Courtesy of Cozen O'Connor

Washington, D.C., disciplinary officials on Friday recommended publicly censuring a Cozen O'Connor lawyer for allegedly concealing a past disciplinary charge relating to a 2004 hit-and-run.

The three-member committee found that the Board on Professional Responsibility's disciplinary arm—the Office of Disciplinary Counsel—proved "by clear and convincing evidence" that Cozen lawyer Wayne Rohde, identified on the firm's website as a member, broke Virginia's rules of professional conduct when he failed to disclose his pending disciplinary charges on a pro hac vice application in 2010.

The committee recommended public censure over a more severe sanction, however, finding that no client was prejudiced and no party suffered material injury as a result.

"Attorney dishonesty is always serious, and dishonesty to a tribunal even more so," the committee wrote. "But respondent's dishonesty here was limited to two brief instances, and was not part of an overall scheme to mislead for personal gain."

Rohde and the disciplinary counsel, Hamilton Fox, have seven days to decide whether to appeal the committee's findings and recommendation. After that, it will go before the Board on Professional Responsibility and then the D.C. Court of Appeals, which has the final say.

Fox said he hadn't decided yet how he will proceed. Rohde declined to comment.

"[A public censure] doesn't prevent him from practicing law, but it's not a good thing to have happen to you," Fox said. "Any time someone googles Mr. Rohde's name, it's going to pop up."

The 2004 hit-and-run occurred while Rohde was an associate at Sher & Blackwell and struggling with alcoholism, according to the hearing committee's findings. The Friday report noted that Rohde is "substantially rehabilitated—having completed treatment for alcoholism, been a long-term participant in Alcoholics Anonymous, and abstaining from alcohol since October 2004."

According to the hearing committee, Rohde "did not remain at the scene of the collision, where the other driver was severely injured and trapped in her vehicle."

Rohde pleaded guilty in August 2005 to a felony hit-and-run charge. An Arlington County, Virginia, judge gave Rohde a suspended two-year prison sentence, placing him on supervised probation. He was also ordered to pay costs of $405.

Sher & Blackwell never took any action against Rohde, but the disciplinary counsel's office began pursing the matter in 2005.

Rohde's case languished for years, a common occurrence, Fox said. A hearing committee didn't issue its findings and recommendations until 2015, and the D.C. Court of Appeals didn't approve those until August 2018. The court placed Rohde on supervised probation for three years after lifting a two-year suspension.

"We have a very slow and cumbersome system," Fox said.

In 2010, as Rohde's case sat before a hearing committee, Sher & Blackwell merged with Cozen, and Rohde, who disclosed the pending matter to his new firm, became a member there.

Shortly thereafter, Rohde, whose practice revolves around the international ocean transportation industry, was recruited by one of his colleagues to help work on a case in Virginia federal court involving Damco, a global shipping company.

Licensed to practice in D.C., Rohde filled out a Virginia pro hac vice application, but he did not disclose the pending disciplinary charges against him, which the hearing committee on Friday found violated Virginia's rules of professional conduct. Virginia's application required Rohde to certify by signature that he had "not been reprimanded in any court nor [had] there been any action in any court pertaining to [his] conduct or fitness as a member of the bar."

Fox's office also alleged that Rohde broke similar rules in New York and Washington. Rohde didn't disclose his disciplinary charges on a New York pro hac vice application in 2011. However, the hearing committee did not agree with those charges.

A representative from Cozen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.