Judicial Profile

Specific Comments or Advice for Litigants

Specific Requirements or Preferences

The Court expects lawyers and all parties to treat each other, opposing parties, court staff, and everyone with dignity, respect, and professionalism.  
 
Harassment, bias, or prejudice on the basis of race, sex, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, marital status, socioeconomic status, or affiliation is strictly prohibited.  
 
My courtroom operates under two rules, which are not part of the Rules of Probate Procedure, but are among the best rules ever written. First, Rule 6 of the Rules of Procedure for the Juvenile Court provides that proceedings "shall be conducted as informally as the requirements of due process and fairness permit..." Second, former Rule 80 of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure provided, "trials shall be conducted in an orderly, courteous, and dignified manner." Please be mindful of these rules when appearing in my Court.  
 
Arguments and remarks shall be addressed to the bench and not to opposing parties, except by the court's permission.  
 
Non-contested hearings are presumptively held virtually. Trials will be presumptively in person.  
 
Parties or their lawyers should not copy the court on their email spats. The court will not consider them; it just makes everyone look less professional.  
 
I try to be as accessible to the parties as possible. If a problem arises that I would likely be able to address through a brief status conference, attorneys may contact my judicial assistant.  
 
If something has been pending and you have waited for a reasonable amount of time but have not heard from us, please reach out to my staff. Keep in mind, however, that we often have to allow time to pass before we act, to give the opposing party a chance to respond or for a variety of other reasons. My staff works very hard. Please be courteous to them.  
 
 

Pre-Trial Practice and Management Issues

Motion Practice

Every typed document must use at least a 13-point type size, and text must be double-spaced. The court prefers proportionally spaced serif fonts, such as Times New Roman, Bookman, Century, Garamond, or Book Antiqua. It discourages monospaced or sans serif fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, Courier, or Calibri. Footnotes must be in at least a 13-point type size and must not appear in the space required for the bottom margin. Footnotes and endnotes will be included in the applicable limits.  
 
Fully drafted proposed forms of order SHALL be submitted with all motions. Please do not argue with my staff over whether the rules require this. I require it.  
 
No party should include more than one motion in a single filing or combine a response and a motion or a reply and a motion in one filing (with the exception of a true cross-motion for summary judgment). This applies to requests for attorneys' fees or sanctions. A separate petition/application/motion should make such requests.  
 
No party should file supplemental briefing without leave of the Court.  
 
Page limits should not be exceeded without leave of court. This will be strictly enforced.  
 
Motions in Limine shall not be filed in bench trials without leave of the Court. Absent leave of Court for good cause shown, each party may file no more than five Motions in Limine. Motions in Limine should address only extremely prejudicial matters, which could result in a mistrial. Motions in Limine should not be filed on routine evidentiary matters. Motions in Limine asking the Court to enforce a particular rule of evidence should not be filed. Motions in Limine are to be no more than four pages in length, and responses are no more than four pages in length. There are no replies.  
 
If you request an oral argument, ensure that your presentation does not simply reiterate matters from the briefs.  
 
Please start or end your motions by telling me EXACTLY what you would like the Court to order. Often, the Court receives motions that do not ask for specific relief and just ask for the Court to do what it thinks is appropriate. The Court is likely to deny these motions.  
 
If you file a time-sensitive motion, please immediately email the division a copy and note the opposing party/counsel's position.  
 
 
If you file a motion and wish to have an oral argument, please note the request in the caption, or the Court will likely rule on the pleadings. Most oral arguments will be set for 30 minutes, with each side receiving 15 minutes each.  

Discovery or Disclosure Disputes and/or Sanctions

The Court's dispute resolution procedures outlined below shall apply to the following circumstances: (1) the parties have a discovery dispute that needs to be addressed; (2) one party seeks to compel another party to take some action; or (3) a party intends to seek sanctions against another party. Under any of these circumstances, counsel must personally speak to each other (by phone or in person) and make genuine good-faith attempts to resolve the dispute. If they cannot do so, the parties must file a "joint statement of discovery or disclosure dispute" and provide a copy to the division's judicial assistant.  
 
The joint statement may not exceed three pages and contain a certificate of good faith consultation. The summaries may not include exhibits. If, after reviewing a summary, the Court determines that it needs additional documents, division staff will contact the attorneys.  
 
The Court's Judicial Assistant will contact the parties to schedule a telephonic conference.

Other Pre-trial Practice Guidelines or Comments

Joint Pre-Trial Memo and/or Conference; Exhibits  
 
The Court expects a meaningful joint pre-trial memo drafted by all parties together. Separate joint pre-trial statements are generally unacceptable as they do not encourage the parties to work together to find common ground and narrow disputed issues.  
 
See discussion on motion practice for Motions in Limine.  
 
Try to remove all duplicate exhibits.  
 
Try to stipulate to as many exhibits as possible.  
 
If there are major issues about an exhibit, please be prepared to address them at the pre-trial management conference. Please have a copy of the exhibit in question for the Court.  
 
With large documents, consider only having the operative language admitted.  
 
Counsel should discuss trial notebooks and try to agree on what goes in the notebook. If they disagree, this can be addressed during the pre-trial management conference.  
 
Before the pre-trial management conference in a jury-eligible case, all jury instructions, proposed voir dire, proposed jury questionnaire, joint statement of the case (to be read to the jury), and deposition designations should be emailed in Word to the Court's judicial assistant.  
 
