In the Supreme Court of Georgia
Decided: March 19, 2024
S24Z0598. IN THE MATTER OF JOEL DAVID MYERS.
PER CURIAM.
This matter is before the Court on Joel David Myers’s
Application for Certification of Fitness to Practice Law pursuant to
Part A, Section 10 of the Rules Governing Admission to the Practice
of Law in Georgia (the “Rules”). Myers was originally admitted to
the Bar in 1998 and worked at various iterations of his own law firm
from 1999-2009, with the most recent being Myers & Associates
Intellectual Property Law. In the winter of 2014, Myers failed to
respond to the State Bar’s Notice of Investigation related to a client
grievance, and this Court suspended him from the practice of law in
Georgia “until further order of [the] Court.” See S15Y0474 (Dec. 1,
2014). Then, in October 2015, this Court considered two separate
Notices of Discipline, alleging that Myers had violated Rules 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 1.15 (I), 1.15 (II), 1.16 (d), 3.2, 8.4 (a) (4), and 9.3 of the
Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, see Bar Rule 4-102 (d), in his
interactions with two clients in unrelated matters. Because Myers
failed to timely reject the Notices of Discipline, he was found to be
in default as to those matters and the alleged facts were deemed
admitted. See Bar Rule 4-208.1 (b). After consideration of the record,
this Court disbarred Myers. See In the Matter of Myers, 297 Ga. 783
(778 SE2d 223) (2015).
Asserting that his disbarment was the result of various
significant stressors in his life, which led to a lengthy battle with
untreated depression, and stating that he has taken steps to work
through that depression to the point that he is rehabilitated, Myers
now seeks readmission. Following review of his application and his
appearance at an informal conference, the Board to Determine
Fitness of Bar Applicants (the “Fitness Board”) voted to recommend
granting Myers’s application. The application is now before this
Court for final adjudication. See Bar Admission Rules, Part A, § 10
(e) (“[t]he Supreme Court shall make the final determination
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regarding certification of fitness” of attorneys applying for
readmission to the practice of law).
In connection with his application for readmission, Myers filed
a statement of rehabilitation in accordance with In re Cason, 249
Ga. 806 (294 SE2d 520) (1982). He explained that, beginning in
2009, he experienced several major upheavals in his life that led to
an “undiagnosed severe depression” for five to six years. He
admitted that, as his depression and life worsened, he engaged in
the behavior which led to his disbarment, and that he “was not
mentally capable of providing a thorough response” to the 2013 and
2014 grievances filed against him. Myers expressed that he “feel[s]
horrible about [his] behavior that hurt so many and led to [his]
disbarment,” and he “take[s] full responsibility for [his] actions.”
According to Myers, he started to overcome his depression in 2015
by focusing on raising his son and rebuilding his life. After working
various jobs to regain financial stability, Myers reached out to one
of the clients involved in the case that led to his disbarment, offering
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to pay the former client full restitution, but the client declined that
offer.
Myers has also submitted letters of recommendation from his
current boss (and former law partner) and others who know him
through his volunteer work, all of whom attest to Myers’s
professionalism, high moral character, and his ongoing commitment
to his work at their organizations. Notably, Myers’s former partner
describes Myers as a “prompt, diligent, respectful, and skillful”
worker and states his support for Myers’s readmission, noting that
“[p]rior to [the] issues [that led to Myers’s disbarment], he was an
excellent, diligent, and caring attorney and law partner” and that
Myers “is capable of regaining that status.”
As part of its investigation, the Fitness Board provided notice
to the State Bar of Georgia and to the bar membership and chief
judge of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit where Myers practiced,
provided newspaper notice to the public in the area where Myers
had practiced, and sought confirmation from the Client Security
Fund that no restitution was due. See Part A, § 10 (d) (1)-(4) of the
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Bar Admission Rules. The Fitness Board received no response from
members of the public or the judiciary, but the State Bar responded
that, although there were other grievances filed against Myers
during and after the proceedings resulting in his disbarment, the
Bar had abandoned those matters as moot and had no plans to
pursue them.1 Moreover, none of the matters before the Bar required
Myers to make restitution to the Client Security Fund.
At a conference before the Fitness Board, Myers took full
responsibility for his actions and made no excuses for them. He
expressed remorse for his actions and described his path to recovery.
After considering Myers’s testimony and written submissions, the
Fitness Board concluded that he had, by clear and convincing
evidence, carried his burden of demonstrating rehabilitation and
recommended that he be readmitted to the Bar. See In re Cason, 249
Ga. at 808-809 (explaining that bar admission applicants bear the
burden to establish rehabilitation by clear and convincing evidence,
1 The Bar did not specify the nature of the grievances that it dismissed
as moot.
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and “rehabilitation is the reestablishment of the reputation of a
person by his or her restoration to a useful and constructive place in
society,” including “[t]he requirement of positive action”).
Upon consideration of the entire record, we defer to the Fitness
Board’s determination that Myers has shown that he is entitled to
be certified as fit to practice law in Georgia. Accordingly, as it
appears that Myers has satisfied all of the requirements for approval
of his application for certification of fitness, see Bar Admission
Rules, Part A, Section 10, this Court hereby grants Myers’s
application for certification of fitness and orders that, upon
satisfaction of all the requirements of Part B of the Rules, including
taking and passing the Georgia Bar Examination, Myers may be
readmitted as an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of
Georgia.
Certification of fitness for readmission granted. All the Justices concur.
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