In re Temple, S16Y1320.

Decision Date23 May 2016
Docket NumberNo. S16Y1320.,S16Y1320.
Citation786 S.E.2d 684,299 Ga. 140
PartiesIn the Matter of Joanna TEMPLE.
CourtGeorgia Supreme Court

Paula J. Frederick, Gen. Counsel State Bar, Jonathan W. Hewett, Asst. Gen. Counsel State Bar, for State Bar of Georgia.

PER CURIAM.

This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the petition for voluntary discipline filed by Joanna Temple (State Bar No. 701805), prior to the issuance of a formal complaint, see Bar Rule 4–227(b)(2)

. In her petition, Temple, who became a member of the Georgia Bar in 1990, admits that she pled guilty in New York to a misdemeanor violation of attempted criminal usury in the second degree. The criminal charge related to her role as lead counsel for payday lending companies, in which she advised those companies and their employees to intentionally violate New York's criminal usury laws. The plea hearing transcript, which Temple attached to her petition, shows that for over five years she knowingly instructed and encouraged her payday lending clients to intentionally violate certain state lending laws, including New York's criminal usury statutes, and assisted them in doing so. She was sentenced on December 17, 2015, to a conditional discharge for one year, subject to performing 250 hours of community service. She admits that by this conduct, she has violated Rules 1.2(d) and 8.4(a)(3) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct found in Bar Rule 4–102(d).1 The maximum sanction for a violation of Rules 1.2(d) or 8.4(a)(3) is disbarment.

Temple asserts that she has not practiced law since December 15, 2015, and we agree that her lack of a prior disciplinary record in Georgia and Tennessee, where she is also licensed to practice law,2 and her cooperation with the State Bar in this matter are mitigating factors. Temple asks that the Court impose a one-year suspension, retroactive to December 15, 2015. She cites no precedent in support of her request.

The State Bar recommends that the Court accept the petition, but makes no recommendation with regard to whether the suspension is retroactive. The State Bar asserts that a one-year suspension is appropriate, citing In the Matter of Schrader, 271 Ga. 601, 523 S.E.2d 327 (1999)

, and In the Matter of Davis, 292 Ga. 897, 742 S.E.2d 734 (2013). However, those cases are entirely distinguishable from this matter. In Schrader, this Court imposed a one-year suspension on an attorney who had pled guilty to the misdemeanor offense of practicing law without a license in New York after he filed a single petition to probate a will in New York without seeking pro hac vice status. In Davis, this Court imposed a 30–month suspension on an attorney who had entered a first offender plea to possession of methamphetamine and was sentenced to probation for three years. The conduct of Schrader and Davis did not implicate their fitness to practice law and the public's confidence in the legal profession in the same way as Temple's instructing and encouraging her clients to intentionally violate criminal laws over a period of years.

Having carefully considered the petition, response, and the very serious professional misconduct to which Temple has admitted, we cannot agree that a one-year suspension is the appropriate sanction in this matter. See, e.g., In the Matter of Childers, 297 Ga. 788, 778 S.E.2d 216 (2015)

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5 cases
  • In re Temple
    • United States
    • Georgia Supreme Court
    • October 17, 2016
    ...of Rules 1.2 (d) and 8.4 (a) (3) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, found in Bar Rule 4–102 (d). See In the Matter of Temple , 299 Ga. 140, 786 S.E.2d 684 (2016). Temple now seeks a four-year suspension with conditions for those violations. Again, we reject Temple's request for v......
  • In re Gaines, S16Y1335
    • United States
    • Georgia Supreme Court
    • September 12, 2016
    ...has admitted, we cannot agree that a three-year suspension is the appropriate sanction in this matter. Compare In the Matter of Temple, 299 Ga. 140, 786 S.E.2d 684 (2016) (rejecting petition for voluntary discipline seeking one-year suspension following misdemeanor conviction arising out of......
  • Davenport v. Davenport
    • United States
    • Georgia Supreme Court
    • May 23, 2016
  • In re Temple, S17Y0496
    • United States
    • Georgia Supreme Court
    • January 23, 2017
    ...of Rules 1.2 (d) and 8.4 (a) (3) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct found in Bar Rule 4–102 (d), see In the Matter of Temple , 299 Ga. 140, 786 S.E.2d 684 (2016) (rejecting one-year suspension); In the Matter of Temple , 299 Ga. 854, 792 S.E.2d 322, 323 (2016) (rejecting four-year......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles
  • Legal Ethics
    • United States
    • Mercer University School of Law Mercer Law Reviews No. 68-1, September 2016
    • Invalid date
    ...Ga. 792, 792, 778 S.E.2d 227, 227 (2015). 93. Id. at 792, 778 S.E.2d at 227-28.94. Id. at 792, 778 S.E.2d at 228.95. Id.96. In re Temple, 299 Ga. 140, 140, 786 S.E.2d 684, 685 (2016).97. Id. at 141, 786 S.E.2d at 686.98. In re Fair, 297 Ga. 869, 870, 778 S.E.2d 794, 795 (2015).99. In re Fai......

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