The Judicial Officer promulgates these rules pursuant to authority delegated by the Postmaster General.

(a) Any individual who is a party to any proceeding before the Judicial Officer, the Board of Contract Appeals or an Administrative Law Judge may appear for himself or by an attorney at law.

(b) The head of any department of the Postal Service may establish such special rules and regulations pertaining to eligibility to practice before such department as he may deem to be necessary or desirable.

(c) Generally, except as provided in § 951.3, any attorney at law who is a member in good standing of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States or of the highest court of any State, District, Territory, Protectorate or Possession of the United States, or of the District of Columbia, and is not under any order of any court or executive department of one of the foregoing governmental entities suspending, enjoining, restraining, disbarring, or otherwise restricting him in the practice of law may represent others before the U.S. Postal Service.

(d) When any person acting in a representative capacity appears in person or signs a paper in practice before the Postal Service his personal appearance or signature shall constitute a representation to the Postal Service that under the provisions of this part and the law he is authorized and qualified to represent the particular party in whose behalf he acts. The Postal Service does not generally take formal action or issue any certificate to show that an individual is eligible to practice before it. (See § 951.4.)

(a) No person disbarred from practice before the Postal Service or in any other executive department of any of the governmental entities mentioned in § 951.2(c) will be eligible to practice before the Postal Service until said order of disbarment shall have been revoked.

(b) Any person who, subsequently to being admitted to practice before the Postal Service, is disbarred by any governmental entity mentioned in § 951.2(c) shall be deemed suspended from practice before the Postal Service during the pendency of said order or disbarment.

(c) No person who has been an attorney, officer, clerk, or employee in the Postal Service will be recognized as attorney for prosecuting before it or any office thereof any case or matter which he was in anywise connected while he was such attorney, officer, clerk, or employee.

(d) No person coming within the prohibitions of 18 U.S.C. 203, 205, or 207, will be recognized as attorney before the Postal Service or any office thereof.

The Judicial Officer, the head of any department of the Postal Service or any Administrative Law Judge may require any person to present satisfactory evidence of his authority to represent the person for whom he appears.

(a) If the head of any department of the Postal Service has reason to believe, or if complaint be made to him, that any person is guilty of conduct subjecting him to suspension or disbarment, the head of such office shall report the same to the Judicial Officer.

(b) Whenever any person submits to the Judicial Officer a complaint against any person who has practiced, is practicing or holding himself out as entitled to practice before the Postal Service, the Judicial Officer may refer such complaint to the Chief Inspector for a complete investigation and report.

(c) At any time, the Judicial Officer may refer the complaint to the General Counsel for the preparation of formal charges to be lodged against and served upon the person against whom the complaint has been made.

(a) The Judicial Officer may censure, suspend or disbar any person against whom a complaint has been made and upon whom charges have been served as provided in § 951.5 if he finds that such person:

(1) Does not possess the qualifications required by § 951.2;

(2) Has failed to conform to standards of ethical conduct required of practitioners at the Bar of any court of which he is a member;

(3) Represents, as an associate, an attorney who, known to him, solicits practice by means of runners or other unethical methods;

(4) By use of his name, personal appearance, or any device, aids or abets an attorney to practice during the period of his suspension or disbarment, such suspension or disbarment being known to him;

(5) Displays toward the Judicial Officer, Board of Contract Appeals or any Administrative Law Judge assigned to the Postal Service, conduct which, if displayed toward any court of any State, the United States, any of its Territories or the District of Columbia, would be cause for censure, suspension or disbarment; or

(6) Is otherwise guilty of misconduct or lacking in character or professional integrity.

(b) Before any person shall be censured, suspended or disbarred, he shall be afforded an opportunity to be heard by the Judicial Officer on the charges made against him. The General Counsel or his designee shall prosecute such cases.

(c) In the event the Judicial Officer is unavailable for any reason, he may assign complaints of misconduct to the Associate Judicial Officer, an Administrative Law Judge appointed pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, an Administrative Judge appointed pursuant to the provisions of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978, or some other disinterested member of the headquarters staff of the Postal Service recommended by the Deputy Postmaster General, for the determinations required by § 951.5, the conduct of the hearings, and the decision to censure, suspend, or debar persons as provided herein.

Upon the disbarment of any person, notice thereof will be given to the heads of the departments of the Postal Service and to the other Executive Departments, and thereafter, until otherwise ordered, such disbarred persons will not be entitled to practice before the Postal Service or any department thereof.

The provisions of 5 U.S.C. 551(14), 556(d) and 557(d) prohibiting ex parte communications are made applicable to proceedings under these rules of practice.