Rule 2.6 Ensuring the Right to Be Heard

(A) A judge shall accord to every person who has a legal interest in a proceeding, or that person’s lawyer, the right to be heard according to law.

(B) A judge may encourage parties to a proceeding and their lawyers to settle matters in dispute but shall not act in a manner that coerces any party into settlement. But see Rule 2.11 Disqualification.

COMMENT

[1] The right to be heard is an essential component of a fair and impartial system of justice. Substantive rights of litigants can be protected only if procedures protecting the right to be heard are observed.

[2] Increasingly, judges have before them self-represented litigants whose lack of knowledge about the law and about judicial procedures and requirements may inhibit their ability to be heard effectively. A judge’s obligation under Rule 2.2 to remain fair and impartial does not preclude the judge from making reasonable accommodations to ensure a self-represented litigant’s right to be heard, so long as those accommodations do not give the self-represented litigant an advantage. If the judge chooses to make a reasonable accommodation, such accommodation shall not relieve the self-represented litigant from following the same rules of procedure and evidence that are applicable to a litigant represented by an attorney.