Judge Katherine Polk Failla — United States District Court, Southern District of New York

Civil Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order (Fillable)

1/13/2026 Version UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Plaintiff(s), v. Defendant(s).

X : : : : : : : : : : : X Civ.
(KPF) CIVIL CASE MANAGEMENT PLAN AND SCHEDULING ORDER This Civil Case Management Plan (the “Plan”) is submitted by the parties in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f)(3). 1. All parties [consent
/ do not consent
] to conducting all further proceedings before a United States Magistrate Judge, including motions and trial. 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). The parties are free to withhold consent without adverse substantive consequences. [If all parties consent, the remaining paragraphs need not be completed. Instead, the parties shall submit to the Court a fully executed SDNY Form Consenting to Proceed for All Purposes Before a Magistrate Judge, available at the Court’s website, https://nysd.uscourts.gov/hon-katherine-polk-failla, within three (3) days of submitting this Proposed Civil Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order.] 2. The parties [have / have not
] conferred pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f). 3. Amended pleadings may not be filed and additional parties may not be joined except with leave of the Court. Any motion to amend or to join additional parties shall be filed no later than
[Absent exceptional circumstances, a date not more than thirty (30) days following the initial pretrial conference. Any motion to amend or to join additional parties filed after this deadline will be subject to the “good cause” standard in Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4) rather than the more lenient standards of Fed. R. Civ. P. 15 and 21.] 4. Initial disclosures pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1) shall be completed no later than
days from the date of this Order. [Absent exceptional circumstances, a date not more than 14 days following the initial pretrial

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conference.]

[If applicable] The plaintiff(s) shall provide HIPAA-compliant medical records release authorizations to the defendant(s) no later than

.

Discovery

a. The parties are to conduct discovery in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules of the Southern District of New York.

b. The parties are to discuss, if and as appropriate, provisions for the disclosure, discovery, or preservation of electronically stored information (ESI). Any agreement reached between the parties concerning ESI is to be filed within 30 days from the date of this Order.

c. The parties are to discuss whether a procedure for designating materials as confidential is necessary in this matter. Any agreement between the parties for designating materials as confidential must conform to the Court’s Individual Rules regarding the filing of materials under seal. Any confidentiality agreement between the parties is to be filed within 30 days from the date of this Order.

d. The parties are also to discuss protocols for asserting claims of privilege or of protection as trial-preparation material after such information is produced, pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 502. Any agreement reached between the parties concerning such protocols is to be filed within 30 days from the date of this Order.

e. All fact discovery shall be completed no later than
. [A date not more than 120 days following the initial pretrial conference, unless the Court finds that the case presents unique complexities or other exceptional circumstances.]

f. All expert discovery, including reports, production of underlying documents, and depositions, shall be completed no later than

. [Absent exceptional circumstances, a date not more than 45 days from the date in paragraph 6(e) (i.e., the completion of all fact discovery).]

1/13/2026 Version 7. Interim Discovery Deadlines a. Initial requests for production of documents shall be served by . b. Interrogatories pursuant to Rule 33.3(a) of the Local Civil Rules of the Southern District of New York shall be served by . No Rule 33.3(a) interrogatories need to be served with respect to disclosures automatically required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a). c. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, contention interrogatories pursuant to Rule 33.3(c) of the Local Civil Rules of the Southern District of New York must be served no later than 30 days before the close of discovery. No other interrogatories are permitted except upon prior express permission of the Court. d. Depositions of fact witnesses shall be completed by . i. Absent an agreement between the parties or an order from the Court, depositions are not to be held until all parties have responded to initial requests for document production. ii. There is no priority in deposition by reason of a party’s status as a plaintiff or a defendant. iii. Absent an agreement between the parties or an order from the Court, non-party depositions shall follow initial party depositions. e. Requests to admit shall be served by . f. Any of the deadlines in paragraphs 7(a) through 7(e) may be extended by the written consent of all parties without application to the Court, provided that all fact discovery is completed by the date set forth in paragraph 6(e). g. No later than 30 days prior to the date in paragraph 6(e) (i.e., the completion of all fact discovery), the parties shall meet and confer on a schedule for expert disclosures, including reports, production of underlying documents, and depositions, provided that (i) expert report(s) of the party with the burden of proof shall be due before those of the opposing party’s expert(s); and (ii) all expert discovery shall be completed by the date set forth in paragraph 6(f).

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Privileged Materials and Trial-Preparation Materials

a. [If and as applicable] The parties shall comply with Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5)(A) and Local Civil Rule 26.2 no later than_______________ using the following method or methods:

[In general, parties are encouraged to exchange privilege logs or other means of identifying withheld materials concurrently with, or as promptly as practicable following, each production. In accordance with Local Civil Rule 26.2(c), parties are also encouraged to identify and use efficient methods for the exchange of such information, including, as appropriate, the use of document-by-document, categorical, or metadata privilege logs.]

b. The parties [have ______ / have not ______] reached an agreement under Fed. R. Evid. 502. [If the parties have reached such an agreement, they may file an agreed-upon proposed order under Fed. R. Evid. 502(d).]

c. The parties [do ______ / do not ______] believe that a protective order under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c) is warranted. [If the parties believe that a protective order is warranted, they should file an agreed-upon proposed order. Any such order may bind the parties to treat as confidential documents so classified but may not authorize the parties to file documents under seal absent an appropriate court finding. That finding will be made, if ever, upon a document-by-document review pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Court’s Individual Rules and Practices and subject to the presumption in favor of public access to “judicial documents.” See generally Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110, 119-20 (2d Cir. 2006).]

All motions and applications shall be governed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Local Rules of the Southern District of New York, and the Court’s Individual Rules of Practice in Civil Cases (“Individual Rules”), which are available at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/hon-katherine-polk- failla.

In the case of discovery disputes, parties should follow Local Civil Rule 37.2 with the following modifications. Any party wishing to raise a discovery dispute with the Court must first confer in good faith with the opposing party, in person or by telephone, in an effort to resolve the 

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dispute. If this meet-and-confer process does not resolve the dispute, the party may submit a letter to the Court, no longer than three pages, explaining the nature of the dispute and requesting an informal conference. Such a letter must include a representation that the meet- and-confer process occurred and was unsuccessful. If the opposing party wishes to respond to the letter, it must submit a responsive letter, not to exceed three pages, within three business days after the request is received. Counsel should be prepared to discuss with the Court the matters raised by such letters, as the Court will seek to resolve discovery disputes quickly, by order, by conference, or by telephone.

