Suspended Charleston attorney disbarred

Attorney: George Constantine Holmes

Location: Charleston

Bar membership: Member since 1987

Disciplinary action: Disbarred on Dec. 15

Background: Holmes was placed on interim suspension in 2016 following his 2003 guilty plea in federal court to one count of conspiracy and one count of possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. Although Holmes’s conviction occurred in 2003, it wasn’t reported to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel for over thirteen years because his guilty plea was based on a sealed indictment, and at the time of the plea, Rule 8.3 of the Rules of Professional Conduct (Rule 407, SCACR) didn’t contain a mandatory requirement for lawyers to self-report serious crimes. The ODC wasn’t aware of the conviction until it was anonymously reported in September 2016, at which point the ODC began an investigation and sought interim suspension. After Holmes was placed on interim suspension, he failed to respond to a notice of investigation or file a required affidavit. Formal charges were filed against Holmes in January 2018. He failed to answer, and an order of default was entered against him. Holmes failed to appear at a March 2021 hearing at which the ODC presented evidence that Holmes had been arrested for trafficking marijuana just four months after ODC began investigating the cocaine charges.

Previous discipline: Holmes had been on interim suspension since Oct. 24, 2016. He had no discipline prior to the interim suspension.

All information contained in the Bar Discipline Roundup is compiled and edited by Lawyers Weekly editor in chief David Donovan. He can be reached at [email protected].