Former Georgia judge suspended from practicing law after being impeached on ethics charges

ATLANTA (AP) — A former Georgia appeals court judge taken off the counter In 2023, he was suspended from practicing law until August 2025 for ethical misconduct.

On Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court ordered Christian Coomer’s law license suspended for two years. exploiting a vulnerable client While Coomer was a private attorney. However, the court ruled that Coomer could backdate the start of the restraining order to Aug. 16, 2023, when the high court kicked him off the bench.

Coomer said he has deliberately avoided practicing law since then.

Coomer had initially requested a one-year suspension, but agreed to a two-year suspension when the State Bar of Georgia opposed one year as too lenient. A special expert found that the two-year suspension was within the range of sentences received by other lawyers who committed similar crimes, and that although this sentence could be seen as “nepotism”, Coomer “should not be treated more harshly than other lawyers”. who commit the same violations.”

Coomer took out a $369,000 loan on favorable terms from his client, Jim Filhart, and wrote a will and trust that would give Coomer and his relatives some or all of the client’s money when he died. Coomer refunded the money, but only after the customer sued him.

The two-year restraining order was not inconsistent, the justices wrote, although they ruled that the same conduct warranted their complete removal of Coomer as a judge.

That’s because ethics charges from Judicial Competency also held Coomer responsible for plundering his campaign account for a family vacation to Hawaii and providing loans to keep his struggling law firm afloat, they said; these were not part of Tuesday’s decision. They also said it would be inappropriate to force the State Bar to seek higher penalties than the bar that backed against Coomer. Finally, the court said judges have higher standards of conduct than ordinary lawyers.

“While part of the public interest served by regulating the practice of law includes maintaining public confidence in the legal system, this important interest is not as acute when regulating attorneys as it is for judges,” the court wrote in its unsigned 7-0 decision. .

Coomer, a former state lawmaker, was appointed to the appeals court by then-Gov. Nathan Agreement in 2018. He had no previous disciplinary history and said he had increased his philanthropic activities to make up for his bad behavior.

“I’ve made mistakes, but I’m trying to get better and do better,” Coomer said Tuesday. “I am grateful to the Supreme Court for the opportunity to practice law and to the many people who supported me, prayed for me, and encouraged me. I work to make my community a better place through volunteer work and will dedicate myself to service when I return to the legal profession.