Specific Comments or Advice for Litigants
Specific Requirements or Preferences
The single most important thing you can do is to be kind and respectful to the wonderful folks who keep this division afloat.
Please provide orders for stipulations and motions: If you have a stipulation to a basic extension or other motion, please submit an order with the motion that sets forth the precise relief you are requesting/stipulating to.
Pre-Trial Practice and Management Issues
Discovery or Disclosure Disputes and/or Sanctions
I expect the parties to follow all rules requiring personal consultation or "meet and confer," with a good-faith effort to resolve a dispute before seeking court involvement. An email is not considered a personal consultation. Please discuss possible resolutions to the issues before the hearing.
Trial Schedule
Trials begin at 10:30 a.m., and lunch breaks from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. There will be a midafternoon break as well. No trials are held on Friday; however, jurors can deliberate on Fridays, so the attorneys need to be available for any questions or verdicts.
Jury Selection
We utilize the remote juror questionnaire process. One week prior to trial, you will receive an email from staff asking for any questions that you wish to have included in the questionnaire. The responses will be available and reviewed in court two to three days prior to the start of the trial. Any juror who did not complete the questionnaire will fill it out the morning of the trial. The attorneys and the Court will then review those responses in Court at 10:30 a.m. Voir Dire of all remaining jurors will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Trial Practice and Procedure
I feel that RMC’s, Status Conferences, and some short evidentiary hearings can be handled well virtually. I recognize that taking the day off of work, driving downtown and trying to find nonexistent parking, imposes quite a burden on Family Court litigants. Trials, however, are another matter and I feel that having everyone together should be the norm.