Settlement/Alternative dispute resolution

a. All counsel must meet in person for at least one hour to discuss settlement within fourteen (14) days following the close of fact discovery EXCEPT in cases brought as putative collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, in which case counsel must meet to discuss settlement within 14 days following the close of the opt-in period.

b. Settlement discussions [have ______ / have not ______] taken place.

c. [If applicable] Counsel have discussed an informal exchange of information in aid of early settlement and have agreed upon the following:

d. [If the case has not already been referred for settlement] Counsel for the parties have discussed the use of the following alternate dispute resolution mechanisms in this case and propose the following alternate dispute resolution mechanism for this case:

___ Immediate referral to the designated Magistrate Judge for a settlement conference

___ Referral to the designated Magistrate Judge for a settlement conference at the following point in the case (e.g., within the next 60 days; after the deposition of plaintiff is completed (specify date); after the close of fact discovery): _________________________________________________________

___ Immediate referral to the District’s Mediation Program

1/13/2026 Version ___ Referral to the District’s Mediation Program for a settlement conference at the following point in the case (e.g., within the next 60 days; after the deposition of plaintiff is completed (specify date); after the close of fact discovery): _________________________________________________________
Other: __________________________________________________________ e. The use of any alternative dispute resolution mechanism does not stay or modify any date in this Order. 12. Absent good cause, the Court will not ordinarily have summary judgment practice in a non-jury case. Before filing a summary judgment motion, the moving party must file a pre-motion submission pursuant to Section 4(A) of the Court’s Individual Rules. The submission shall be filed within 30 days of the close of fact or expert discovery, whichever comes later. 13. Similarly, any motion to exclude the testimony of experts pursuant to Rules 702-705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), line of cases, is to be filed within 30 days of the close of fact or expert discovery, whichever is later. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, opposition to any such motion is to be filed two weeks after the motion is served on the opposing party, and a reply, if any, is to be filed one week after service of any opposition. 14. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, within 30 days of the close of all discovery, or, if a dispositive motion has been filed, within 30 days of a decision on such motion, the parties shall submit to the Court for its approval a Joint Pretrial Order prepared in accordance with the Court’s Individual Rules and Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(3). The parties shall also follow Paragraph 7 of the Court’s Individual Rules, which paragraph identifies submissions that must be made at or before the time of the Joint Pretrial Order, including any motions in limine. 15. If this action is to be tried before a jury, joint requests to charge, joint proposed verdict forms, and joint proposed voir dire questions shall be filed on or before the Joint Pretrial Order due date in accordance with the Court’s Individual Rules. Jury instructions may not be submitted after the Joint Pretrial Order due date, unless they meet the standard of Fed. R. Civ. P. 51(a)(2)(A). If this action is to be tried to the Court, proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law shall be filed on or before the Joint Pretrial Order due date in accordance with the Court’s Individual Rules. 16. Unless the Court orders otherwise for good cause shown, the parties shall be ready for trial 30 days after the Joint Pretrial Order is filed.

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This case [is
/ is not
] to be tried to a jury.

Counsel for the parties have conferred and the present best estimate of the length of trial is
.

Other issues to be addressed at the Initial Pretrial Conference, including those set forth in Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f)(3), are set forth below.

Counsel for the Parties:

1/13/2026 Version TO BE FILLED IN BY THE COURT IF APPLICABLE: shall file a motion for
no later than

. Any opposition shall be filed by
and any reply shall be filed by
. One courtesy copy of all motion papers, marked as such, shall be mailed or hand delivered to the Court by the movant at the time the reply is served. All courtesy copies should be three-hole punched, tabbed, and placed in binders as specified in the Court’s Individual Rules. The next pretrial conference is scheduled for ______________________ at __________. The conference will take place: ___ in-person in Courtroom 618 of the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, New York, New York 10007; or, ___ remotely by telephone. At the scheduled time, the parties are to dial in to the conference by calling (855) 244-8681 and entering access code 2315 780 7370#. Note that the conference line will not be available before the start of the conference time. By Thursday of the week prior to that conference, the parties shall file on ECF, and provide a courtesy copy, clearly marked as such, via e-mail (Failla_NYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov) a joint letter, not to exceed three pages, regarding the status of the case. The letter should include the following information in separate paragraphs: (1) A statement of all existing deadlines, due dates, and/or cut-off dates; (2) A brief description of any outstanding motions; (3) A brief description of the status of discovery and of any additional discovery that needs to be completed; (4) A statement describing the status of any settlement discussions and whether the parties would like a settlement conference; (5) A statement of the anticipated length of trial and whether the case is to be tried to a jury; (6) A statement of whether the parties anticipate filing motions for summary judgment, including the basis of any such motion; and (7) Any other issue that the parties would like to address at the pretrial conference or any information that the parties believe may assist the Court in advancing the case to settlement or trial.

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This Order may not be modified or the dates herein extended, except by further Order of this Court for good cause shown. Unless the Court orders otherwise, parties engaged in settlement negotiations must proceed on parallel tracks, pursuing settlement and conducting discovery simultaneously. Parties should not assume that they will receive an extension of an existing deadline if settlement negotiations fail. Any application to modify or extend the dates herein (except as provided in paragraph 7(f)) shall be made in a written application in accordance with the Court’s Individual Rules and must be made no fewer than two business days prior to the expiration of the date sought to be extended.

SO ORDERED.

Dated:

, 2026 New York, New York KATHERINE POLK FAILLA United States District Judge

Individual Rules of Practice in Civil Cases

Revised: January 3, 2025 INDIVIDUAL RULES OF PRACTICE IN CIVIL CASES Katherine Polk Failla, United States District Judge Courtroom
40 Foley Square, Courtroom 618 Talena Noriega, Courtroom Deputy (212) 805-0290 Chambers
United States District Court
Southern District of New York 40 Foley Square, Room 2103 New York, NY 10007
(212) 805-0290 Failla_NYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov Pro Se Intake Office
United States District Court Southern District of New York 500 Pearl Street, Room 205 New York, NY 10007 (212) 805-0175 1. Procedural Rules A. Generally. The Court’s procedures are governed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Local Rules of the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York (the “Local Rules”), and the Individual Practices set forth below. Unless otherwise ordered, these Individual Practices apply to all civil matters before Judge Failla. B. Pilot Projects and Plans. If a case is designated by Order of the Court to be part of one of the Court’s pilot projects or plans (including the protocols set forth in Local Civil Rule 83.10), the procedures in such project or plan shall govern to the extent that they are inconsistent with these Individual Practices. 2. Communications with Chambers A. ECF. In accordance with Local Civil Rule 1.4 and the Electronic Case Filing (“ECF”) Rules and Instructions, counsel are required to register as ECF filers and to enter a notice of appearance in the case promptly on or before the attorney’s first appearance in court or filing in the case. Counsel who file(s) a case-initiating document, such as a complaint, petition, or notice of removal, need not file a separate notice of appearance. Instructions are available on the Court website, at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/electronic- case-filing. Counsel are responsible for updating their contact

Revised: January 3, 2025

information on ECF as needed, and counsel remain responsible for checking the docket sheet regularly, regardless of whether they receive an ECF notification of case activity. B. Letters. Except as otherwise provided below, communications with the Court should be by letter. Letters should be filed electronically on ECF, with a courtesy copy, clearly marked as such, delivered to the Court via e-mail (Failla_NYSDChambers@ nysd.uscourts.gov). E-mails shall state clearly in the subject line: (i) the caption of the case, including the lead party names and docket number; and (ii) a brief description of the contents of the letter. Parties shall not include substantive communications in the body of the e-mail; such communications shall be included only in the body of the letter. Copies of correspondence between counsel shall not be filed on ECF or otherwise sent to the Court (except as exhibits to an otherwise properly filed document). The courtesy copy of any letter filed on ECF must be an electronic copy of the filed version of the letter and must include the automatically generated ECF header (that is, the text — e.g., “Case 1:19-cv- 01234-KPF Document 100 Filed 1/1/19 Page 1 of 1” — appearing at the top of each page of a document on the ECF system).
i. By a Pro Se Party. All communications with the Court by a pro se party must be sent to the Pro Se Intake Office, or filed directly on ECF if granted such permission, as discussed in Rule (2)(B)(2) below. You may contact the Pro Se Intake Office at (212) 805-0175 during normal business hours, 8:30am - 5:00pm, Monday – Friday. No documents or filings should be sent directly to Chambers. Copies of correspondence between a pro se party and counsel should not be sent to the Court.

