Each party is responsible for securing his or her own counsel. AFR 4.2.3 The presiding officer may restrict the attendance of persons other than the parties concerned to protect the confidentiality of information or to maintain order. The presiding officer should request that both the grievant and respondent submit documents they plan to use as evidence at the hearing so that all documents will be received in time to accommodate their duplication, if necessary. See AFR 4.4.8 Hearing procedure should be informal but with due regard for fairness to all parties. The parties should be accorded equal status in a hearing.
Time limits are at the discretion of the panel.
A panel can listen to whatever may possibly be germane to judging the matter at hand and request additional material it wishes to have. Nonetheless, the presiding officer needs to keep the discussion reasonably on track and civil. The presiding officer should make a tape recording of the hearing. Should either party want a copy of the tape after the hearing, the party should provide a blank tape so that a copy can be made by the presiding officer. No tape recording should be made of the hearing board's deliberations.