1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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CIVIL STANDING ORDERS FOR MAGISTRATE JUDGE JOSEPH C. SPERO
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(Revised August 26, 2025)
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The parties shall follow the General Orders of the Court for the Northern District of
5 California, the Local Rules, and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, except as expressly
modified herein. Failure to comply with any of the rules and orders may be deemed sufficient
6 grounds for monetary sanctions, dismissal, entry of default judgment, or other appropriate
7 sanctions.
8 A. SCHEDULING HEARINGS AND CONFERENCES
9 1. Civil Law and Motion is heard on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. Counsel should notice civil
motions for hearing in accordance with the Civil Local Rules and need not reserve a
10 hearing date in advance for civil motions. However, noticed dates may be reset as the
Court’s calendar requires.
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2. Criminal Law and Motion is heard on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.
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Northern District of California
United States District Court
3. Case Management Conferences and Pretrial Conference are heard on Wednesdays at 2:00
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p.m. Case Management Conferences are not recorded unless at least one party in the case
14 is appearing pro se or counsel makes a specific request at the commencement of the Case
Management Conference that it be recorded.
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4. Requests to appear telephonically at a case management conference or hearing must be
16 filed and served one week before the conference in accordance with Civil L.R. 16-10(a).
This is suspended until further order of the Court. All appearances will be by Zoom
17 Webinar unless the Court orders otherwise. Zoom Webinar ID: 161 926 0804. Password:
18 050855.
19 5. Parties should address all questions regarding scheduling to Judge Spero’s courtroom
deputy by emailing
[email protected].
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B. CONSENT
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6. In cases that are randomly assigned to Judge Spero for all purposes, a Consent or
22 Declination to Magistrate Judge Jurisdiction form will be mailed to all parties. The parties
are requested, within two weeks from receipt of the form, to complete and file the form
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indicating their consent or request for reassignment to a District Judge.
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C. CHAMBERS COPIES
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7. Pursuant to General Order 72-3, no paper courtesy copies will be accepted by the
26 undersigned unless the Court specifically orders that hard copies of a particular filing be
provided. Instead, courtesy copies should be emailed to
[email protected]. In
27 addition, any proposed stipulation or proposed order in a case subject to electronic filing
shall be sent by email to
[email protected]. This address is to be used only for
28 proposed orders and courtesy copies unless otherwise directed by the Court.
1 D. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE STATEMENTS
2 8. Settlement Conference Statements must be LODGED with Chambers (NOT electronically
filed). To lodge Settlement Conference Statements, parties should submitting them in .pdf
3 format via email to
[email protected]. Pending further order of the
Court, hard copies should not be lodged with Chambers.
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E. DISCOVERY DISPUTES
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6 9. In lieu of filing formal discovery motions, the parties involved in the discovery dispute
(through lead trial counsel for any party that is represented by counsel) shall meet and
7 confer by video conference regarding the subject matter of the dispute(s) in an effort to
resolve these matters. After attempting other means to confer on the issue (i.e. letter, phone
8 call, e-mail) any party may demand such a meeting on five business days’ notice. Within
five business days of the meet-and-confer session, the parties shall provide a detailed Joint
9 Letter to the Court, not to exceed five pages without leave of Court. This Joint Letter shall
10 include a description of every issue in dispute and, with respect to each such issue, a
detailed summary of each party’s final substantive position and their final proposed
11 compromise on each issue. Upon receipt of the Joint Letter the Court will determine what
future proceedings are necessary. The meet and confer and joint letter procedures in this
12 Order apply to disputes among the parties to this action and to disputes between parties and
Northern District of California
United States District Court
non-parties who have been served with subpoenas.
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14 10. As soon as a party has notice of this order, the party shall take such affirmative steps as
are necessary to preserve evidence related to the issues presented by the action, including,
15 without limitation, interdiction of any document destruction programs and any ongoing
erasures of emails, voice mails, and other electronically recorded material to the extent
16 necessary to preserve information relevant to the issues presented by this action.
