Rule 17-104. Hearing officers and committees.

A. Appointment and composition. The Disciplinary Board shall provide for the organization of two or more hearing committees or the appointment of two or more hearing officers within each disciplinary district, each committee to consist of three members. Hearing officers shall be members of the bar of this state. Members of hearing committees may be members of the bar of this state or "non-lawyer public members", as defined in Paragraph B of Rule 17-101, appointed by the Disciplinary Board upon recommendations of the board. The board may, from time to time, designate hearing committee members to sit temporarily upon committees other than those of which they are regular members, whether within or without their own district as the business of the committees may require. Hearing committees shall act only with a concurrence of a majority of their members. Two members of each committee shall be members of the bar of this state. Two members of a committee shall constitute a quorum. B. Reviewing officers. Any member of a hearing committee may serve as a reviewing officer. A reviewing officer, upon request of disciplinary counsel or the chair of the board, shall have the authority and duty to review, approve, modify or disapprove dismissals of complaints docketed for formal investigation and offers of informal admonitions proposed by disciplinary counsel. Any member of a hearing committee who participates as a reviewing officer during the investigation of an attorney shall not serve as a member of a hearing committee for any charges filed as a result of such investigation. The identity of the reviewing officer involved in a particular investigation shall remain confidential at all times, including after the filing of formal disciplinary charges. Upon request, the reviewing officer's report, without identifying information, may be made available to the attorney being investigated. C. Powers and duties. Hearing officers and committees shall have the power and duty: (1) to conduct hearings into formal charges of misconduct upon assignment by the chair of the Disciplinary Board; (2) to conduct hearings upon motions for reinstatement and remission of deferred sanctions upon assignment by the chair of the Disciplinary Board; and (3) to report to the Disciplinary Board their findings of fact, conclusions of law and recommendations, together with the records of all proceedings. D. Abstention of hearing officers. Hearing officers shall refrain from taking part in any proceeding in which a judge, similarly situated, would be required to abstain. No hearing officer shall personally represent a lawyer in any investigation or proceeding conducted pursuant to these rules while actively serving on a hearing committee in a pending proceeding. For purposes of this rule, a term of active service in a pending proceeding shall begin on the date the hearing officer receives notice of assignment to a committee and concludes on the date the committee submits its notice of findings in accordance with Paragraph E of Rule 17-313. E. Venue. Unless otherwise ordered by the chair of the Disciplinary Board, a disciplinary proceeding shall be brought in the disciplinary district in which the respondent-attorney's principal office is located or, if the respondent-attorney does not maintain a principal office in this state, in a district in which any part of the conduct under investigation occurred.