§ 7.011.Attorney's Liability for Costs

One sentence separating the lawyer from the client’s bill for costs.

An attorney who is not a party to a civil proceeding is not liable for payment of costs incurred by a party to the proceeding.

The rule is about status. Costs follow the parties, and a lawyer appearing for a party is not one — so a judgment for costs runs against the client and not against the person who filed the papers.

The qualification carries real weight: "who is not a party". An attorney who intervenes, who is sued, or who appears in their own right is a party, and this section says nothing about them.

The protection is confined to costs. An attorney remains exposed under the sanctions chapters, which reach the signatory of a pleading directly, and under the rules of court.

Without this section a lawyer would face a structural conflict. Personal exposure for a client’s costs would give the attorney an interest in the litigation adverse to the client’s — an incentive to settle or abandon a case on grounds having nothing to do with its merits.

It also protects representation of clients with no money. A lawyer taking a case for a person who cannot pay costs is not underwriting them personally.

Note where the section sits. It is in the chapter on the liability of court officers, among provisions about clerks and sheriffs — a placement that reflects the general subject of who bears the consequences of another’s conduct in a proceeding.