UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION
CIVIL STANDING ORDER FOR
DISTRICT JUDGE JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY
(Revised January 21, 2025)
**Chambers copies are not required unless specifically requested by the Court**
Parties shall comply with the procedures in the Federal Rules of Civil or Criminal
Procedure, the Northern District of California’s Local Rules and General Orders, and this
standing order, all of which are available at http://www.cand.uscourts.gov. The parties’
failure to comply with any of the rules or orders may be grounds for monetary sanctions,
dismissal, entry of judgment, or other appropriate sanctions.
A. CALENDAR DATES
As of February 1, 2025, civil case management and status conferences are heard on
Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. These conferences shall all be conducted via videoconference
until further notice.
Civil motions are heard in person on Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. in Courtroom 8, 450 Golden
Gate Ave., San Francisco, California. The Court may notify the parties in advance of the
hearing that it will be heard via Zoom rather than in person, but the default rule is that
motions are heard in person. Parties may stipulate/request to have a hearing by Zoom video,
but they must do so at least one week in advance of the hearing. The Court may deny the
request/stipulation for a Zoom hearing unless good cause is shown, and good cause is
generally not satisfied merely because counsel reside outside the District. Regardless of
whether the hearing is in person or via Zoom, it shall be publicly available via the Court’s
Zoom Webinar link.
Pretrial conferences are held in person in Courtroom 8, 450 Golden Gate Ave., San
Francisco, California on Thursdays at 2:00 p.m.
B. SCHEDULING
Parties should notice motions (other than discovery motions) pursuant to the Local Rules.
Parties need not reserve a hearing date, but should confirm the Court’s availability at
http://www.cand.uscourts.gov. For scheduling questions, please contact Judge Corley’s
Courtroom Deputy, Ada Means, at
[email protected].
C. INVITATION TO SELF-IDENTIFY PRONOUNS AND HONORIFICS
If they so choose, litigants and lawyers may indicate their pronouns (e.g., she/her, he/him,
they/their) and honorifics (e.g., Mr., Ms., Mx., Dr.) by adding the information in the name
block or signature line of the pleadings.
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D. CHAMBERS COPIES
Chambers copies are generally not required; however, the Court may request that a party
provide chambers copies for particularly voluminous filings. If the Court does so, the
chambers copies should be double-sided (when possible) and three-hole punched along the
left side of the page, and should bear the ECF filing “stamp” (case number, docket number,
date, and ECF page number) along the top of the page. All exhibits shall be clearly
delineated with labels along the right side. If the filing includes exhibits over two inches
thick, the parties shall place the chambers copies in a binder. The chambers copies shall be
marked “Chambers Copy” and submitted to the Clerk’s Office, in an envelope marked with
“Judge Corley,” the case number, and “Chambers Copy.”
The Court does not require electronic copies of proposed orders. If the Court requires
electronic copies of a filing, it will specifically request it from the parties. Parties should
not otherwise email
[email protected] with electronic copies of filings.
E. CIVIL CASE MANAGEMENT
No later than seven (7) days before the initial case management or status conference, the
parties shall file a Joint Case Management Statement in full compliance with the Northern
District of California’s general standing order for civil cases entitled “Contents of Joint Case
Management Statement,” a copy of which is attached hereto. For further case
management conferences, the parties shall update their joint statement so as to not
repeat information that has not changed from prior statements, and shall only address
new matters and the parties’ position(s) on ADR/mediation.
Parties may not continue a case management, status, or pretrial conference without Court
approval. At the case management conference, counsel shall attend on behalf of each
party or, for parties unrepresented by an attorney, the party shall attend. Counsel or
unrepresented parties shall be (1) prepared to address all of the matters referred to in the
Northern District of California’s general standing order on Joint Case Management
Statements; and (2) have full authority to enter stipulations and make admissions pursuant
to that order.
The Court strongly encourages parties to permit less experienced attorneys to actively
participate in the proceedings by presenting argument at motion hearings or examining
witnesses at trial. The Court permits more than one attorney to argue for a party at a
motion hearing or case management conference.
Amended Pleadings
If a party files an amended pleading, they shall concurrently file a redlined or highlighted
version comparing the amended pleading to the prior operative pleading.
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Documents filed on ECF
All exhibits to motions and/or discovery dispute joint statements should be separately filed
on ECF. For example, if the motion is Docket No. 30, and the declaration with 10 exhibits
is Docket No. 31, Exhibit A would be filed as Docket No. 31-1, Exhibit B would be Docket
No. 31-2, and so on. Electronically filed documents must be text-searchable PDFs
whenever possible.
Motions to File Under Seal
Parties are reminded that court proceedings are presumptively public, and no document shall
be filed under seal without request for a court order that is narrowly tailored to cover only
the document, the particular portion of the document, or category of documents for which
good cause exists for filing under seal. If a party wishes to file a document under seal, that
party shall first file an administrative motion to seal in accordance with Local Rule 79-5.
If parties are asked to provide chambers copies of documents filed under seal, the chambers
copies with confidential materials will be handled like all other chambers copies of
materials without special restriction, and will typically be recycled, not shredded. If the
parties wish to dispose of documents filed under seal in some other way, they must
expressly indicate as much in their sealing motion and make arrangements to pick up
the documents upon disposition of the motion.
F. CIVIL DISCOVERY
Parties should be mindful of the December 1, 2015 amendments to the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure, and in particular, the directive in Rule 1 that the Rules “should be
construed, administered, and employed by the court and the parties to secure the just,
speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding,” and the
proportionality requirements for discovery under Rule 26(b)(1).
