Date: October 27, 2026, 6:08 PM ET
From: The complainant
To: Senior Assistant General Counsel and ADA Coordinator John J. Shiptenko, and the State Bar of Georgia ADA Coordinator address
Cc: 25 addresses from the 5:21 PM distribution. The State Bar ADA Coordinator address was moved from Cc to To.
Subject: Grievances against State Bar staff, filed with the ADA Coordinator: the rule, the manner, and who will handle them
Transcript typed from the native sent message. Names, contact details and a link to attached filings have been removed and marked in brackets. The remaining text is reproduced from the sent email.
Transcript:
Mr. Shiptenko,
I am filing three grievances with you, as the State Bar’s ADA Coordinator:
Against Russell D. Willard, General Counsel.
Against William D. NeSmith III, Deputy General Counsel. This is my second grievance concerning him.
Against Jeffrey W. DeLoach, Chair of the State Disciplinary Board.
They are attached again so this filing stands on its own. They were also attached to my email to you at 5:21 PM today. The same three grievances, in one PDF, can also be opened here: [link removed]
Why they come to you
The regular channel for a grievance is the Office of the General Counsel. Mr. Willard runs it. Mr. NeSmith is his Deputy. On October 21, Mr. Willard identified Mr. DeLoach as the reviewer of my four earlier grievances against lawyers in that office. Both routes Mr. Willard described, his office and the Chair, run through men named in these grievances. I am asking for a screening and decision route that does not put a named respondent, or anyone who reports to one, in charge.
I can find no published State Bar ADA complaint procedure. On October 16, the Judicial Council and Administrative Office of the Courts wrote that it “does not have the authority to investigate discrimination claims against local courts or the State Bar of Georgia.” On September 22 you wrote to me: “I am the State Bar’s ADA Coordinator, and you may continue to send your accommodation requests to me.” My granted accommodation is written communication. So I am filing with you.
My grievance against you was one of the four Mr. DeLoach dismissed on June 30. I ask you to acknowledge each attached grievance and forward it to an authorized, independent intake official, not to screen or decide it yourself. If you believe this is not an authorized filing route, identify the accessible alternative, and confirm which office received each document and when.
Two tiers, in Mr. Willard’s own words
On June 30, between 4:23 and 4:35 PM, your office’s no reply address sent me six grievance decisions.
My grievance against Mr. Westbury, an outside lawyer, was decided by Grievance Counsel on the letterhead of the Office of the General Counsel. The letter set out what I alleged, named the standard, “clear and convincing evidence”, explained why it was not met, and showed a copy to Mr. Westbury.
My grievances against four lawyers inside that office, you, Mr. NeSmith, Ms. Morrison and Ms. Burgess, were decided by Mr. DeLoach, on State Bar letterhead under his name, with a “Reply to” address in Watkinsville. Each letter is one paragraph. Each says: “I find no basis for this grievance to be forwarded to the State Bar Disciplinary Board for investigation of violations of” the rules I cited, “or any other Georgia Rule of Professional Conduct. As a result, this grievance is dismissed.” None names an evidence standard or says which evidence fell short. The Office of the General Counsel letterhead on the Westbury letter lists all four of you, and the four letters about you came from that office’s no reply address.
On October 21, Mr. Willard confirmed the split. The grievances about outside lawyers, he wrote, “were reviewed by my office pursuant to the GRPC and found to be without sufficient merit to warrant further consideration.” The four about State Bar lawyers “were reviewed by the Chair of the State Disciplinary Board, a non-State Bar employee vested with authority pursuant to the GRPC to review grievances.”
Your written rules give the screening of a grievance, and its dismissal, to the Office of the General Counsel. Rule 4-202. In the State Bar’s handbook as I saved it on September 14, 2026, I found no written rule that sends a grievance against that office’s own lawyers to the Chair instead. Rule 4-203(4) lets the Board delegate some of its duties to its Chair, “subject to review and approval by the full State Disciplinary Board.” If that is what happened, I have never been shown the delegation or the full Board’s review and approval. And the power the Board may delegate is “to dismiss and reject matters that seem unjustified, frivolous, or patently unfounded.” Rule 4-203(2). None of the four letters says any of those words. Identify the exact authority used, who screened each grievance before it reached the Chair, the delegation made, and the date of the full Board’s review and approval.
The document properties of the Chair’s four letters show the same author name on all four, created between 7:47 and 7:53 AM on June 30 and edited between 4:15 and 4:17 PM, minutes before your office’s no reply address sent them. No one has told me who wrote them, who assembled “this record,” or when Mr. DeLoach saw it.
Two tracks. When the lawyer worked outside the Office of the General Counsel, I received a stated evidence standard and an explanation. When four lawyers worked inside that office, I received four one paragraph dismissals with neither. That is the two tier record you sent me. If your written rules authorize the difference, give me the rule, the delegation and the reviewer for each stage.
What I asked before, and ask again
On May 15 I asked for an independent route when a grievance concerns a lawyer who handles my ADA requests. On June 17 I asked for an independent person to review an ADA request involving a lawyer I had grieved. Mr. Willard’s October 21 email identifies the Chair as reviewer of four earlier staff grievances. It does not identify the conflict routing policy, the screener who sent them there, or who will handle a grievance concerning the Chair himself.
For each of the three attached grievances, please tell me in writing:
The rule. Mr. Willard wrote “pursuant to the GRPC.” The Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct govern how lawyers act. The rules on who screens and decides a grievance are in Part IV of the Bar Rules, Rules 4-202 and 4-203. Name the rule, by number, that governs a grievance against the State Bar’s General Counsel, its Deputy General Counsel, and the Chair of its Disciplinary Board. If no written rule covers one of them, say so.
The manner. Whether the grievance will be sent to the lawyer for a written response, as my grievance against [the respondent attorney] was on January 28. Who will screen it. What record will go before the decision maker, and whether I may see it.
Who. The name and title of the person who will investigate it and the person who will decide it. Not Mr. DeLoach on the grievance against himself. No one who reports to Mr. Willard.
When. The number assigned to each, and the date I will receive an accessible written decision.
Please confirm receipt of this email and its three attachments in writing.
The Westbury dismissal gave me an evidence standard and an explanation. Four dismissals involving your office’s lawyers gave me one paragraph each, without either. The Chair who signed those four dismissals is now the subject of my third grievance. Who will screen that one, and who will decide it?
Respectfully,
[removed: name and contact details] ADA Matters Because All People Matter.
I am a person with a disability. I request written communication by email in an accessible electronic format as a reasonable modification and for effective communication under 28 C.F.R. §§ 35.130(b)(7) and 35.160. I use assistive technology to prepare written communications. I apologize in advance for any typographical or transcription error. If any portion is unclear, please identify the specific portion and I will clarify in writing.
Related story: For the dated context, read Russell D. Willard, State Bar of Georgia: “your claim of being disabled”.