The Story · State Bar of Georgia
On April 21, 2026, Leigh Burgess, Assistant General Counsel of the State Bar of Georgia, confirmed in writing that my two answers had arrived and had not been put in my file before my complaint was decided. That email is why this website exists. I kept it. I kept all of them. On September 14, 2026, one of the State Bar of Georgia’s own emails to me was filed in a federal court. Proof of Leigh Burgess’s April 21, 2026 reply
If you know nothing about this, start here
I am a disabled dad. I use voice software to write. I complained about a lawyer to the State Bar of Georgia, which decides those complaints in Georgia. It confirmed my emails arrived, then decided my case without them. After that I did not trust a receipt from the State Bar of Georgia to mean anything, so I kept everything it sent me, in a folder, then on a private website so my software could search it, then here, where you can read it too.
The one line to remember
“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. Read the receipt
The State Bar of Georgia’s automatic reply had told me, twice, “Your email has been delivered.” Delivered to where, it turned out, was the question.
That sentence is the State Bar of Georgia’s whole account of two answers that went missing inside its own office. “Misclassification.” Not lost. Not misplaced. Not “we got it wrong.” Leigh Burgess found a word that admits my answers were there and the file was wrong, and still says nobody did anything. April 21, 2026 was the beginning of the State Bar of Georgia’s failure to take ownership of its mistakes. That is the day I started keeping everything.
How a folder became this site
| Step | What it was for |
|---|---|
| A folder on my computer | Keeping every email to and from the State Bar of Georgia in one place, so I could find them |
| A private website | Letting my voice software search and read those emails |
| adamatters.com | Putting every institution’s letters and emails in one organized place |
| A public website | So that everybody could see |
That is the sequence I described on October 11, 2026. Four steps, not four launches. The original problem was finding the emails. The reason it had to be solved was that the State Bar of Georgia had shown me what happens to an email it receives and does not file.
Where one of those emails went
On May 12, 2026, William D. NeSmith III, Deputy General Counsel, State Bar of Georgia, emailed me that the State Bar of Georgia “is not a public entity”. I published it. On September 14, 2026, a published image of that email was attached to a filing in Marsha W. Mignott’s federal lawsuit against defendants that include the State Bar of Georgia Foundation and the State Bar of Georgia Office of General Counsel. The plaintiff filed it. I am not a party and did not file it. Proof of the email image in the federal filing
I kept a lawyer’s email because I had learned not to trust the State Bar of Georgia with my own. Four months later a federal court had it. That is the whole case for keeping receipts.
Why the officials are named, and I am not
Leigh Burgess’s name sits beside her sentence because she wrote it, in her job, on a date. William D. NeSmith III’s name sits beside his. An official is named for the official act.
My name is not here. I do not want this to be the first thing anyone finds when they search it. I am the disabled dad who received the messages. That is who is writing.
What I allege
1. I allege that the State Bar of Georgia’s own receipt for my emails (“Your email has been delivered”) did not mean my emails reached the person deciding my case. Leigh Burgess’s April 21, 2026 email says they did not.
2. I allege that I had to become the State Bar of Georgia’s filing system for my own complaint, because the State Bar of Georgia’s was not working for me. Every email on this site is here for that reason.
3. I allege that the State Bar of Georgia’s own words, kept and published, are now evidence in a federal court, filed by someone else, about the same institution. The filing is linked above.
4. An institution that tells a disabled man his emails were delivered, and then decides his case as if they were not, should expect him to keep copies. Did the State Bar of Georgia expect that? Its own lawyers later told a federal court one of its emails was “purporting” to be from the man who signed it. I have the original.
5. Would the State Bar of Georgia prefer its emails stayed in my inbox? They are here instead, with its officials’ names on them, because that is where they can be read.
Is this how they would treat their own family or friends that were disabled
Questions and answers
Did ADA Matters begin as a public website? No. It began as a folder, then a private website so my software could work with the State Bar of Georgia emails, then adamatters.com, then a public site.
Why are the officials named and the author is not? An official is named for what he or she wrote in an official role on a dated day. The author is a disabled dad who does not want this to be the first result for his name.
Did a State Bar of Georgia email from this site end up in court? Yes. On September 14, 2026, a published image of William D. NeSmith III’s May 12, 2026 email was attached to a filing by the plaintiff in a federal case against State Bar of Georgia defendants. I am not a party.
Read the documents
I am not asking you to take my word for any of it. I am asking you to read theirs.
Proof of Leigh Burgess’s April 21, 2026 reply · Georgia Bar Had My 2 Answers. Its Dismissal Said It Had None. · William D. NeSmith III’s email in the federal filing · The Receipts
Corrections
ADA Matters welcomes documented corrections. Identify this page, the sentence and the supporting document so it can be reviewed.