An Atlanta lawyer who has made a name for himself fighting taxpayer-subsidized development could face stiff discipline over ethics violations alleged in a case involving a $130 million bond deal.
On Monday, the Georgia Supreme Court ordered the State Bar of Georgia to consider "a full array of ethical violations" against attorney John Woodham.
Woodham had asked the court to accept his request for voluntary discipline: a reprimand by a State Bar of Georgia panel reviewing ethics complaints against him. Such reprimands are handed down in closed sessions but made public on the State Bar's web site. The State Bar had told the Supreme Court it did not object to Woodham's request.
But the court said in a unanimous opinion that such punishment was inappropriate and the State Bar had given "too little weight to the seriousness of the many allegations."
It noted that the State Bar's review panel had found probable cause that Woodham violated four separate rules of professional conduct. It also noted that the minimum punishment is a public reprimand and the maximum punishment is disbarment.
Neither Woodham nor his lawyer, Warren Hinds, returned phone calls seeking comment. Paula Frederick, the State Bar's general counsel, declined to comment.
Woodham is the attorney who won a Georgia Supreme Court decision, in a case involving Atlanta's Beltline, that it was illegal to use school taxes to subsidize development. The General Assembly responded by amending the state Constitution, which effectively undid the court's ruling. But the action against tax allocation districts delayed development of the Beltline.
The court's opinion issued Monday stems from complaints Woodham filed in bond-validation cases involving development in Midtown. He contended that affiliates of Tivoli Properties, which were seeking Atlanta Development Authority bond assistance for apartments, would not actually use bonds to secure financing.
As the case unfolded, lawyers for the developers accused Woodham of extortion.
They produced a recording of a phone conversation among Woodham and Scott Leventhal, president and CEO of Tivoli Properties, and Leventhal's lawyer. Woodham did not know the conversation was being recorded.
During the conference call, Woodham said he would accept money to quit his challenge. He asked for 1 percent of the bond issuance amount -- or $1.3 million, the court's ruling said.
After this was disclosed, then-Fulton County Superior Court Judge Michael Johnson sanctioned Woodham and called his conduct "egregious, improper and appalling to the court and to the practice of law."
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