1. Consent to receive documents by e-mail. Pro se parties who want to receive service of notices and documents by e-mail instead of regular mail, should submit a completed Consent to Electronic Service form, to the Pro Se Intake Office, which is available on the court’s website at: https://nysd.uscourts.gov/forms/consent- electronic-service-pro-se-cases. If a pro se party consents to receive documents electronically, they will no longer receive documents in the mail, and instead, will receive a Notice of Electronic Filing (“NEF”) by e-mail each time a document is filed in their case. Electronic service does not allow a pro se party to electronically file their documents.

Revised: January 3, 2025

2. Permission for Electronic Case Filing. Once a Complaint has been filed, a pro se party who wants to electronically file their court documents, must submit a written motion that includes information regarding their ability to use a computer and what computer access they have, to the Pro Se Intake Office. A form Motion for Permission for Electronic Case Filing is available on the court’s website at: https://nysd.uscourts.gov/forms/ motion-permission-electronic-case-filing-pro-se-cases. If a pro se party is granted permission to participate in electronic case filing, they must file their documents electronically, they will no longer receive documents in the mail, and instead, will receive a Notice of Electronic Filing (“NEF”) by e-mail each time a document is filed in their case.
3. Pro Se Legal Clinic. For interested pro se parties, the City Bar Justice Center (CBJC) Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Project is a free legal clinic staffed by attorneys and paralegals to assist those who are representing themselves or planning to represent themselves in civil lawsuits in the Southern District of New York. The clinic, which is not part of or run by the Court, has offices at 40 Foley Square, Room LL22. More information is available on the Court’s website at: https://nysd.uscourts.gov/ attorney/legal-assistance. C. Letter Motions. Letter motions may be filed via ECF if they comply with the Local Rules and the SDNY Electronic Case Filing Rules & Instructions. All requests for adjournments, extensions, and pre-motion conferences should be filed as letter motions. Pre- motion submissions are discussed in further detail in Rule 4(A) below. If the letter motion is not on consent, any opposing party should submit a letter setting forth its position, within three business days after the initial letter motion is received. A courtesy copy of each letter motion must also be provided to Chambers via e-mail as outlined in Rule 2(B) above.
   i. Requests for Adjournments or Extensions of Time. Letter motions for adjournments or extensions of time should state: (i) the original due date; (ii) the number of previous requests for adjournment or extension of time; (iii) whether these previous requests were granted or denied; (iv) the reason for the current request; and (v) whether the adversary consents, and, if not, the reasons given by the adversary for refusing to consent. If the

Revised: January 3, 2025

requested adjournment or extension affects any other scheduled dates, a proposed Revised Scheduling Order must be attached.
If the request is for an adjournment of a court appearance, absent an emergency, the request shall be made at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled appearance.

1. By a Pro Se Party. Requests for extensions by pro se parties should be submitted to the Pro Se Intake Office, and shall include the information specified in Rule 2(C)(i), except that a pro se party may, but is not required to, submit a proposed Revised Scheduling Order.
   ii. Discovery Disputes. The parties are to follow Local Civil Rule 37.2 with the following modifications: Any party wishing to raise a discovery dispute with the Court must first confer in good faith with the opposing party, in person or by telephone, in an effort to resolve the dispute. If this meet-and-confer process does not resolve the dispute, the party seeking discovery shall promptly file on ECF a letter motion, no longer than three pages, explaining the nature of the dispute and requesting an informal conference. Such a letter motion must include a representation that the meet-and-confer process occurred and was unsuccessful. If the opposing party wishes to respond to the letter, it must submit a responsive letter, not to exceed three pages, within three business days after the request is received. Counsel should seek relief in accordance with these procedures in a timely fashion; if a party waits until near the close of discovery to raise an issue that could have been raised earlier, the party is unlikely to be granted the relief that it seeks, let alone more time for discovery. D. Proposed Orders and Stipulations. All stipulations and proposed orders — including emergency applications, with or without preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders — should be filed electronically using the court’s ECF system. Parties seeking emergency relief, including preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders, shall also notify Chambers by telephone immediately after filing their request for such relief on ECF. For further information, parties are directed to consult the SDNY Electronic Case Filing Rules & Instructions, available at https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/electronic-case-filing.
   E. Related Cases. After an action has been accepted as related to a prior filing, all future court papers and correspondence must also

Revised: January 3, 2025

contain the docket number of the case to which it has been related. F. Cases Removed from State Court. Counsel for the removing party or parties must, in addition to providing a copy of all process, pleadings, and papers served upon the defendants pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1446(a), provide the Court with a courtesy copy of any pleading filed or served while the case remained in state court.
Counsel for all parties must file notices of appearance in this Court promptly upon removal. G. Urgent Communications. Materials filed via ECF are generally reviewed within one business day of filing. If a given submission requires immediate attention, please notify Chambers by telephone after it is filed on ECF. H. Telephone Calls. For docketing, scheduling, and calendar matters, call Chambers at (212) 805-0290. Otherwise, telephone calls to Chambers are permitted only for urgent matters.
i. By a Pro Se Party. Pro se parties are not permitted to telephone Chambers. Pro se parties are directed to contact the Pro Se Intake Office at (212) 805-0175.
I. Faxes. Faxes to Chambers are not permitted.
J. Hand Deliveries. Where requested by the Court, hand-delivered mail should be left with the Court Security Officers at the Worth Street entrance of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States District Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007, and may not be brought directly to Chambers. During business hours, however, if the hand-delivered letter is urgent and requires the Court’s immediate attention, it should brought to the Court Security Officers at the Centre Street entrance of the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, New York, NY 10007, and the person making the delivery should ask the Court Security Officers to notify Chambers that an urgent package has arrived that needs to be retrieved by Chambers staff immediately. 3. Conferences
A. Attendance by Principal Trial Counsel. The attorney who will serve as principal trial counsel must appear at all conferences with the Court.

