The State Bar of Georgia's Disciplinary Review Panel issued a reprimand to Georgia House of Representatives Speaker David Ralston on Friday during the bar's annual convention at Jekyll Island.

The panel's action was ordered by the Georgia Supreme Court in December after it unanimously agreed that Ralston, a practicing attorney in Blue Ridge, had violated bar rules prohibiting a lawyer from loaning money to a client while a case was pending and of using money from his trust account to do so.

The reprimand, which was read to Ralston during the panel's meeting, acknowledged that he had advanced funds to his clients “believing that they were truly in dire financial need” and “were having difficulty meeting the basic necessities of for themselves and their minor child, including paying rent and paying for prescription medication.”