§ 151.007.Representation by Attorney

A one-line guarantee that a private setting does not change.

A party has the right to be represented by an attorney at a trial held under this chapter.

The right is stated rather than assumed. Private dispute resolution procedures sometimes limit or discourage counsel, and this chapter does neither.

It fits the rest of the chapter. Section 151.005 applies the court’s rules of procedure and evidence, which are hard to use without a lawyer.

The trial is private in venue only. Section 151.010 keeps it out of a public courtroom, and this section keeps the participants’ rights intact inside it.

Contrast the county systems in Chapter 152, which are informal forums for mediation and conciliation, where the shape of the process is different.

The section says nothing about who pays for counsel. Section 151.009 assigns the judge’s fee and administrative costs, and each party bears its own lawyer.

Nothing in the chapter limits what counsel may do. A lawyer appears, examines witnesses and makes objections as in any bench trial.

The right also protects a party who did not choose the arrangement wholeheartedly. Agreement to the referral is one decision; the conduct of the trial is governed by the same rules that would apply in court.