Revised: January 3, 2025

B. Initial Case Management Conference. With the exception of those categories of cases listed in Local Civil Rule 16.1, the Court will generally schedule a Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(c) conference to take place within three months of the filing of the Complaint. The conference will be scheduled by means of a Notice of Initial Pretrial Conference that is filed on ECF. Plaintiff’s counsel is responsible for distributing the Notice of Initial Pretrial Conference to those parties who have not yet appeared in the case. Pursuant to that Notice, the parties are required to file on ECF, a joint letter and Proposed Civil Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order by Thursday of the week prior to the initial pretrial conference. A courtesy copy of the joint letter and Proposed Civil Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order must also be provided to Chambers via e-mail in PDF format.
The Court schedules initial pretrial conferences with the expectation that one or more of the parties would like an opportunity to bring matters to the Court’s attention, and it welcomes that opportunity. However, the Court recognizes that in certain circumstances — as, for example, where the parties are in agreement about the proposed discovery schedule and have no issues to raise with the Court — such conferences may represent less-efficient uses of the parties’ time and resources. If the parties agree on a schedule that calls for the close of all discovery within six months, and have no other issues to raise with the Court, the parties can, if they wish, submit a Proposed Civil Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order and request in their joint letter that the initial pretrial conference be cancelled. The Court will ordinarily grant such requests. C. Participation by Junior Attorneys. The Court encourages the participation of less experienced attorneys in all proceedings — including pretrial conferences, hearings on discovery disputes, oral arguments, and examinations of witnesses at trial — particularly where that attorney played a substantial role in drafting the underlying filing or in preparing the relevant witness. The Court is amenable to permitting more than one lawyer to argue for one party if this creates an opportunity for a junior lawyer to participate.
4. Motions
A. Pre-Motion Submissions in Civil Cases. Pre-motion submissions are required for motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, motions for judgment on the pleadings, motions for

Revised: January 3, 2025

sanctions, and motions concerning discovery. Motions concerning discovery are discussed in Rule 3(C) above.
To request a pre-motion conference for motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, motions for judgment on the pleadings, and motions for sanctions, the putative moving party shall file a letter motion, not to exceed three pages, describing the grounds for the proposed motion, and whether the motion is on consent of all parties. If the motion is not on consent, any opposing party should file a letter setting forth its position, not to exceed three pages, within three business days after the request is received. The Court will then determine whether to hold a pre- motion conference in the matter. A courtesy copy of the letter motion and opposition must also be provided to Chambers via e- mail in accordance to Rule 2(B) above.
The submission of a pre-motion letter does not stay any future deadlines, except that submission of a pre-motion letter concerning a motion to dismiss will stay a defendant’s time to answer or otherwise move with respect to the Complaint.
i. By a Pro Se Party. Pre-motion submissions are not required from pro se parties. If the pro se party’s adversary files a pre-motion submission, the pro se party may, but is not required to, file a response to the pre-motion submission. Any such response shall be due three business days after the pre-motion submission is received by the pro se party.
B. Memoranda of Law. The typeface, margins, spacing, and length of motion papers must conform to Local Civil Rule 7.1 (or, in the case of motions for reconsideration, Local Civil Rule 6.3 and Rule 4(C) below). All text must be 12-point type or larger, except for text in footnotes which may be 10-point type; (2) all documents must have at least one-inch margins on all sides; (3) all text must be double- spaced, except for headings, text in footnotes, or block quotations, which may be single-spaced; (4) all memoranda of law are limited to 8,750 words, and reply briefs are limited to 3,500 words (if filed by a party who is not represented by an attorney and handwritten or prepared with a typewriter, briefs in support of and in response to a motion may not exceed 25 pages, and reply briefs may not exceed 10 pages). Memoranda of 3,500 words or more shall contain a table of contents and a table of authorities, neither of which shall count against the word limit. These limits also do not include the caption, any index, signature blocks, or any required

Revised: January 3, 2025

certificates, but do include material contained in footnotes or endnotes. All appendices to memoranda of law must be indexed.
If a brief is filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer, it must include a certificate by the attorney, or party who is not represented by an attorney, that the document complies with the word-count limitations. The person preparing the certificate may rely on the word count of the word-processing program used to prepare the document. The certificate must state the number of words in the document. To the extent the Court permits a party to submit briefs longer than these limits, and expresses those limits in pages, each additional page must not contain more than 350 additional words if the brief is filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer. Sur-reply memoranda will not be accepted without prior permission of the Court. C. Memoranda of Law for Motions for Reconsideration. If filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer, briefs in support of and in response to a motion may not exceed 3,500 words, and reply briefs may not exceed 1,750 words; if filed by a party who is not represented by an attorney and handwritten or prepared with a typewriter, briefs in support of and in response to a motion may not exceed 10 pages, and reply briefs may not exceed five pages. These limits do not include the caption, any index, table of contents, table of authorities, signature blocks, or any required certificates, but do include material contained in footnotes or endnotes. If a brief is filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer, the party must also provide a certificate of compliance as required by Local Civil Rule 7.1(c). To the extent the Court permits a party to submit briefs longer than these limits, and expresses those limits in pages, each additional page must not contain more than 350 additional words if the brief is filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer. D. Courtesy Copies. One courtesy copy of all motion papers, marked as such, shall be mailed or hand-delivered to the Court by the movant at the time the reply is served. All courtesy copies should be double-sided, three-hole-punched, tabbed, and placed in binders.
E. Oral Argument on Motions. Parties may request oral argument by letter at the time their moving or opposing or reply papers are filed. The Court will determine whether argument will be heard and, if so, will advise counsel of the argument date.

Revised: January 3, 2025

F. Preliminary Injunction Motions. The Court generally follows the procedure for the conduct of non-jury trials described in Rule 7(D) below.
G. Motions to Exclude the Testimony of Experts. Pursuant to Rules 702-705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and the line of cases beginning with Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), motions to exclude testimony of experts must be made by the deadline for dispositive motions and should not be treated as motions in limine. H. Pro Se Notices. Parties who file a motion to dismiss, a motion for judgment on the pleadings, or a motion for summary judgment must provide the pro se party with a copy of the notices required under Local Civil Rules 12.1 or 56.2.
I. Default Judgments. A plaintiff seeking a default judgment must proceed by way of an Order to Show Cause pursuant to the procedure set forth in Attachment A.
5. Special Rules for Summary Judgment Motions.
A. Generally Not Available in Non-Jury Cases. Absent good cause, the Court will not have summary judgment practice in a non-jury case. B. Courtesy Copy of Deposition Transcript. Except in pro se cases, the parties shall provide the Court with an electronic, text- searchable courtesy copy of any hearing or deposition transcript on which the parties rely, if such a copy is available, unless doing so would be unduly burdensome. Parties should provide these materials on a thumb drive only, not on a CD or DVD and not by e- mail. Where parties rely on deposition testimony, they should not include excerpts of deposition transcripts as exhibits, but rather should include (only once) the entire deposition transcript as an exhibit. C. Local Rule 56.1 Statements. With the exception of claims brought under the Administrative Procedure Act or the Freedom of Information Act, pursuant to Local Civil Rule 56.1, a movant for summary judgment shall file a statement of material undisputed facts and the opposing party shall respond. i. Electronic Copy to Other Parties. Except in pro se cases, the moving party should provide all other parties with an electronic copy, in Microsoft Word format, of the moving

