Participants at a Formal Hearing

Section 300.1080  Participants at a Formal Hearing a)         A party may be accompanied at a formal hearing by his or her attorney or other representative. The participation of the other representative in the hearing shall be limited to fact-finding and support functions. Other representatives shall not be permitted to engage in any conduct or function that constitutes or reasonably approximates the practice of law. Other representatives shall not: examine or cross-examine any party or witness; offer any documents or other exhibits into evidence; make evidentiary, procedural or other legal objections; cite, file or interpret case law, statutes, administrative rulings or other legal authority; make legal arguments or interpretations; or give legal advice or opinions to parties or witnesses. Other representatives must provide to the represented party for signature a written disclosure document that explicitly states that the representative is not an attorney and that the representative is not permitted to present legal arguments or otherwise engage in any function that reasonably approximates the practice of law as described in this subsection (a). The document shall be signed by both the representative and the represented party. b)         The parties may bring witnesses to the hearing and the ALJ shall determine the order in which the witnesses are to be heard and shall limit testimony to that which is relevant, not cumulative in nature, not unduly repetitious and material to the claim. In deciding whether to permit a witness to testify, the ALJ may consider the relevance and materiality of the testimony. The ALJ may exclude witnesses when they are not giving testimony. The Department will provide translation services for the hearing as necessary.