This matter is before the Court on the Report and Recommendation of the special master, William Morgan Akin, recommending that the Court accept the First Amended Petition for Voluntary Discipline filed by Respondent Maurice Brown State Bar No. 088853. In the petition, Brown admits that he violated Rules 1.2 a, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.16 d of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, see Bar Rule 4-102 d, and he requests a Review Panel or public reprimand. This Court rejected Brown’s first petition for voluntary discipline in which he sought a Review Panel reprimand, see In the Matter of Brown, S08Y2039 January 12, 2009. Violation of Rules 1.2 and 1.3 may be punished by disbarment, and violation of Rules 1.4 and 1.16 may be punished by a public reprimand. The State Bar objected to Brown’s amended petition and contended that the appropriate level of discipline should include the possibility of a suspension. The special master recommends a Review Panel reprimand. Neither party requested review by the Review Panel so they have waived their right to file exceptions or request oral argument in this Court, see Bar Rule 4-217 c.
In his petition, Brown admits that he was appointed to represent a client in post-conviction matters in a criminal case; he filed a motion for new trial and an amended motion but did not contact his client or advise him of the appointment until ten months after he was appointed; he only saw his client at the motion for new trial hearing; due to a new job, he filed a motion to withdraw before the motion for new trial was ruled on without discussing it with his client or serving the client with a copy of the motion to withdraw; he did not know whether the court granted the motion and did not have any further contact with his client nor provide him with a new address and telephone number or his file and transcripts; and he did not file a timely sworn response to the Notice of Investigation filed in this matter. By his conduct, Brown admits he violated the rules set forth above and asks the Court to impose discipline in the range of a Review Panel or public reprimand. Brown received a confidential reprimand from the Investigative Panel in April 2008, and an interim suspension in this matter from November 27 to December 12, 2007, for failing to respond to the Investigative Panel in a timely manner.