Revised: January 3, 2025

party’s Statement of Material Facts Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 56.1.
ii. Organization of 56.1 Statements. The 56.1 Statement must be organized into numbered paragraphs and each numbered paragraph must contain only one factual assertion. Each factual assertion must be followed by a citation to the portion(s) of the evidentiary record relied upon.
Except in pro se cases, opposing parties must reproduce each entry in the moving party’s 56.1 Statement, and set out the opposing party’s response directly beneath it. The response must state specifically what is admitted and what is disputed, and the basis for any dispute, citing specific portions of the evidentiary record relied upon. The response may go on to make additional factual allegations in paragraphs numbered consecutively to those of the moving party (i.e., they do not begin re-numbering at 1). If additional factual allegations are made by the opposing party, the moving party must file its own responsive 56.1 Statement addressing the additional assertions. iii. Multiple Parties Must Coordinate Statements. If multiple parties are submitting 56.1 Statements, they must coordinate their statements to provide for consecutive, non- overlapping, numbered paragraphs in their respective statements. iv. Statement of Facts. Each memoranda of law must include a statement of facts, and may not simply incorporate by reference the entirety of a party’s 56.1 Statement. For cases concerning confirmation or vacatur of arbitration awards, or disputes regarding insurance coverage, the parties shall file a joint Local Rule 56.1 Statement of Facts as well as a joint set of exhibits along with the movant’s opening brief. 6. Other Pretrial Guidance
A. Applications for a Temporary Restraining Order. A party must confer with his or her adversary before making an application for a temporary restraining order unless the requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b) are met. As soon as a party files an application to seek a temporary restraining order, he or she must call Chambers at (212) 805-0290 and state clearly whether (i) he or she has notified the

Revised: January 3, 2025

adversary, and whether the adversary consents to temporary injunctive relief; or (ii) the requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b) are satisfied and no notice is necessary. If a party’s adversary has been notified but does not consent to temporary injunctive relief, the party seeking a restraining order must call Chambers with all parties present at a time mutually agreeable to the party and its adversary, so that the Court may have the benefit of advocacy from both sides in deciding whether to grant temporary injunctive relief. B. Settlement Agreements. The Court will not retain jurisdiction to enforce confidential settlement agreements. If the parties wish that the Court retain jurisdiction to enforce the agreement, the parties must place the terms of their settlement agreement on the public record. The parties may either provide a copy of the settlement agreement for the Court to endorse or include the terms of their settlement agreement in their stipulation of settlement and dismissal.
C. Diversity Jurisdiction Cases. Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 7.1, in any action in which subject matter jurisdiction is founded on diversity of citizenship pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332, the party asserting the existence of such jurisdiction shall, prior to the Initial Pretrial Conference, file on ECF in accordance with Rule 2(B) above, a letter no longer than three pages explaining the basis for that party’s belief that diversity of citizenship exists. In cases where any party is a corporation, the letter shall state both the place of incorporation and the principal place of business. In cases where any party is a partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, or trust, the letter shall state the citizenship of each of the entity’s members, shareholders, partners, and/or trustees.
D. Bankruptcy Appeals. The briefing schedule and format and length specifications set forth in the applicable provisions of Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure shall govern unless otherwise ordered by the Court. Counsel may extend the default deadlines by stipulation submitted to the Court no later than two business days before the brief is due. 7. Trial Procedures
A. Joint Pretrial Order. The Court will set the deadline for the submission of the Joint Pretrial Order at a conference that will follow either the close of discovery or the resolution of dispositive motions. On the date ordered by the Court, the parties shall file

Revised: January 3, 2025

on ECF, with courtesy copy e-mailed to the Court, a proposed joint pretrial order, which shall include the following:
i. The full caption of the action;
ii. The names, law firms, addresses, telephone numbers, and e- mail addresses of trial counsel;
iii. A brief statement by plaintiff as to the basis of subject matter jurisdiction, and a brief statement by each other party as to the presence or absence of subject matter jurisdiction. Such statements shall include citations to all statutes relied on and relevant facts as to citizenship and jurisdictional amount;
iv. A brief summary by each party of the claims and defenses that the party asserts remain to be tried, including citations to any statutes on which the party relies. Such summaries shall also identify all claims and defenses previously asserted which are not to be tried. The summaries should not recite any evidentiary matter;
v. A statement as to the number of trial days needed and whether the case is to be tried with or without a jury;
vi. A joint statement summarizing the nature of the case, to be read to potential jurors during jury selection;
vii. A list of people, places, and institutions that are likely to be mentioned during the course of the trial, to be read to potential jurors during jury selection; viii. Any stipulations or agreed statements of fact or law to which all parties consent;
ix. A list of all trial witnesses, indicating whether such witnesses will testify in person or by deposition, and a brief summary of the substance of each witness’s testimony;
x. A designation by each party of deposition testimony to be offered in its case in chief and any counter-designations and objections by any other party;
xi. A list by each party of exhibits to be offered in its case in chief, with one asterisk indicating exhibits to which no party

Revised: January 3, 2025

objects on grounds of authenticity, and two asterisks indicating exhibits to which no party objects on any ground; xii. A statement of the damages claimed, and any other relief sought, including the manner and method used to calculate any claimed damages and a breakdown of the elements of such claimed damages; and xiii. A statement of whether the parties consent to less than a unanimous verdict. B. Required Pretrial Filings. Each party shall file and serve with the joint pretrial order:
i. In both jury and non-jury cases, motions addressing any evidentiary issues or other matters that should be resolved in limine.
ii. In all cases where a party believes it would be useful to the Court, a pretrial memorandum of law;
iii. In jury cases, requests to charge and proposed voir dire questions, with courtesy copies e-mailed to Chambers as both .pdf and Microsoft Word documents; or In non-jury cases, where directed by the Court, proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The proposed findings of fact should be detailed and should include citations to the proffered trial testimony and exhibits.
C. Filings in Opposition. Objections to another party’s requests to charge or proposed voir dire questions, oppositions to any motion in limine, and oppositions to any legal argument in a pretrial memorandum, shall be filed within seven days after the filing of the pretrial filings, and reply papers, if any, shall be filed within four days of any opposition, or as specified in the trial scheduling order; D. Additional Submissions in Non-Jury Cases. At the time the joint pretrial order is filed, each party shall e-mail to the Court and serve on opposing counsel, but not file on ECF, the following:
i. Copies of affidavits constituting the direct testimony of each trial witness, except for the direct testimony of an adverse party, a person whose attendance is compelled by subpoena, or a person for whom the Court has agreed to hear direct

Revised: January 3, 2025

testimony live at the trial. Three business days after submission of such affidavits, counsel for each party shall submit a list of all affiants whom he or she intends to cross- examine at the trial. Only those witnesses who will be cross- examined need to appear at trial. The original signed affidavits should be brought to trial to be marked as exhibits;
ii. All deposition excerpts which will be offered as substantive evidence, as well as a one-page synopsis of those excerpts for each deposition. Each synopsis shall include page citations to the pertinent pages of the deposition transcripts; and
iii. All documentary exhibits.
E. Courtesy Copies. Two courtesy copies of all documents identified in Rules 7(A), (B)(i-ii), (C), and (D) above should be mailed to Chambers or hand-delivered on the date on which they are to be served or filed. Only one set of documentary exhibits is required.
Voluminous material may be organized either in binders or manila file folders, but in any event, the courtesy copies shall be separately arranged into two independent sets.
F. Trial Schedule. Trials will generally be conducted Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with one short break from approximately 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. G. Jury Selection. The jury will be selected by the struck panel method. 8. Trial Procedures in Pro Se Cases A. Generally. Rule 7 applies equally to cases involving a pro se party, with the following exceptions: i. Pretrial Statement. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, within 30 days of the completion of discovery, a pro se party shall file a concise, written Pretrial Statement. This Statement need take no particular form, but it must contain the following: (i) a statement of the facts the pro se party hopes to prove at trial; (ii) a list of all documents or other physical objects that the pro se party plans to put into evidence at trial; and (iii) a list of the names and addresses of all witnesses the pro se party intends to have testify at trial.
The Statement must be sworn by the pro se party to be true and accurate based on the facts known by the pro se party.

