New Georgia Rule on Admission Pro Hac Vice

All states allow a lawyer licensed in another state to be temporarily admitted to represent a client in a specific case, generally with the involvement of a local attorney in that state. The Latin term for this is admission “pro hac vice.” I had been admitted pro hac vice for cases in other states from time to time, and frequently serve as local counsel in Georgia with lawyers from other states. The trend in recent years has been for the state bar organization to review and approve a “pro hac vice” application before a trial judge signs an order approving the application.
Georgia has now followed that trend. Effective 11/10/05, the Supreme Court adopted Uniform Rule 4.4. The purpose is basically to provide a standard procedure for confirming that lawyers from other jurisdictions are who they say they are, are in good standing in their home state, and are subject to the disciplinary rules like Georgia lawyers. You wouldn’t want a lawyer who was disbarred or suspended in his home state to waltz into another state and start trying cases. Under this new rule, the Office of the General Counsel of the State Bar of Georgia has an integral role in out-of-state attorneys’ applications for temporary appearances in State and Superior Courts in Georgia (i.e., Admission Pro Hac Vice).
Pro hac vice applicants must serve a copy of their notarized applications on the Office of the General Counsel of the State Bar of Georgia. The application fee for each application is $200, and can be paid by check or money order to State Bar of Georgia. There is no prescribed form for the application.
The full text of Uniform Rule 4.4 follows:

The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide in Georgia, and in other states subject to the multijurisdictional practice and pro hac vice rules in each state. Ken Shigley was designated as a “SuperLawyer” in Atlanta Magazine and one of the “Legal Elite” in Georgia Trend Magazine. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, Chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute and former chair of the Georgia Insurance Law Institute. He particularly focuses on cases arising from truck wrecks and accidents (tractor trailers truck wrecks, semi truck wrecks,18 wheeler truck wrecks, big rig truck wrecks, log truck wrecks, dump truck wrecks).