This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the petition for voluntary discipline filed by Michelle A. Hickerson State Bar No. 111074 pursuant to Rule 9.4 b of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, as set forth in Bar Rule 4-102 d, and Rule 4-227. Hickerson seeks an indefinite suspension as reciprocal discipline for a suspension imposed in North Carolina. See North Carolina State Bar v. Hickerson, 15 D.H.C. 51 N.C. State Bar, Feb. 18, 2016. The North Carolina suspension arose after Hickerson self-reported to the North Carolina Bar that she testified falsely in a deposition in a divorce action involving third parties and filed pleadings containing false statements in a civil damages suit in which she was a defendant. Her false statements were not made in the course of her practice of law, but related to personal conduct. Hickerson and the North Carolina State Bar entered into a consent order of discipline in which Hickerson admitted that by this conduct she violated North Carolina State Bar Discipline and Disability Rules 8.4 c and d. The consent order imposed a suspension of five years, with the provision that Hickerson could apply for a stay and seek reinstatement after one year, if she complied with certain conditions.
In her petition for voluntary discipline, Hickerson expresses remorse for her conduct and seeks the imposition of an indefinite suspension with reinstatement conditioned upon her providing satisfactory proof to the Office of General Counsel and this Court that she has been reinstated in North Carolina. Hickerson acknowledges that imposition of the identical sanction as imposed in North Carolina is not possible because the option of seeking a stay of a portion of the suspension is not a sanction recognized in Georgia’s Rules of Professional Conduct. The State Bar has filed a response recommending that the Court accept the petition and impose the sanction requested.
