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Before You File Anything: Local Rules and Your Judge's Standing Orders

5 min read by Institute for Police Conduct, Inc.
local-rules procedure filing getting-started checklist

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are the same in every district. Almost nothing else is.

How many days you have to respond to a motion, how long your brief can be, whether you must attach a proposed order, whether you must call opposing counsel before filing, and exactly how a summary-judgment response must be formatted are all decided by your district’s local rules and your judges’ standing orders. Get one of them wrong and a filing you spent a week on can be struck without being read.

This article gives you the seven questions to answer once, a worksheet to record the answers, and the places to look.

After reading this article, you should be able to:

  • find the local rules and standing orders that govern your case
  • answer the seven questions that decide whether a filing is accepted
  • keep a one-page cheat sheet you check before every filing

Step 1: Identify the forum

Four things can each carry their own rules:

  1. the district
  2. the division within the district
  3. the assigned district judge
  4. the assigned magistrate judge

All four appear on your docket sheet. Write them down.

Step 2: Find the sources

The district’s local civil rules. Every district court posts them on its website, usually under “Local Rules” or “Rules and Orders.” Download the current version. They change, so note the date.

The judges’ standing orders. Go to the court website’s “Judges” page and open the page for each assigned judge. Look for “standing orders,” “practice standards,” “judge-specific requirements,” or “chambers procedures.” Download all of them for both judges.

The pro se guide. Many districts publish a handbook for parties without lawyers. It often summarizes the local rules in plain language and explains filing mechanics.

General orders. Some districts have general orders on electronic filing, referral of pro se cases, and page limits that sit outside the local rules. Check for a “General Orders” page.

Step 3: Answer the seven questions

For the district and, where they speak, for each assigned judge:

1. Response deadlines. How many days to respond to a dispositive motion (dismissal, summary judgment) and to a nondispositive motion (everything else)? Does the clock run from filing or from service? How does the district count?

2. Length limits. Pages or words, for each document type: motion, brief, response, reply, objections. Is a certificate of compliance required?

3. Motion mechanics. Is a separate brief required alongside the motion? Is a proposed order required, and in what format? Is a conference with opposing counsel required before filing, with a certificate saying it happened, and for which motions?

4. Summary-judgment format. The exact required form of the fact statement and the response to it. Numbered paragraphs? Record citations in a specific form? An appendix with page numbers? Admit-or-deny format? This is the most district-specific document in the case, and failing the format can result in the other side’s facts being deemed admitted.

5. Amendment mechanics. Must a motion for leave to amend attach the proposed pleading? Is a redline against the current pleading required?

6. Filing mechanics for a pro se party. Paper or electronic filing? Can you get electronic filing access by motion? Are courtesy copies required? How is service on you accomplished, by mail or by electronic notice?

7. Anything the judges add or change. Standing orders often set stricter page limits, require a phone conference before any discovery motion, or dictate the form of proposed orders.

Step 4: Fill in the worksheet

Copy this into your case file and fill it in with a citation to the rule or order and the date you checked.

FORUM
  District:                          Division:
  District judge:                    Magistrate judge:
  Local rules version/date:          Date checked:

1. RESPONSE DEADLINES
  Dispositive motion response:  ___ days from [filing/service]   (Rule ___)
  Nondispositive response:      ___ days from [filing/service]   (Rule ___)
  Reply:                        ___ days                          (Rule ___)
  Judge-specific changes:

2. LENGTH LIMITS
  Motion/brief:  ___ pages or words       Response: ___       Reply: ___
  Objections to R&R: ___
  Certificate of compliance required?  Y / N                    (Rule ___)

3. MOTION MECHANICS
  Separate brief required?             Y / N                    (Rule ___)
  Proposed order required?             Y / N   Format:          (Rule ___)
  Conference + certificate required?   Y / N   For which motions:
  Judge-specific requirements:

4. SUMMARY JUDGMENT FORMAT
  Fact statement form:
  Response to fact statement form:
  Appendix required?  Y / N   Citation form:
  Objections to evidence: how raised:
  Judge-specific requirements:

5. AMENDMENT MECHANICS
  Attach proposed pleading?  Y / N      Redline required?  Y / N   (Rule ___)

6. PRO SE FILING MECHANICS
  Electronic filing available by motion?  Y / N
  Courtesy copies?  Y / N
  Service on me by:  mail / ECF notice

7. STANDING ORDERS
  District judge orders reviewed (titles and dates):
  Magistrate judge orders reviewed (titles and dates):
  Notable requirements:

Step 5: Use it every time

Before each filing, open the worksheet and check four things: the deadline, the length limit, the mechanics for that document type, and any judge-specific rule. Then check the judges’ pages again for new orders. Judges update them.

When a local rule and the federal rule differ, the stricter one controls your conduct. When a standing order and a local rule differ, follow the judge’s order.

An example of why this matters

The Northern District of Texas requires a certificate of conference on most motions, gives 21 days to respond, and requires summary-judgment evidence in a separately paginated appendix with citations to the appendix page. A plaintiff who responds on day 22, or who cites the docket instead of the appendix, has a problem before the judge reads a word of argument.

Your district has its own version of that list. Find it now, not the night before a deadline.

Check Your Understanding

  1. The federal rules do not set a deadline to respond to a motion to dismiss. Where is yours?

    Show answer In your district's local civil rules, usually in the rule on motion practice. It is often 14 or 21 days. Your judge's standing order may change it. Write it on the worksheet with the rule number.

  2. Your district judge’s standing order caps briefs at 15 pages. The local rule says 25. Which controls?

    Show answer The judge's standing order. It is the more specific and the stricter requirement. Follow it.

  3. You are about to file a summary-judgment response. Which line of the worksheet do you check first?

    Show answer Section 4, the summary-judgment format. Failing the fact-statement or appendix format can result in the other side's facts being deemed admitted, which decides the motion before your argument is read.

Have corrections or want to suggest a change?