Judicial Profile

Specific Comments or Advice for Litigants

Specific Requirements or Preferences

Welcome to Judge James R. Knapp’s Division, DRJ14! We are located at the Northeast Regional Court Center, 18380 N. 40th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85032. Your hearing will be in Courtroom 106 unless otherwise specified.  
 
Our Judicial Assistant is Vanessa Hernandez; the Courtroom Assistant is Lucas Garcia. Our division phone number is 602-372-2928 and our email address is drj14@jbazmc.maricopa.gov. If you’re emailing the Court about a case, please make sure you’ve copied the other party on the email.

Pre-Trial Practice and Management Issues

Motion Practice

Judge Knapp handles most motions through e-File, so lodging an electronic form of order is strongly encouraged. For requests to extend a dismissal date, please specify the new dismissal date you’re requesting in the draft order.

Discovery or Disclosure Disputes and/or Sanctions

For discovery disputes, please consider following the procedures in ARCP 26(d)—that is, filing a brief joint statement describing the dispute and emailing drj14@jbazmc.maricopa.gov to request a status conference. The Court has availability for 15-minute status conferences at 8:45 a.m. most mornings. For motions to compel seeking attorney’s fees under ARFLP 65, please state the total expenses incurred relating to the motion and consider attaching redacted billing statements or other material to support the claim. Please also ensure that a motion to compel complies with Maricopa County Local Rule 3.2(h) (requiring detailed information about alleged deficiency).  

Trial Practice and Protocol

Trial Practice and Procedure

We typically conduct evidentiary hearings in person and procedural conferences by video using Court Connect, https://www.tinyurl.com/jbazmc-drj14. But we regularly grant written motions to allow witnesses to appear by video or to convert an in-person hearing to a virtual hearing for good cause, particularly if there’s no objection by the other party. For evidentiary hearings, all parties or witnesses attending virtually must appear by videoconference with cameras turned on, absent specific authorization from the Court to connect by phone without video.

Other Courtroom Policies and Recommendations

We strive to resolve cases promptly and efficiently. If you think we’ve overlooked a motion or petition, please don’t hesitate to email us at drj14@jbazmc.maricopa.gov or call the division phone number to inquire. Similarly, if you have questions about the status of a case you can absolutely contact us.  
 
Keep in mind, though, that court staff are not permitted to give legal advice. If you have questions about what to file in your family court case, please make sure you’ve explored the resources, forms, and instructions available at https://www.azcourts.gov/familylaw and https://superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/llrc/family-court-forms/.