in the Matter of Lorne Howard Cragg

302 Ga. 873

• Court: Supreme Court of Georgia
• Decided: January 29, 2018
• Docket: S18Y0269
• Status: Published

Opinion

302 Ga. 873 FINAL COPY

S18Y0269. IN THE MATTER OF LORNE HOWARD CRAGG.

PER CURIAM.

This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the petition for voluntary

surrender of license filed by Lorne Howard Cragg (State Bar No. 697876)

pursuant to Bar Rule 4-227 (b) (2). In his petition, Cragg, who has been a

member of the Bar since 2004, admitted that he received client funds and that

he should have preserved those funds in his trust account, but that he

misappropriated those funds for his personal use and did not otherwise account

to his client for the funds. He further admitted that the bank at which he

maintained his attorney trust account notified the State Bar about checks he had

written on that account, which checks had to be returned as the account held

insufficient funds to pay the checks. Finally, Cragg admitted that he provided

false and misleading information to the Office of General Counsel during its

investigation of this matter.

Cragg acknowledged that the above described conduct violates Rules 1.15 (II) (b), 8.1 (a), and 8.4 (a) (4) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct

found in Bar Rule 4-102 (d). The maximum penalty for a single violation of any

of those rules is disbarment. Given his admissions, Cragg requested that the

Court accept his petition for the voluntary surrender of his license, which would

be tantamount to disbarment.

The State Bar recommends that this Court accept Cragg’s petition for

voluntary surrender of his license, and based upon our review of the petition, we

agree that acceptance of Cragg’s petition is in the best interests of the Bar and

the public. Accordingly, the name of Lorne Howard Cragg is hereby removed

from the rolls of persons entitled to practice law in the State of Georgia. Cragg

is reminded of his duties under Bar Rule 4-219 (c).

Voluntary surrender of license accepted. All the Justices concur.

2 Decided January 29, 2018.

Voluntary surrender of license.

Paula J. Frederick, General Counsel State Bar, Jenny K. Mittelman,

Jonathan W. Hewett, Assistant General Counsel State Bar, for State Bar of

Georgia.