The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has appointed Jerry Lehocky as Board Chair and Dion Rassias as Vice-Chair, effective April 1, 2022. The following year, Dion Rassias will assume the role of Board Chair, and former Sen. John C. Rafferty, Jr. will be appointed Vice-Chair, effective April 1, 2023.
Jerry Lehocky
Philadelphia attorney Jerry M. Lehocky was first appointed to the Board in February 2018 and was reappointed in December 2020.
A founding partner of Pond Lehocky Stern Giordano, Mr. Lehocky has litigated workers’ compensation and Social Security since being admitted to practice in 1985. Initially, his practice involved representing employers and insurance companies, but in 1991, Mr. Lehocky began representing claimants exclusively.
A former chairman of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Workers’ Compensation Section for 12 consecutive years, Mr. Lehocky has served as a consultant to several Pennsylvania governors and numerous state senators and representatives on workers’ compensation issues.
Mr. Lehocky is a former president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, the first workers’ compensation attorney in the organization’s history to hold that position. Mr. Lehocky continues to serve on the PAJ’s Board of Governors and the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association after having previously served on the Board of Directors of the Volunteers for the Indigent Program. Mr. Lehocky is also a member of the Workplace Injury Litigation Group and has been interviewed by National Public Radio to address the crisis of injuries to healthcare workers in America.
Mr. Lehocky previously served the Disciplinary Board as a Hearing Committee Member from 2000-2006, 2008-2014, and 2016-2018.
Dion Rassias
Philadelphia trial lawyer Dion G. Rassias was first appointed to the Board in April 2018 and was reappointed in February 2021.
Mr. Rassias is a trial lawyer with the Philadelphia law firm, The Beasley Firm LLC. He is admitted to practice in the bars of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, the District of Columbia, the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Claims, and the numerous corresponding Federal Courts in the states where he is admitted.
He has extensive trial and appellate experience in state and federal courts and regulatory agencies. Mr. Rassias has tried and settled a growing list of cases which have resulted in multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements, all of which have been collected in full, for people and families who have been catastrophically injured and damaged as the result of medical malpractice, professional malpractice, partnership disputes and law firm disassociations, defamation and false light, products liability, civil rights violations, discrimination and harassment, and related personal injury actions. In addition, he has tried and settled many complex commercial litigations involving business disputes, antitrust claims, contracting disputes, healthcare issues, bank fraud, and trade secret litigation.
Mr. Rassias previously served as a Hearing Committee Member from 2010-2016.
John Rafferty
Former Senator John C. Rafferty, Jr. was first appointed to the Board in February 2019 and was reappointed in October 2021.
Prior to his appointment to the Disciplinary Board, Sen. Rafferty served the 44th Senatorial District which included Berks, Chester, and Montgomery counties. Since leaving the Senate after serving four terms, he re-joined the firm Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin, PC in an Of Counsel capacity.
Throughout Sen. Rafferty’s time in the Senate, he served as the Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and member of the Appropriations, Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, and Law and Justice Committees. He was also appointed to serve on both the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
Before he ran for the Senate, Sen. Rafferty practiced law in private practice focusing on education, real estate, zoning, business, and estate law. He also served as a former Pennsylvania deputy attorney general in the criminal law division where he investigated and prosecuted Medicaid fraud.
Sen. Rafferty previously served as a member of the Methacton School Board, the Montgomery County Board of Assessment Appeals, and the Lower Providence Board of Supervisors.
Created in 1972, the Disciplinary Board was created by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to review conduct and assure compliance by all attorneys to the Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct. The board assists the Supreme Court in the licensing and discipline of attorneys in Pennsylvania. Its mission is to protect the general public, maintain a high standard of integrity in the legal profession and safeguard the reputation of the Pennsylvania courts.
Disciplinary Board members, which include ten lawyers and two non-lawyers from across the Commonwealth, meet regularly to decide cases, policies, and board administrative matters. All members of the Disciplinary Board serve as unpaid volunteers.