The State Bar of Georgia dismissed my grievance because it said no rebuttal had
been received. I had sent two, and the Bar’s own system had confirmed both. Eleven days later the Bar
admitted in writing that it had them all along. The dismissal was never corrected. This page is about
the gap that made all of that possible.
The disclaimer. I am not a lawyer. This is my documented file and the Bar’s own
published process, next to each other.
The gap
Every complaint process that decides things on paper has the same weak point. A document has to
arrive, and then it has to be placed somewhere a decision maker will look.
Those are two different events. Institutions routinely confirm the first one and almost never
confirm the second.
Delivery confirmation says a message reached a server. File placement says a human being connected
that message to your matter. Between the two sits an unglamorous clerical act that nobody
publishes, nobody times, and nobody signs.
When that act fails, the record does not show a failure. It shows an absence. And an absence looks
exactly like a person who never bothered to reply.
What happened in my file
January 23, 2026. I filed a grievance with the State Bar of Georgia against a
City of Brookhaven contract attorney.
January 28. The Office of the General Counsel processed it, assigned a grievance
number, and routed it to the respondent.
February 2. The lawyer’s written response is dated. When the matter involved a
fellow lawyer, the Bar obtained an answer in under a week.
February 3. I sent my first rebuttal. The Bar’s intake address returned: “Your
email has been delivered.”
February 20. I sent my second rebuttal, later than the first for one reason. The
City of Brookhaven would not release a public record I needed through its Open Records process. I
obtained it another way and sent it by the Bar’s deadline. The Bar’s system confirmed delivery
again.
April 10. Deputy General Counsel Andreea N. Morrison dismissed the grievance:
“I note that our office sent you a letter advising you that you could send a written rebuttal
refuting the response, but we did not receive a rebuttal.”Andreea N. Morrison, Deputy General Counsel, State Bar of Georgia, April 10, 2026
April 21. After I overnighted the proof at substantial cost, Assistant General
Counsel Leigh Burgess replied:
“As a result of this misclassification, your submissions were not added to the grievance file at
that time.”Leigh Burgess, Assistant General Counsel, State Bar of Georgia, April 21, 2026
The reason given was labeling. My emails were treated as unsolicited supplemental submissions
rather than as rebuttals, because of how I had titled them. The grievance number the Bar itself
assigned, and the name of the attorney the complaint was about, were both in the messages.
Read how the grievance began .
Read the April 21 admission .
The file that was not in the file
The part that still stands
The Bar admitted the misclassification. It added the materials to the file. It converted my
correspondence into a Request for Reconsideration.
It did not correct the dismissal.
The April 10 letter still says no rebuttal was received. That sentence is now the permanent public
version of what happened, and it is not true. Six times I asked, in writing, whether the Bar would
correct the record to state that the dismissal issued before the February submissions were in the
file. It was never answered.
On June 30, 2026 the reconsideration was denied, with the no-rebuttal statement still
uncorrected.
Where it stands .
Who benefits from an
admitted error left uncorrected
Why an admission is not a correction
This is the distinction I did not appreciate at the start, and it is the reason this page exists.
An admission is a private communication to you. A correction is a change to the record everyone
else will read.
Anyone who later pulls this matter sees a dismissal that says no rebuttal arrived. They do not see
the April 21 email unless someone hands it to them. The admission satisfies the institution’s sense
of having dealt with it. The record still says the opposite of what happened.
So when an institution admits an error, the next question is not “thank you.” It is: “will the
document that contains the error be corrected, and by when.”
What I would do differently
Offered as one person’s experience, not as advice.
- Use the institution’s own vocabulary in your subject line. If the process calls
it a rebuttal, the word “rebuttal” goes in the subject line. Mine said “Supplemental Submission in
Support of Grievance,” which is accurate English and the wrong category. - Send it as one complete message. The Bar’s automatic reply says responses and
rebuttals should be submitted in a single, complete email rather than in multiple messages. Splitting
across emails gives a screening process more chances to categorise you wrongly. - Ask for file placement confirmation in the same email. One sentence: “Please
confirm this has been added to file number X.” Receipt is not placement. - Diary a check. Two weeks later, ask what is in the file. Not how it is going.
What is in it. - If a decision cites the absence of something you sent, produce the delivery
confirmation immediately and ask for a correction to the document, in that word. Do not
settle for an acknowledgment.
If this has happened to you
You are probably being told that this was an administrative matter, that it has now been resolved,
and that you should let the process run. That may all be true and the decision document can still be
wrong.
The federal ADA complaint routes do not require you to finish with the institution first, and they
are free. They are mapped here. If a disability affected how you had to
submit, that is a separate and parallel issue.
Requesting an accommodation is here.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between delivery confirmation and file placement?
Delivery confirmation says a message reached a server. File placement says a person connected that message to your matter. Institutions routinely confirm the first and almost never confirm the second.
What if a decision says my reply was never received?
Produce the delivery confirmation from the institution’s own system immediately, and ask for a correction to the document, using that word. An acknowledgment that the material arrived is not a correction of the decision that said it did not.
Is an admission the same as a correction?
No. An admission is a private communication to you. A correction changes the record everyone else reads. In this matter the Bar admitted on April 21, 2026 that both submissions were received and misclassified, and the April 10 dismissal still says no rebuttal was received.
Why was the rebuttal not filed?
The reason given was labeling. The emails were treated as unsolicited supplemental submissions rather than rebuttals because of how they were titled, although they carried the grievance number the Bar itself assigned and the respondent’s name.
Corrections: this page is built from documents I received. If any fact here is
incomplete or inaccurate, identify the page, the sentence, and the supporting document, and I will
review and correct the record.
I have invited the State Bar of Georgia to identify any inaccuracy on this
page. As of the date above, it has identified none.