OK, before we beat this particular horse to death it might be helpful if the OP came back to give us a bit more detail about the situation.

Note that he or she referred only to their "partner" and that the idea of marriage had been "discussed" (I assume - the original said "disused"). The OP also only said that the partner "lives in Texas" - if this person is not a US citizen, then the whole K-1 scenario is off the table.

Personally, I think the use of an attorney is only helpful where there is some complicating factor that needs to be presented in the "right" way in order to avoid an automatic rejection due to some technicality. For a K-1, if the couple hasn't known each other very long, or can't produce the sorts of documents to "prove" the relationship, then an attorney might be able to help with the process by suggesting alternative approaches to establishing the legitimacy of the request.

But in some cases, use of an attorney will simply arouse suspicion that "something isn't right and they are trying to get around it all." The immigration officials are given considerable discretion to follow their hunches and intuitions, and any visa application is a real crap shoot these days.

Anyhow, it would be helpful to know a little more about the OP and his or her situation.
Cheers,
Bev