17 11. In responding to requests for documents and materials under Fed. R. Civ. P. 34, all parties
18 shall affirmatively state in a written response served on all other parties the full extent to
which they will produce materials and shall, promptly after the production, confirm in
19 writing that they have produced all such materials so described that are locatable after a
diligent search of all locations at which such materials might plausibly exist. It shall not be
20 sufficient to object and/or to state that “responsive” materials will be or have been
produced.
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12. In searching for responsive materials in connection with Fed. R. Civ. P. 34 requests or for
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materials required to be disclosed under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1), parties must search
23 computerized files, emails, voice mails, work files, desk files, calendars and diaries, and
any other locations and sources if materials of the type to be produced might plausibly be
24 expected to be found there.
25 13. To the maximum extent feasible, all party files and record should be retained and
produced in their original form and sequence, including file folders, and the originals
26 should remain available for inspection by any counsel on reasonable notice.
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1 14. Except for good cause, no item will be received in evidence if the proponent failed to
produce it in the face of a reasonable and proper discovery request covering the item,
2 regardless of whether a motion to overrule any objection thereto was made.
3 15. Privilege logs shall be promptly provided and must be sufficiently detailed and
4 informative to justify the privilege. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5). No generalized claims of
privilege or work product protection shall be permitted. With respect to each
5 communication for which a claim of privilege or work product is made, the asserting party
must at the time of its assertion identify: (a) all persons making and receiving the
6 privileged or protected communication. (b) the steps taken to ensure the confidentiality of
the communication, including affirmation that no unauthorized persons have received the
7 communication, (c) the date of the communication, and (d) the subject matter of the
8 communication. Failure to furnish this information at the time of the assertion will be
deemed a waiver of the privilege or protection.
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F. DEPOSITIONS
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16. Absent extraordinary circumstances, counsel shall consult in advance with opposing
11 counsel and unrepresented proposed deponents to schedule depositions at mutually
convenient times and places. Where an agreement cannot be reached as to any party
12 deponent or a deponent represented by counsel of record, the following procedure may be
Northern District of California
United States District Court
invoked by the party seeking any such deposition. The party seeking such a deposition may
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notice it at least thirty days in advance. If the noticed date and place is unacceptable to the
14 deponent or the deponent’s counsel, then within ten days of receipt of the notice, the
deponent or counsel form the deponent must reply and counter-propose in writing an
15 alternative date and place falling within thirty days of the date noticed by the party seeking
the deposition.
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17. Counsel and parties shall comply with Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(d)(1). Deposition objections
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must be as to privilege or form only. Speaking objections are prohibited. When a privilege
18 is claimed, the witness should nevertheless answer questions relevant to the existence,
extent, or waiver of the privilege, such as the date of a communication, who made the
19 statement, to whom and in whose presence the statement was made, other persons to whom
the contents of the statement have been disclosed, and the general subject matter of the
20 statement, unless such information is itself privileged. Private conferences between
deponents and attorneys in the course of interrogation, including a line of related questions,
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are improper and prohibited except for the sole purpose of determining whether a privilege
22 should be asserted.
23 G. PRONOUNS
24 18. Litigants and lawyers may indicate their pronouns (e.g., she/her, he/him, they/their) and
honorifics (e.g., Mr., Ms., Mx., Dr.) by mailing a confidential letter to Judge Spero’s
25 chambers, filing a request on the case docket, or adding the information in the name block
or signature line of the pleadings.
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1 H. SOCIAL SECURITY APPEALS
2 19. Where a plaintiff seeks review of a decision by the Commissioner of Social Security
denying plaintiff Social Security benefits, the parties should use only the initials of the
3 plaintiff in their pleadings to protect the plaintiff’s privacy.
4 I. SANCTIONS
5 20. Failure to comply with this Order of the Local Rules of this Court may result in sanctions.
6 See Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(f), Civil L.R. 1-4.
7 J. EFFECTIVE DATE
8 21. This Standing Order is effective as of August 26, 2025.
9 Dated: August 26, 2025
10 ______________________________________
11 JOSEPH C. SPERO
United States Magistrate Judge
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Northern District of California
United States District Court
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