Stacey Peace, State ADA Coordinator, to the State Bar of Georgia: State Bars Have Been Held Title II Entities

Document · State ADA Coordinator's Office · May 12, 2026

What it is

This is a May 5 to May 12, 2026 email thread between Stacey Peace, State ADA Coordinator, and John J. Shiptenko, Senior Assistant General Counsel, State Bar of Georgia. It was produced to me on September 22, 2026 by the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission, which houses the State ADA Coordinator’s Office, in response to my Georgia Open Records Act request.

I was not copied on the May 12 exchange. I first saw it in the September 22 production.

On May 5, 2026, at 3:03 PM Eastern, Stacey Peace wrote to John J. Shiptenko: “Thank you for returning my call.” Her office placed the first call.

On May 6, 2026, at 11:14 AM Eastern, Stacey Peace sent John J. Shiptenko her office’s ADA notice and grievance procedure, the Department of Justice ADA toolkit, the 2024 federal web accessibility rule and the AccessGA project page.

On May 12, 2026, at 2:12 PM Eastern, William D. NeSmith III, Deputy General Counsel, State Bar of Georgia, wrote to me that “The State Bar of Georgia is not a public entity” and that the Bar is “not required to have a published ADA Coordinator.” Read that email.

On May 12, 2026, at 2:35 PM Eastern, John J. Shiptenko wrote to Stacey Peace that the information she had provided “was helpful” and that “we are in the process of adding ADA information to our website and various forms.”

On May 12, 2026, at 3:09 PM Eastern, Stacey Peace answered him.

Why it matters

Twenty three minutes separate William D. NeSmith III’s 2:12 PM email to me from John J. Shiptenko’s 2:35 PM email to Stacey Peace.

The two State Bar passages are nearly the same. They are not identical.

They open differently. William D. NeSmith III’s email to me opens the passage: “At the outset, it is important to clarify the institutional status of the State Bar of Georgia.” John J. Shiptenko’s email to Stacey Peace opens with two other sentences: that the information “was helpful” and the Bar is adding ADA information to its website and forms, and that he “failed to clarify the institutional status of the State Bar of Georgia”.

The five sentences on the Bar’s status that follow match word for word, with two exceptions. The first sentence differs by one comma: “federal, state or local” in William D. NeSmith III’s email, “federal, state, or local” in John J. Shiptenko’s. The last sentence differs in its ending.

William D. NeSmith III’s last sentence, to me: “The State Bar of Georgia is not a department or agency of the State of Georgia, therefore we are not required to have a published ADA Coordinator.”

John J. Shiptenko’s last sentence, to Stacey Peace: “The State Bar of Georgia is not a department or agency of the State of Georgia.” It does not carry the clause about a published ADA Coordinator.

Both State Bar passages describe the Bar as an “administrative arm” of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Thirty four minutes after John J. Shiptenko’s email, Stacey Peace wrote:

"I am not exactly sure if the 11th circuit has been asked to rule specifically on this question as it relates to the State Bar of Georgia; however, there are instances where State Bars have been held to be Title II entities under the ADA due to State Bars serving as administrative arms of state supreme courts or state governments"

She sent three sources with that sentence.

What it shows

1. On May 5, 2026, at 3:03 PM Eastern, Stacey Peace, State ADA Coordinator, thanked John J. Shiptenko, Senior Assistant General Counsel, State Bar of Georgia, for returning her call. Her office placed the first call.
2. On May 6, 2026, at 11:14 AM Eastern, Stacey Peace sent John J. Shiptenko her office’s ADA notice and grievance procedure and three further links: the Department of Justice ADA toolkit, the 2024 federal web accessibility rule and the AccessGA project.
3. On May 12, 2026, at 2:35 PM Eastern, John J. Shiptenko wrote to Stacey Peace that the information was helpful and that the State Bar was adding ADA information to its website and forms.
4. In the same 2:35 PM email, John J. Shiptenko wrote that when they spoke he had “failed to clarify the institutional status of the State Bar of Georgia”, and then set that status out in five sentences. On this page my name in that email is replaced with “[the requester’s]”.
5. On May 12, 2026, at 3:09 PM Eastern, Stacey Peace answered. She wrote that she was “not exactly sure if the 11th circuit has been asked to rule specifically on this question as it relates to the State Bar of Georgia”, and then that there are instances where state bars have been held to be Title II entities because they serve as administrative arms of state supreme courts or state governments.
6. Stacey Peace sent three links with that answer, reproduced in the transcript below: ADA Southeast on Title II applied to state and local professional licensing; The Bar Examiner on the Title II and Title III regulations; understandingtheada.com on bar examiners and documentation requests.
7. I was not copied on the May 12 exchange.

