree that acceptance of Medley’s petition for voluntary surrender of his license is best for the protection of the public and is consistent with prior similar cases. See, e.g., In the Matter of Norton, 315 Ga. 484, 489 (2023) (agreeing with the Special Master that “[the] Court routinely im- poses disbarment, or accepts a voluntary surrender of license, which is tantamount to disbarment, as discipline in cases involv- ing felony convictions for financial crimes”); In the Matter of Ce- lello, 308 Ga. 339, 339 (2020) (accepting voluntary surrender of license for attorney convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud); In the Matter of Fudge, 301 Ga. 793, 793 (2017) (accepting voluntary surrender of license for attorney convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud). Accordingly, the name of Leonard Richard Medley, III, is hereby removed from the rolls of persons entitled to practice law in the State of Georgia. Medley is reminded of his duties under Bar Rule 4-219(b). Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. ## 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 attorney Leonard Richard Medley III's request to give up his law license after he pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud conspiracy charge, a move equivalent to disbarment. ### Plain-language summary Leonard Richard Medley III, a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 2000, pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a felony, in federal court in the Northern District of Georgia. After his conviction, he asked a Special Master to let him voluntarily surrender his law license rather than face formal disbarment proceedings. Medley admitted that his felony conviction violated the state's rule barring lawyers from being convicted of felonies. The Special Master recommended the Supreme Court of Georgia accept his petition, and Medley did not challenge that recommendation. The court agreed, finding that accepting the surrender protected the public and matched how it has handled similar financial-crime cases before, and it removed his name from the rolls of lawyers allowed to practice in Georgia. ### Holding, as summarized The court held that a lawyer's felony conviction for conspiracy to commit wire fraud violates the rule against lawyers being convicted of felonies, and that accepting his voluntary surrender of license, which is equivalent to disbarment, best protects the public and matches how similar cases have been handled. ### Disposition Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur. ### Why it matters The case removes another Georgia lawyer from practice following a federal fraud conviction, protecting current and future clients from someone found to have engaged in fraudulent conduct. It also reinforces that Georgia treats felony financial crime convictions by attorneys as grounds for effectively automatic disbarment. > The summarized reasoning, checked quotes, suggested questions, and the CourtListener opinion records (1,396 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/opinions/S26Y0660.md?full=1