1201.31—Representatives.
(a) Procedure.
A party to an appeal may be represented in any matter related to the appeal. Parties may designate a representative, revoke such a designation, and change such a designation in a signed submission, submitted as a pleading.
(b)
A party may choose any representative as long as that person is willing and available to serve. The other party or parties may challenge the designation, however, on the ground that it involves a conflict of interest or a conflict of position. Any party who challenges the designation must do so by filing a motion with the judge within 15 days after the date of service of the notice of designation. The judge will rule on the motion before considering the merits of the appeal. These procedures apply equally to each designation of representative, regardless of whether the representative was the first one designated by a party or a subsequently designated representative. If a representative is disqualified, the judge will give the party whose representative was disqualified a reasonable time to obtain another one.
(c)
The judge, on his or her own motion, may disqualify a party's representative on the grounds described in paragraph (b) of this section.
(d)
(1)
A judge may exclude a party, a representative, or other person from all or any portion of the proceeding before him or her for contumacious misconduct or conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.
(2)
When a judge determines that a person should be excluded from participation in a proceeding, the judge shall inform the person of this determination through issuance of an order to show cause why he or she should not be excluded. The show cause order shall be delivered to the person by the most expeditious means of delivery available, including issuance of an oral order on the record where the determination to exclude the person is made during a hearing. The person must respond to the judge's show cause order within three days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays) of receipt of the order, unless the judge provides a different time limit, or forfeit the right to seek certification of a subsequent exclusion order as an interlocutory appeal to the Board under paragraph (d)(3) of this section.
(3)
When, after consideration of the person's response to the show cause order, or in the absence of a response to the show cause order, the judge determines that the person should be excluded from participation in the proceeding, the judge shall issue an order that documents the reasons for the exclusion. The person may obtain review of the judge's ruling by filing, within three days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays) of receipt of the ruling, a motion that the ruling be certified to the Board as an interlocutory appeal. The judge shall certify an interlocutory appeal to the Board within one day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays) of receipt of such a motion. Only the provisions of this paragraph apply to interlocutory appeals of rulings excluding a person from a proceeding; the provisions of §§ 1201.91 through 1201.93 of this part shall not apply.
(4)
A proceeding will not be delayed because the judge excludes a person from the proceeding, except that:
(i)
Where the judge excludes a party's representative, the judge will give the party a reasonable time to obtain another representative; and
(ii)
Where the judge certifies an interlocutory appeal of an exclusion ruling to the Board, the judge or the Board may stay the proceeding sua sponte or on the motion of a party for a stay of the proceeding.
(5)
The Board, when considering a petition for review of a judge's initial decision under subpart C of this part, will not be bound by any decision of the judge to exclude a person from the proceeding below.