CIVIL LITIGATIONMANAGEMENT MANUAL

The Judicial Conference of the United StatesCommittee onCourt Administration and Case Management2001

This manual is for the guidance of judges. It is not intended to be relied upon asauthority, and it creates no rights or duties.

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COMMITTEE ON COURT ADMINISTRATION AND CASE MANAGEMENT of the JUDICIAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES

HONORABLE JOHN W. LUNGSTRUM, CHAIRHONORABLE TOM S. LEEHONORABLE W. HAROLD ALBRITTONHONORABLE J. RICHARD LEONARDHONORABLE JERRY A. DAVISHONORABLE EDMUND V. LUDWIGHONORABLE R. ALLAN EDGARHONORABLE SANDRA L. LYNCHHONORABLE TERRY J. HATTER, JR.HONORABLE ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER HONORABLE GLADYS KESSLERHONORABLE JOHN R. TUNHEIMHONORABLE JOHN G. KOELTLHONORABLE SAMUEL GRAYSON WILSON

September 2001The

Civil Litigation Management Manual,

which was approved by the Judicial Conference of theUnited States at its March 2001 session, was prepared under the direction of the Judicial Confer-ence Committee on Court Administration and Case Management during the chairmanship of Judge D. Brock Hornby, with substantial contributions by the Administrative Office of the U.S.Courts and the Federal Judicial Center. The manual was written for United States judges to helpthem secure “the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action.”This manual has its origin in the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990, which directs the Judicial Con-ference, with the assistance of the Administrative Office and the Federal Judicial Center, to “pre- pare, periodically revise, and transmit to the United States district courts a Manual for LitigationManagement and Cost and Delay Reduction.” It is one more response to a need frequently ex- pressed by judges—that is, to learn about the case management practices of other judges. Thus, themanual reflects, in its text and in the forms included in Appendix A, the varied experiences of dis-trict and magistrate judges. We are grateful to the many judges and courts who provided modelson which we could draw.This manual is available in print as well as electronically on the judiciary’s Web site. We hope thataccess to the electronic copy will make the manual even more useful, particularly for judges whowish to adapt or use a portion of a form or order. Although the manual contains many forms and orders, the documents included reflect only a small portion of those available. We urge judgeswho are interested in seeing the forms and orders used by their colleagues, or who wish to maketheir own forms and orders available, to use the Web sites developed by the individual courts. Wefound many of these sites to be rich sources of information and relied heavily on them for the ma-terials in Appendix A.With every good wish that the manual will be helpful to our colleagues on the bench, and withgrateful thanks to the Administrative Office and the Federal Judicial Center for supporting thecommittee in this project, the Court Administration and Case Management Committee offers thismanual for your consideration and use.John W. LungstrumChair, Court Administration and Case Management Committee