Revised: January 3, 2025

The pro se party shall file an original of this Statement with the Pro Se Intake Office. Two weeks after service of the pro se party’s Statement, counsel for any represented party must file and serve a similar Statement containing the same categories of information.
ii. Pretrial Filings. The pro se party may also file either proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law or a proposed jury charge but is not required to do so. Counsel for any represented party is directed to follow Rules 7(B)-(D).
9. Electronic Filing Under Seal in Civil and Miscellaneous Cases
A. Redactions Not Requiring Court Approval. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 describes sensitive information that must be redacted from public court filings without seeking prior permission from the Court. The parties are also referred to the E-Government Act of 2002 and the Southern District’s ECF Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”). There are two categories of information that may be redacted from public court filings without prior permission from the Court: “sensitive information” and information requiring “caution.” Parties should not include in their public filings, unless necessary, the five categories of “sensitive information” (i.e., social security numbers [use the last four digits only], names of minor children [use the initials only], dates of birth [use the year only], financial account numbers [use the last four digits only], and home addresses [use only the City and State]). Parties may also, without prior Court approval, redact from their public filings the six categories of information requiring caution described in the Privacy Policy (i.e., any personal identifying number, medical records [including information regarding treatment and diagnosis], employment history, individual financial information, proprietary or trade secret information, and information regarding an individual’s cooperation with the government).
B. Redactions Requiring Court Approval. Except for redactions permitted by the previous paragraph, all redactions or sealing of public court filings require Court approval. To be approved, any redaction or sealing of a court filing must be narrowly tailored to serve whatever purpose justifies the redaction or sealing and must be otherwise consistent with the presumption in favor of public access to judicial documents. See, e.g., Lugosch v. Pyramid Co. of Onondaga, 435 F.3d 110, 119-20 (2d Cir. 2006). In general, the parties’ consent or the fact that information is subject to a confidentiality agreement between litigants is not, by itself, a valid

Revised: January 3, 2025

basis to overcome the presumption in favor of public access to judicial documents. See, e.g., In re Gen. Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litig., No. 14-MD-2543 (JMF), 2015 WL 4750774, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 11, 2015).
i. Procedures for Filing Documents with Redactions. Any party seeking to file a document with partial redactions should file on ECF a letter motion seeking leave to file the document with those redactions. The letter motion must be filed in public view, must explain the purpose of the redactions and why the redactions are consistent with the standards discussed in Rule 9(B) above, and should not include the confidential information sought to be redacted. Supporting papers must be separately filed electronically and may be filed under seal or redacted only to the extent necessary to safeguard information sought to be redacted. (If, however, the party believes that the letter motion itself should be redacted, the party should include an unredacted copy of the letter motion as an attachment to the e- mail described in Rule 9(B)(ii) below.)
Where the motion seeks approval to redact information from a document that is to be publicly filed, the filing party shall: (a) publicly file the document with the proposed redactions, and (b) electronically file under seal a copy of the unredacted document with the proposed redactions highlighted. Both documents must be electronically filed on ECF and related to the motion. ii. E-mailing of Documents to Chambers. At the same time of filing on ECF, the party should e-mail to Chambers (Failla_NYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov) (i) a clean (i.e., unredacted) copy of the document; (ii) a copy of the document highlighting the information that has been redacted in the ECF filing; and (iii) an unredacted copy of the letter motion described in Rule 9(B)(i), should the party also be seeking leave to file that letter motion with redactions.
C. Procedure for Filing Sealed Documents
i. Sealing Exhibits. Any party seeking leave to file an unsealed or redacted document with a fully sealed exhibit attached thereto should file the main document (in accordance with the procedures above, if the party seeks to do so with redactions) on ECF, accompanied by a single page marked “SEALED” in place of any exhibit that the party seeks leave to file under seal,

Revised: January 3, 2025

regardless of the actual length of such exhibit. The party should simultaneously file a letter motion seeking leave to file in that manner according to the procedure described in Rule 9(B)(i)-(ii) above.
ii. Sealing Entire Documents. Any party seeking leave to file under seal an entire submission (with or without exhibits) should file on ECF a letter motion seeking leave to file the document under seal.
The motion must be filed in public view, must explain the particular reasons for seeking to file that information under seal and should not include confidential information sought to be filed under seal. Supporting papers must be separately filed electronically and may be filed under seal or redacted only to the extent necessary to safeguard information sought to be filed under seal. The proposed sealed document must be contemporaneously filed under seal on ECF and electronically related to the motion.
The summary docket text, but not the sealed document, will be open to public inspection and should not include confidential information sought to be filed under seal.
Any party unable to comply with the requirement for electronic filing under seal through the ECF system, or who has reason to believe that a particular document should not be electronically filed, must move for leave of the Court to file in the traditional manner, on paper. 10. Policy on the Use of Electronic Devices
Attorneys’ use of electronic devices (including mobile telephones, personal electronic devices, computers, and printers) within the Courthouse and its environs is governed by the Court’s Standing Order M10-468, available at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/ pdf/standing-order-electronic-devices.pdf. If required by the Standing Order, counsel seeking to bring a device into the Courthouse shall submit a copy of the Electronic Devices General Purpose Form, available at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/forms/fillable-form-electronic-devices- general-purpose, to the Court by e-mail at least 72 hours prior to the relevant trial or hearing. Untimely requests may be denied on that basis alone. If permitted by the Standing Order, mobile telephones are permitted inside the Courtroom, but they must be kept turned off at all

Revised: January 3, 2025

times. Non-compliance with this rule may result in forfeiture of the device for the remainder of the proceedings.

ATTACHMENT A

DEFAULT JUDGMENT PROCEDURE 1. Obtain a Certificate of Default from the Clerk’s Office for each defaulting party stating that no answer or response has been filed, and in accordance with Local Civil Rule 55.1 and the SDNY Electronic Case Filing Rules & Instructions, available at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/ electronic-case-filing. 2. After the Clerk’s Office enters a signed Clerk’s Certificate of Default on the docket, electronically file on ECF a proposed Order to Show Cause Without Emergency Relief using the filing event of the same name, found under PROPOSED ORDERS.
a. The Proposed Order to Show Cause for default judgment is to be made returnable before Judge Failla in Courtroom 618. Leave blank the date and time of the conference. Judge Failla will set the date and time when she signs the Order.
3. Electronically file on ECF, as separate ECF filing events, the following supporting papers with the Proposed Order to Show Cause. a. An attorney’s affidavit setting forth:
i. the basis for entering a default judgment, including a description of the method and date of service of the Summons and Complaint (include as attachments copies of all pleadings and the affidavit of service of the Summons and Complaint); ii. the procedural history beyond service of the Summons and Complaint, if any; and iii. whether, if the default is applicable to fewer than all of the defendants, the Court may appropriately order a default judgment on the issue of damages prior to resolution of the entire action.
b. A statement setting forth the proposed damages and the basis for each element of damages, including interest, attorney’s fees, and costs (unless requesting an inquest). If not requesting an inquest, include the legal authority for why an inquest into damages would be unnecessary. c. A proposed default judgment.

