In the Matter of Donald Keith Knight, Jr.

Summary

The Supreme Court of South Carolina considered reciprocal discipline following the respondent's voluntary surrender of his Georgia law license, which Georgia treated as tantamount to disbarment. The court held that the respondent had not shown grounds for imposing lesser discipline and disbarred him from practicing law in South Carolina, retroactive to June 28, 2010.

Holdings

1. Respondent's voluntary surrender under the Georgia rule was a form of discipline equivalent to disbarment, not a transfer to incapacity inactive status.
2. Respondent failed to demonstrate that identical discipline would be inappropriate in South Carolina.
3. Disbarment was the appropriate reciprocal sanction, effective retroactively to June 28, 2010.

Questions Presented

1. Whether respondent's Georgia voluntary surrender of his law license constituted discipline equivalent to disbarment for purposes of South Carolina's reciprocal-discipline rule.
2. Whether respondent demonstrated under Rule 29(d), RLDE, that South Carolina should impose a lesser discipline, particularly because the reason for an alleged transfer to incapacity inactive status no longer existed.
3. Whether respondent should be disbarred from practicing law in South Carolina retroactive to the date of the Georgia discipline.

Disposition

other