FINAL C OPY

295 Ga. 452 S14Y000 7. IN THE MATTER OF WILLIAM V. HALL, JR. PER CURIAM. This disciplinar y matter is before the Cou rt on the Rep ort and Recom menda tion of the special master, Myles E. Eastwo od, recommending th at William V. Hall, Jr. (State Bar No. 31 9500) be d isbarred following the ent ry of

a guilty pl ea to on e misde mea nor count each of OCGA § 1 6-6-22.1 (b) (sexual battery) and OCG

A § 16-6-8 (pu

blic inde cency

), which a rose out of an inc ident involving a client; he was sentenced under the First Off ender A ct, OC GA § 42- 8-60, to 24 m

onths proba

tion. The State Bar initiated th is proceeding under Bar Rule 4- 106. Prior to the evident iary hearin g, the spe cial master entere d an orde r grantin g Hall’s motion for a continuance , but al so setting forth the agree ment

of Hall and the State Bar that Hall would no t practice law until f urther ord er

of the spe cial master or the final resolu tion of th e case. Following

the evi dentia

ry hea ring, the specia l mas ter found t

hat Hall, who

was admi tted to th e Bar

in 1964, w as representing a cli ent in a child support enforcement

action in 201 2. He had previousl y represented the client and oth er2

mem bers of her fa

mily for a number of yea rs. In respons e to a c all from Hall’s

secre tary to come pick up the initia l paym ent unde r a negot iated s ettle ment agreement, the client arrived at Hall’s officeabout

2:30 p.m . on May

16, 2012; Hall was the only one p resent. The client sat in Hall ’s office , opposite his desk. Hall handed t

he client the $5,0 00 chec k and a c opy of the unsig ned set tlem ent agreement. The client aske d Hall how much she owe d him in fees, and he replie d, “With or without a blow job?” The cli ent attempte d to ignorethe

rema rk and han ded Hal l a $1,5 00 chec k for his fe es. Hall ca me around the desk and said, “ Now it’s timefor the bl ow job.” The client got up to leave, but Hall unzipped his pants and exposed his penis to her. The client said she had to leave, but Hall

tried to kiss her, touched on e of her bre asts, a

nd pinche d the

o ther. The client pushed Hall away and repeated that it was t ime f or her t o leave. Hall said, “You’re not going to give m e a blow jo b. You’r e no fun.” However, he did unlo ck the door a nd allow the cl ient to l eave. The c lient reported th e incident to po lice. Hall attempted to call the client the fol lowing day, and the client return ed the call and recorded i t. Hall apologized to the client, expl aining that h e was “just k idding” an d “horsi ng around ,” and that he had pr ostate cancer several3

year s ago and s o “couldn’t have done anythi ng.” He also acknowled ged that his conduct was “in very bad taste.” At the evidentiary he aring, th e clie nt testifi ed that she unde rstood at

the time that Hall was offeri ng to reduce h is fee in exchange fo r oral sex and that she had never done anything that would have given Hall the id e a that she was interested in a sexual relationship with him . Hall did not dispute the clie nt’s understa nding of his ac tions, but

state d that he

thought she

knew hewas joking since he was impotent a s a result of prostate surgery in 2005. How ever, he also conceded that he had never told her about his s urgery. Hall acknowl edged that his condu ct was reprehensib le. Hall presented several witnesses wh o testified

a bo uthis long service as a m ember of the Ba r, including assistance given to other attorneys and to indigent client s. The

specia l mas ter al so noted t estim ony about Hall’s l ong hist ory of coaching youth spo rts. The special ma ster found th at by this condu ct Hall violated Rul e 8.4 (a) (3) of the Georgia Rules of Professional C onduct found in Bar Rule 4-102 (d). The maximum sanction for a vio lation of Rule 8.4 (a) (3) is disbarm ent. We agree with the special master that aggravat in g factors include that Ha ll committedhis ille gal ac ts against a cl ient an d that he acte d with a selfish motive4

and that mitigating fact ors inclu de the l ack of a pri or disciplinary re cord and Hall’s prior distinguished reputa tion. Consider ing the whole record , we conclude that the app ropriate sancti on in this matter is disb arment, see In the Matter of Jackel , 275 Ga . 568 (569 SE 2d 835) (2002) (disb ar ring lawyer wh o pled guilt y to sex ual bat tery and sodo my against a clie nt in exc hange for

reduce d fees) and In the Matte r of Threlkeld , 273 Ga. 331 (539 SE2d 823) ( 2001) (dis barring lawyer who pled guilty to public in decen cy for massaging the penis of his client, who was a 17-year-old beingheld in a juven ile detention f acility). According ly, it is hereby ord ered that the name of Willia

m V. Hall, Jr., be remove d from the roll s of persons authorized to practice law in the State of Geo rgia. Hall is reminded of his dut ies pursuant to Bar R

ule 4-219 ( c). Disbarred

. All theJustice s concur .

Decid ed June 3 0, 2014. Disbarment. Wilson, M orton & Dow

n, Jam es E. S pence , Jr. , for Hall. Paula J. Freder i ck, General C ounsel State Bar, Jonat han W. Hewett, Assistant Gener al Counsel State Bar , for State Bar of Geo rgia.