Be prepared to discuss time limits at the pre-trial conference. The Court expects the parties to schedule their witnesses so there are no significant breaks during the trial.  
 
Trial Practice and Procedure  
 
Counsel/parties are generally free to move around the courtroom during the trial, but should request permission to approach the witness.  
 
Objections should be short and succinct. No speaking objections are allowed. If the Court wants a response or further discussion, it will ask for it.  
 
We have electronic equipment in the courtroom, which counsel are free to use. Please make an appointment with court staff before the trial to learn how to use the equipment.  
 
Bring issues to the Court's attention as soon as possible to avoid the need to keep the jury waiting.  
 
Be prepared to track your allocated time during the trial.  
 
Courtroom Etiquette  
 
The Court expects lawyers to treat each other, opposing parties, court staff, and everyone else respectfully.  
 
The Court expects counsel to assist the Clerk in ensuring all exhibits are returned and organized at the end of the day.  
 
You are free to argue motions while sitting or standing, and you are welcome to stay at the counsel table or use the lectern.  
 

Trial Practice and Protocol

Trial Schedule

The Court relies on the time the parties or attorneys estimate for trial and expects that trials will be done within the estimated time.  
 
The morning calendar begins at 8:30 and, on days I am in trial, runs until about 10:25. On Tuesdays, the Court has a JTOP calendar from 10:00 to noon. Trials are from 10:30-12 noon and 1:30-4:30 p.m., except for Tuesdays when it begins at 1:30 p.m. Absent truly extraordinary circumstances, the Court will not run into lunch or after 4:30 as that is an imposition on court staff.  
 
When I am in trial, I am very mindful of the jury's time. To that end, the Court expects counsel to be ready to go exactly at the scheduled time, to have the witnesses scheduled so that there are no gaps of time, and to have all final jury instructions, aggravation instructions, etc, turned into my JA by noon on the first full day of trial.  

Joint Pre-Trial Memo and/or Conference; Exhibits and Objections

Exhibits are due to the Clerk at least two business days prior to the start of trial unless permission has been given to bring them in later.

Jury Selection

The Court uses an electronic questionnaire in all jury trials. The Court does an initial cut for hardship, and then the parties will meet and confer on any stipulated strikes for cause. If necessary, the Court will resolve any disputes and begin in-person voir dire with all remaining jurors. The lawyers are then permitted to question the panel. The Court does not impose time limits on voir dire but expects counsel to use their time efficiently.  
 
Proposed questions for the jury questionnaires are due at 5:00 p.m. the evening before the Trial Management Conference.  
 
Preliminary Jury Instructions must be explicitly spelled out and due by 8:00 a.m. on the morning of the Trial Management Conference. The Court will not accept a list of RAJI numbers.  
 
Proposed Verdict Forms and proposed Final Jury Instructions are due by noon on the first full day of trial. These can be amended as necessary as evidence is presented at trial. Again, the Final Jury Instructions must be fully written out; a list of RAJI numbers will not be accepted.

Courtroom Etiquette

The Court expects lawyers and litigants to treat each other, opposing parties, court staff and everyone with respect and in a professional manner when dealing with each other and with all court staff, be it by phone, email, in person or otherwise. Neither conversations with judicial staff nor the courtroom are places for the parties and/or their attorneys to launch personal attacks on each other. If you engage in such attacks, it suggests that your case is weak. Be courteous to one another. If there is something you really want the Court to hear, wait your turn. Don't talk over each other. I can only hear one person at a time. Address all comments to me and not the opposing parties and attorneys.  
 
Counsel are generally free to move around the courtroom during trial, but should request permission to approach the witness. Objections should be made when standing. Objections should be short and succinct. There are no speaking objections allowed. If the Court wants a response to the objection or further discussion, the Court will ask for it.  
 
There is electronic equipment in the courtroom that counsel may use. Please make an appointment before the trial to meet with court staff to talk about how to use the equipment.  
 
Cell phones should be silenced in the courtroom. No taping of any sort is permitted within the courtroom unless permitted by the Arizona Supreme Court rules.  
 
Appropriate attire is expected for all in my courtroom (including virtual hearings).  
 
If a hearing is virtual, please conduct it from a location that is quiet and free from disruptions, and where you have a good WI-FI/cell phone signal. Counsel should kindly instruct their witnesses to do likewise. If the signal/service is poor, the Court may reset the hearing and require all to appear in person.  
 
Litigants and attorneys may have covered beverages (i.e. bottle of water with a top or a beverage in a travel mug), at counsel tables during hearings.  
 
If your case involves an interpreter, please allow the interpreter to finish translating before speaking or responding so that an understandable record is obtained.

Other Courtroom Policies and Recommendations

My staff will often communicate with attorneys and their staff by email for various reasons. If one of my staff members contacts you by email, please respond promptly, even if it is to acknowledge the email and estimate when you can respond substantively. While I understand email etiquette frowns on a reply to all, in the case of emails from the Court, it is essential to avoid ex parte communications. We will never contact just one side, and the parties must ensure that everyone is copied on all communications to the Court.  
 
I try to be as accessible to the parties as possible. If a problem arises that I would likely be able to address through a brief status conference, attorneys may contact my judicial assistant.  
 
If something has been pending and you have waited for a reasonable amount of time but have not heard from us, please contact my staff. However, remember that we often have to allow time to pass before we act, to give the opposing party a chance to respond or for various other reasons.  
 
My staff works very hard. Be courteous to them.