What it does not show

This is not an enforcement act. On May 13, 2026, at 10:11 AM, the State ADA Coordinator’s Office wrote me: “our office is not an enforcement agency; therefore, we cannot compel another entity to perform a particular action or cease from performing a particular action.” This page describes technical assistance and the documents the office sent.

This thread does not show that any court has ruled that the State Bar of Georgia is a Title II public entity. Stacey Peace wrote: “I am not exactly sure if the 11th circuit has been asked to rule specifically on this question as it relates to the State Bar of Georgia”.

This thread does not show what the State Bar did with the three sources Stacey Peace sent.

This page does not publish the September 22 production as a set. Two unrelated 2022 documents in that production are outside this page and are not quoted or described here.

Verbatim transcript

Editorial note: the message bodies below are reproduced from the produced thread, oldest first. Repeated signature blocks, inline image references, the subject lines and the office telephone number in the May 5, 3:16 PM message are omitted or bracketed. My legal name in John J. Shiptenko’s May 12 email is replaced with “[the requester’s]” under this site’s standing rule. No other wording in the quoted bodies is changed.

Good Afternoon Mr. Shiptenko,

Thank you for returning my call. I have availability tomorrow morning (after 9:30 am, before 12 noon) and Thursday morning (after 9:30 am, before 12 noon) to chat.

Please let me know if either of these days work for you.

Thank you again,

I will give you a call tomorrow at 10 am. Should I call you at [office number]? Thank you.

Great! Please call me on my cell number below. Thank you.

Good Morning Mr. Shiptenko,

It was a pleasure speaking with you this morning. As promised, you can find our office’s ADA Notice and Grievance procedures via one of the two hyperlinks below:

• https://ada.georgia.gov/about-us/mission-purpose-and-website-accessibility
• https://ada.georgia.gov/faq-regarding-our-office

Below you will also find additional guidance and information that may be helpful to you:

• https://archive.ada.gov/pcatoolkit/chap2toolkit.htm
• https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule/
• https://accessga.gatech.edu/ (AccessGA Project I spoke of during our call)

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thank you,

Great. Thank you.

You’re welcome.

The information you provided was helpful, and we are in the process of adding ADA information to our website and various forms. When we spoke last week, I was so focused on addressing [the requester’s] concerns that I failed to clarify the institutional status of the State Bar of Georgia. The State Bar of Georgia is not a public entity, such as a federal, state, or local government department or agency. The State Bar receives no federal, state, or local governmental funding. Its assets are owned by the State Bar of Georgia itself and not by the State of Georgia. Although the State Bar serves as an administrative arm of the Supreme Court of Georgia pursuant to the Court’s authority over the regulation of the legal profession, it nevertheless remains a private, member-funded, and member-governed organization. The State Bar of Georgia is not a department or agency of the State of Georgia.

Thank you.

Good Afternoon Mr. Shiptenko.

You are very welcome. Thank you for this update. I am not exactly sure if the 11th circuit has been asked to rule specifically on this question as it relates to the State Bar of Georgia; however, there are instances where State Bars have been held to be Title II entities under the ADA due to State Bars serving as administrative arms of state supreme courts or state governments, please see: https://adasoutheast.org/legal/disability-issues/title-ii-of-the-ada-applied-to-state-and-local-professional-licensing/, https://thebarexaminer.ncbex.org/article/june-2017/new-regulations-under-titles-ii-and-iii-of-the-ada-address-disability-standards-under-the-ada-amendments-act-2/ and https://www.understandingtheada.com/blog/2024/01/09/bar-examiners-colleges-and-universities-reconsider-extent-of-documentation-requests-when-receiving-accommodation-requestss/ for more information.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thank you,

Related

• William D. NeSmith III, State Bar of Georgia: the May 12, 2026 email to me
• John J. Shiptenko, Senior Assistant General Counsel, State Bar of Georgia
• Stacey Peace, State ADA Coordinator
• State Bar of Georgia: one Bar, five audiences, different answers

Corrections

None as of September 28, 2026.

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