Discovery Disputes Between Parties to the Case
Upon the development of an impasse with respect to discovery in a pending case assigned to
Judge Corley, the parties must first meet and confer; that is, counsel for each party shall
meet and confer in person or via videoconference to attempt to resolve their dispute
informally. A mere exchange of letters, emails, telephone calls or facsimile transmissions
does not satisfy the meet and confer requirement.
If the parties are unable to resolve their dispute informally after a good faith effort,
including meet and confer efforts conducted by lead counsel, the parties have two
options:
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1) If the dispute is straightforward, or the parties believe some initial
informal guidance from the Court may help the parties resolve their
dispute without the need for briefing, the parties may contact Judge
Corley’s Courtroom Deputy, Ada Means, at
[email protected] to
arrange a video conference with Judge Corley. The parties’ email to Ms.
Means should not include any argument or exhibits; at most, it can
include one line summarizing the nature of the dispute.
2) Instead of a noticed motion, the parties shall prepare a joint statement of
not more than five single-spaced pages (12-point font or greater) stating
the nature and status of the dispute and attesting to their good faith meet
and confer efforts. Each side thus has approximately 2.5 pages of the
submission. Issue-by-issue, the joint statement shall describe each
unresolved issue, summarize each party’s position with appropriate legal
authority, and provide each party’s final proposed compromise before
addressing the next issue. It is preferable that the parties file a separate
statement for each dispute. When necessary, the parties may submit
supporting declarations and documentation of up to 12 pages. Parties are
expected to plan for and cooperate in preparing the joint statement so that
each side has adequate time to address the arguments.
The parties are strongly encouraged to submit a joint statement, but in the
rare instances when a joint statement is not possible, each side may
submit a statement of not more than two pages (12-point font or greater).
The statement shall explain why a joint statement was impossible.
The joint statement or individual statements shall be e-filed (unless the
case is exempt from e-filing requirements). Whether joint or individual,
the statement must be filed under the Civil Events category of “Motions
and Related Filings > Motions – General > Discovery Letter Brief.”
Upon review of the parties’ submission(s), the Court will advise the
parties of how the Court intends to proceed. The Court may issue a
ruling or schedule a videoconference with the parties, and at such
conference may issue rulings, order more formal briefing, or set further
hearing dates. The Court may also order the parties to come to the
courthouse to meet and confer in good faith.
Discovery Disputes Between a Party and a Non-Party
For discovery disputes involving non-parties (usually Federal Rule 45 disputes), the parties
may utilize any of the procedures identified above, including asking for an informal
discovery conference with Judge Corley, provided the parties and non-parties agree to that
procedure. Absent agreement, the moving party should file a noticed motion pursuant to
Local Rule 7. In either event, before the dispute may be brought to the Court’s attention,
counsel must meet and confer in person or by videoconference.
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Protective Orders
Parties who seek a protective order or order regarding discovery of electronically stored
information (“ESI”) must, when practicable, use one of the model stipulated orders available
at https://cand.uscourts.gov/model-protective-orders or
https://cand.uscourts.gov/eDiscoveryGuidelines. Parties must file one of the following with
any proposed protective order or order regarding discovery of ESI: (a) a declaration stating
that the proposed order is identical to one of the model orders except for the addition of
case-identifying information or the elimination of language denoted as optional; (b) a
declaration explaining each modification to the model order, along with a redline version
comparing the proposed order with the model order; or (c) a declaration explaining why use
of one of the model orders is not practicable.
Privilege Logs
If a party withholds material as privileged under Federal Rule 26(b)(5) or 45(d)(2)(A), it
must produce a privilege log as quickly as possible, but no later than fourteen days after its
disclosures or discovery responses are due, unless the parties stipulate to or the Court sets
another date. Privilege logs must contain the following: (a) the subject matter or general
nature of the document (without disclosing its contents); (b) the identity and position of its
author; (c) the date it was communicated; (d) the identity and position of all addressees and
recipients of the communication; (e) the document’s present location; and (f) the specific
privilege and a brief summary of any supporting facts. Failure to furnish this information
promptly may be deemed a waiver of the privilege or protection.
Depositions
The parties are encouraged to negotiate a deposition protocol that addresses which
depositions will be taken remotely and how remote depositions will be handled. Notice of
depositions must be given at least 30 days prior to the close of fact discovery.
G. CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENTS
Any motion for preliminary or final approval of a class action settlement must address the
respective guidelines in the Northern District of California’s Procedural Guidance for Class
Action Settlements, available at https://cand.uscourts.gov/forms/procedural-guidance-for-
classaction-settlements/, in the order the guidelines are presented on the website.
As reflected in the Guidance, the Court will require a post-distribution accounting
within 21 days after the final distribution of settlement funds. In addition to the
information contained in the Guidance, the post-distribution accounting must discuss
any significant or recurring concerns communicated by class members to the
settlement administrator or counsel since final approval, any other issues in settlement
administration since final approval, and how any concerns or issues were resolved.
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H. PARTIES UNREPRESENTED BY AN ATTORNEY
Parties representing themselves, without the assistance of a lawyer, should visit the link
titled “Representing Yourself” on the Court’s homepage, www.cand.uscourts.gov. The link
discusses the Court’s Legal Help Center which provides free assistance for unrepresented
parties in person and over the phone. Parties can make an appointment at the San Francisco
Legal Help Center by calling (415) 782-8982 or emailing
[email protected], or at the San
Jose Legal Help Center by calling (408) 297-1480.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
_________________________
JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY
United States District Judge
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