Revised: January 3, 2025

Once electronically filed, a courtesy copy of the Proposed Order to Show Cause and the supporting papers must also be provided to Chambers via e-mail.
5. After the Judge signs the Order, and it is electronically filed on ECF, serve a conformed copy of the Order and supporting papers on the defendant.
6. Prior to the return date, file an affidavit of service, reflecting that the defendant was served with the Order to Show Cause and supporting papers, via ECF.

Individual Rules of Practice in Criminal Cases

Revised: January 3, 2025

INDIVIDUAL RULES OF PRACTICE IN CRIMINAL CASES Katherine Polk Failla, United States District Judge

Chambers

Courtroom
United States District Court

40 Foley Square, Courtroom 618 Southern District of New York

Talena Noriega, Courtroom Deputy 40 Foley Square, Room 2103

(212) 805-0290 New York, NY 10007
(212) 805-0290

Electronic Case Filing (ECF) and Notices of Appearance Counsel are required to register promptly for Electronic Case Filing (ECF) after being retained or assigned, and file a Notice of Appearance in accordance with Local Criminal Rule 1.2. Counsel can obtain instructions on how to register at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/electronic- case-filing.
2. Communications with Chambers A. Initial Pretrial Conference. Upon assignment of a criminal case to Judge Failla, the Assistant United States Attorney shall immediately email Chambers (Failla_NYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov) to arrange for a conference/arraignment. In the email, the Assistant United States Attorney shall include (1) the name of the defendant(s); (2) defense counsel’s name and contact information; (3) whether the defendant(s) is/are detained (and, if so, the relevant USM or other registration number(s)) or bailed; (4) whether any defendant requires an interpreter (and, if so, the relevant language); (5) times that the Government and defense counsel are available for the arraignment and initial conference; and (6) any other pertinent information. In addition, the Government shall also email all charging instruments to Chambers at least 48 hours prior to the conference.
At the initial pretrial conference, and all conferences thereafter, the Government shall be prepared to address its ongoing duty to comply with its obligations to timely disclose exculpatory evidence under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), and its progeny, including as set forth in the standing order pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 5(f). B. Telephone Calls. For docketing, scheduling, and calendar matters, call Talena Noriega, Courtroom Deputy, at (212) 805-0290.
Otherwise, telephone calls to Chambers are permitted only for urgent matters.

C. Letters. Except for docketing, scheduling, calendar matters, or matters requiring immediate attention, communications with Chambers shall be by letter filed on ECF. Letters seeking relief, including requests for extensions, adjournments, or bail modification, should be filed on ECF as letter motions as outlined in Rule 2(D) below, with a courtesy copy, clearly marked as such, delivered to the Court via e-mail (Failla_NYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov). The courtesy copy of any letter filed on ECF must be an electronic copy of the filed version of the letter and must include the automatically generated ECF header (that is, the text — e.g., “Case 1:24-cr-00123- KPF Document 100 Filed 10/1/24 Page 1 of 1” — appearing at the top of each page of a document on the ECF system).
i. Sealed Letters. Any letter to be filed under seal or containing sensitive or confidential information may be e-mailed as a .pdf attachment to Chambers (Failla_NYSDChambers@nysd. uscourts.gov) with a copy simultaneously delivered to all counsel (unless the submission is being made ex parte). Any such e-mail shall state clearly in the subject line: (1) the caption of the case, including the lead party names and docket number; and (2) a brief description of the contents of the letter. Parties shall not include substantive communications in the body of the e-mail; such communications shall be included only in the letter itself. The procedure for filing sealed documents is discussed in Rule 8 below.
ii. Docketing of Letters. Absent a request to file a letter under seal, the parties should assume that any substantive letter emailed to Chambers, and not filed on ECF, will be docketed by the Court. D. Requests for Adjournments or Extensions of Time. All requests for adjournments or extensions of time must be made by letter motion as described in Rule 2(C) above, and should state: (i) the original due date; (ii) the number of previous requests for adjournment or extension of time; (iii) whether these previous requests were granted or denied; (iv) the reason for the current request; and (v) whether the adversary consents, and, if not, the reasons given by the adversary for refusing to consent. If a party seeks an exclusion of time under the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3161, the party must email to the Court a proposed order (in Microsoft Word format) along with a courtesy copy of the request for adjournment or extension. Absent an emergency, any request for extension or adjournment shall be made as early as possible, and no later than 48 hours prior to the

deadline or scheduled appearance, with the exception of any adjournment of sentencing shall be made no later than 72 hours prior to the scheduled proceeding.
E. Faxes. Faxes to Chambers are not permitted. F. Hand Deliveries. Where requested by the Court, hand-delivered mail should be left with the Court Security Officers at the Worth Street entrance of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States District Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007, and may not be brought directly to Chambers. Hand deliveries are continuously retrieved from the Worth Street entrance by Courthouse mail staff and then retrieved by Chambers. If the hand-delivered letter is urgent and requires the Court’s immediate attention, however, ask the Court Security Officers to notify Chambers that an urgent package has arrived that needs to be retrieved by Chambers staff immediately. 3. Defense Counsel A. Benefactor Payments. Whenever defense counsel has received, or is receiving, a benefactor payment that subjects counsel to a conflict of interest, said counsel must inform the Court and request a Curcio hearing at the first conference. B. Substitution of Counsel. When there is a request for substitution of defense counsel, counsel of record must contact the Courtroom Deputy to schedule a conference as soon as possible. If defense counsel believes an ex parte conference is necessary, it should so indicate in its communications with the Deputy. At the conference, the Court will address the application by defense counsel to be relieved. The defendant, replacement counsel, and the Assistant United States Attorney must also attend the conference.
4. Bail Modification
Any written request for a bail modification by a defendant shall be filed on ECF as a letter motion and shall indicate whether or not the Government and the Pretrial Services Officer consent to the request. If the requested modification pertains to a specific event or date, the request shall be made at least two business days prior to the relevant event or date.

