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In the Matter of Joanna Temple

The Supreme Court rejected an attorney's petition for voluntary discipline seeking a 1-year suspension following her guilty plea to a misdemeanor violation of attempted criminal usury in the second degree in connection with 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.

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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.

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