What is The Role of a To’ein

Rav Yehoshua wolfe

Question: I was summoned to a din Torah and my friends tell me that I need to find a good to’ein. Is this correct?

Answer: According to U.S. law, everyone has a right to legal representation. For this reason, if a bais din wouldn’t allow a party to have a to’ein or lawyer present with him at a din Torah, the arbitration agreement could possibly be undermined and challenged in court. For this reason, every established bais din that I am aware of allows lawyers to be present.

According to the strict halacha, the parties would be expected to speak for themselves and bais din would have to hear their claims directly from their mouths; however, the common custom is to allow a representative, such as a to’ein, to speak on their behalf. This is a very old minhag that is already discussed by the Shach and the Tumim. Because it is already an established custom, the assumption is that all parties implicitly agree to it.

Some have claimed that attorneys are preferable to to’anim because they have some kind of license that holds them to a higher standard and prevents them from engaging in deception. In my experience, I have seen both unscrupulous lawyers and unscrupulous to’anim and do not see the benefit of one over the other. Boruch Hashem, I can say that most of the lawyers and to’anim who appear before our bais din are upstanding and professional.