Expert Discovery The Government must make any disclosures required by Fed. R. of Crim. P. 16(a)(1)(G) at least 60 days prior to trial, and the defense must make any such disclosures at least 30 days prior to trial.
6. Guilty Pleas A. Plea Agreements and Pimentel Letters. The Government shall email a courtesy copy of the signed plea agreement, cooperation agreement, Pimentel letter, and/or superseding charging instrument to Chambers (Failla_NYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov) as soon as practicable, and no later than three business days before the scheduled plea.
B. Preparation for Allocution. Defense counsel is expected to have reviewed with the defendant — if necessary, with the assistance of an interpreter — any Pimentel letter or plea, cooperation, or other agreement prior to the date set for the plea. Defense counsel and the defendant shall execute any plea or cooperation agreement prior to the time set for the plea. The defendant should also be prepared in advance of a guilty plea to give a narrative allocution that incorporates all of the elements of the offense(s) to which the defendant is pleading guilty. 7. Trial A. Pretrial Submissions. At the time of filing on ECF, each party shall also e-mail to Chambers copies of its proposed voir dire, proposed jury instructions, proposed verdict form, and in limine motions in .pdf and, with the exception of in limine motions, Microsoft Word formats.
B. Exhibits and Section 3500 Material. By the Wednesday before the start of the trial, the Government must provide the Court with two hard copies of the exhibit list, and one set of pre-marked documentary exhibits and Section 3500 material. C. Trial Schedule. Trials will generally be conducted Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with one short break from approximately 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Counsel should arrive by no later than 8:45 a.m., unless otherwise directed, to ensure a 9:00 a.m. start time.
D. Jury Selection. The jury will be selected by the struck panel method.

Sentencing A. Sentencing Adjournments. Any request for an adjournment of a sentencing should be made as early as possible, and no later than 72 hours before the sentencing proceeding, in accordance with Rule 2(D) above. B. Sentencing Submissions. Except for submissions requested to be filed under seal, every document in a sentencing submission, including letters, must be filed on ECF. The procedure for filing sealed documents is discussed in Rule 8 below. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, a defendant’s sentencing submission shall be filed no later than two weeks before the date set for sentencing. The Government’s sentencing submission shall be filed no later than one week before the date set for sentencing.
i. Letters. Letters should be grouped and filed together as attachments to a single document marked “SENTENCING SUBMISSION,” with the caption and docket number clearly indicated. The defendant is responsible for filing all letters submitted on behalf of the defendant, including those from friends and relatives. The Government is responsible for filing all letters from victims. C. Privacy Policy. The parties are referred to the E-Government Act of 2002 and the Southern District’s ECF Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) and reminded not to include, unless necessary, the five categories of “sensitive information” in their submissions (i.e., social security numbers, names of minor children [use the initials only], dates of birth [use the year only], financial account numbers, and home addresses [use only the City and State]). 9. Filing Redacted or Sealed Documents A. Redacted Documents. If any material is redacted from a publicly filed document, only those pages containing the redacted material will be filed under seal.
B. Redactions Not Requiring Court Approval. Parties may redact the five categories of “sensitive information”, as described in the Privacy Policy, and the six categories of information requiring caution (i.e., personal identifying number, medical records, treatment and diagnosis, employment history, individual financial information, proprietary or trade secret information, and information regarding an

individual’s cooperation with the Government), without Court approval. C. Redactions Requiring Court Approval. If a party redacts information beyond the eleven categories of information identified in Rule 8(B) above, an application to do so must be filed simultaneously with the sentencing submission. The application should clearly identify the redaction and explain the reasons for the redaction. The application may be addressed at the sentencing proceeding.
i. Any party seeking to file a document with partial redactions should follow the following three steps:

1. ECF Filing of the Redacted Document(s). The party should file the redacted version of the document on ECF.
2. Filing or E-mailing a Letter Motion Seeking Leave to File with Redactions. If the party is seeking leave of the Court to redact the document (i.e., if the redactions require Court approval), the party should simultaneously file on ECF a letter motion seeking leave to file the document with those redactions.
3. E-mailing of Documents to Chambers. At the same time, the party should e-mail to Chambers (Failla_NYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov) (1) a clean (i.e., unredacted) copy of the document; (2) a copy of the document highlighting the information that has been redacted in the ECF filing; and (3) an unredacted copy of the letter motion, should the party also be seeking leave to file that letter motion with redactions or under seal.
   D. Sealed Documents. i. Sealing Exhibits. Any party seeking leave to file an unsealed or redacted document with a fully sealed exhibit attached thereto should file the main document (in accordance with Rule 8(c)(i)(1)-(3) above, if the party seeks to do so with redactions) on ECF, accompanied by a single page marked “SEALED” in place of any exhibit that the party seeks leave to file under seal, regardless of the actual length of such exhibit.
   ii. Sealing Entire Documents. Any party seeking leave to file under seal an entire submission (with or without exhibits) should not file anything on ECF in the first instance. Instead, the party should e-mail an unredacted copy of the submission

to Chambers (Failla_NYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov) and should include as an attachment to the e-mail a letter motion seeking leave to file the document under seal. The letter motion must explain why sealing is justified. If the party believes that the letter motion itself should be sealed or redacted, the letter motion should so state and should provide the justification therefor. The Court will include instructions for filing sealed or redacted versions of the document and accompanying letter motion, if necessary, in any order disposing of the motion to seal. 10. Policy on the Use of Electronic Devices Attorneys’ use of electronic devices (including mobile telephones, personal electronic devices, computers, and printers) within the Courthouse and its environs is governed by the Court’s Standing Order M10-468, available at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/ pdf/standing-order-electronic-devices.pdf. If required by the Standing Order, counsel, including the Government, seeking to bring a device into the Courthouse shall submit a copy of the Electronic Devices General Purpose Form, available at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/forms/fillable- form-electronic-devices-general-purpose, to the Court by e-mail at least 72 hours prior to the relevant trial or hearing. Untimely requests may be denied on that basis alone. If permitted by the Standing Order, mobile telephones are permitted inside the Courtroom, but they must be kept turned off at all times. Non-compliance with this rule may result in forfeiture of the device for the remainder of the proceedings.
11. In-custody Prisoner Production Requests The Government shall strive to submit production requests to the Marshals at least 72 hours before a scheduled conference. In cases where a conference is scheduled for a date and time that is less than 72 hours in advance, the Government must promptly submit the production request once the conference is set.

SDNY Form Consenting to Proceed for All Purposes Before a Magistrate Judge

AO 85 (Rev. 01/09) Notice, Consent, and Reference of a Civil Action to a Magistrate Judge UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT for the __________ District of __________ ) ) ) ) ) Plaintiff v. Civil Action No. Defendant NOTICE, CONSENT, AND REFERENCE OF A CIVIL ACTION TO A MAGISTRATE JUDGE Notice of a magistrate judge’s availability. A United States magistrate judge of this court is available to conduct all proceedings in this civil action (including a jury or nonjury trial) and to order the entry of a final judgment. The judgment may then be appealed directly to the United States court of appeals like any other judgment of this court. A magistrate judge may exercise this authority only if all parties voluntarily consent. You may consent to have your case referred to a magistrate judge, or you may withhold your consent without adverse substantive consequences. The name of any party withholding consent will not be revealed to any judge who may otherwise be involved with your case. Consent to a magistrate judge’s authority. The following parties consent to have a United States magistrate judge conduct all proceedings in this case including trial, the entry of final judgment, and all post-trial proceedings. Parties’ printed names Signatures of parties or attorneys Dates Reference Order IT IS ORDERED: This case is referred to a United States magistrate judge to conduct all proceedings and order the entry of a final judgment in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 636(c) and Fed. R. Civ. P. 73. Date: District Judge’s signature Printed name and title Note: Return this form to the clerk of court only if you are consenting to the exercise of jurisdiction by a United States magistrate judge. Do not return this form to a judge. Southern District of New York Print Save As... Reset

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