UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
OAKLAND DIVISION
CIVIL STANDING ORDER FOR MAGISTRATE JUDGE AJAY S. KRISHNAN
Updated July 7, 2026
1. General
Unless otherwise indicated by the Court, this Standing Order applies to all categories of
civil cases before Magistrate Judge Ajay S. Krishnan. The Parties shall follow the Federal Rules
of Civil Procedure, as well as the Northern District of California’s Local Rules and General
Orders, except as expressly modified herein. Counsel shall also comply with the Northern
District of California’s Guidelines for Professional Conduct (available at https://perma.cc/BB7B-
XTQX). Counsel shall review and be familiar with this Standing Order. Failure to comply with
any of the applicable rules and orders, including this Standing Order, may be deemed sufficient
grounds for sanctions (monetary or otherwise), revocation of pro hac vice admission, referral to
appropriate state or local bar authorities, dismissal, entry of default judgment, or other
appropriate sanctions.
Plaintiff (or in the case of removed cases, any removing Defendant) is directed: (a) to
serve copies of this Standing Order upon all other Parties to the action within seven (7) calendar
days of the appearance of these other Parties, including any subsequently joined Parties, pursuant
to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 4 and 5; and (b) to file with the Clerk of the Court a
certificate reflecting such service, in accordance with Civil Local Rule 5-5.
2. Consent Cases
In civil cases that are randomly assigned to Judge Krishnan for all purposes, the parties
will be asked to submit a form indicating their consent or declination to magistrate judge
jurisdiction. The Court asks that the parties file this form promptly.
3. Motions
Hearings. Civil motions (other than discovery motions) may be noticed for hearing on
Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m., in Courtroom 4, 3rd Floor, United States District Court, 1301 Clay
Street, Oakland, California. Counsel need not reserve a hearing date in advance, and noticed
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dates may be reset as the Court’s calendar requires. Before noticing a motion for hearing, please
check the Court’s schedule (available at https://apps.cand.uscourts.gov/CEO/cfd.aspx?71CD)
and review the list of unavailable dates. Scheduling questions should be addressed to Judge
Krishnan’s courtroom deputy, Kim Means, at (510) 637-1296 or
[email protected].
Unless the Court orders otherwise, all law and motion hearings, except for discovery
disputes, will be conducted in person. If a party wishes to request that a law and motion hearing
be conducted via Zoom webinar, the request must be made at least three business days before the
scheduled hearing. Such requests will be granted only upon a showing of good cause. Discovery
disputes are governed by the procedure described below.
Motions for Summary Judgment. Each party is limited to filing one summary judgment
motion. Any party wishing to exceed this limit must request leave of the Court and must show
good cause.
Proposed Orders. Proposed orders submitted by an e-filing party shall be submitted in
Microsoft Word to
[email protected]. Proposed orders are not required for motions filed
pursuant to Civil L.R. 7-2, except for motions seeking injunctive relief.
Chambers Copies. Parties do not need to file chambers copies of motion papers.
Filing Exhibits on ECF. When exhibits are included with a motion, opposition brief, or
reply brief, the exhibits should be filed separately on ECF. For example, if a motion is Docket
No. 30, and a declaration with 10 exhibits is Docket No. 31, Exhibit A should be filed as Docket
No. 31-1, Exhibit B should be filed as Docket No. 31-2, and so on. All exhibits should be filed in
a searchable OCR format when possible.
4. Amended Pleadings
If a party files an amended pleading, it must file as an attachment a redline comparing the
amended pleading against the last pleading.
5. Discovery
Absent leave of Court, parties should not file formal noticed motions under Civil L.R. 7-2
regarding discovery-related disputes. Instead, for all discovery disputes, the parties must meet
and confer to attempt to resolve their dispute. The meet and confer must be in person or by
videoconference or telephone. A mere exchange of letters, emails, or messages does not satisfy
the requirement to meet and confer.
If the parties are unable to reach a resolution, they must file a joint statement of at most 5
single-spaced pages (12-point font or greater) with 2.5 pages allotted per side that: (1) describes
each unresolved issue; and (2) states each party’s final proposed compromise with respect to
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each unresolved issue. Each party may submit supporting declarations and documentation of up
to fifteen pages.
In the rare event that the parties are unable to file a joint statement, each party may file a
statement of at most two pages. The statement(s) must be filed in ECF under the Civil Events
category of Motions and Related Filings > Motions: General > Discovery Letter Brief. Upon
review of the statement(s), the Court will advise the parties regarding the need for more briefing,
a hearing, or a video or telephonic conference.
Protective Orders. If parties believe a protective order is necessary, they shall when
practicable use one of the model protective orders, available at https://cand.uscourts.gov/rules-
forms-fees/northern-district-guidelines/model-protective-orders. When parties ask the Court to
approve a stipulated protective order, they must file with the proposed order either (i) a statement
in which they confirm that the proposed protective order doesn’t differ in any respect from the
model order, or (ii) a redline comparing the proposed protective order with the model order,
along with an explanation of any changes. The Court endeavors to use the model orders and
discourages making edits to them for purely stylistic reasons, even if all parties agree.
Written Discovery. The party propounding discovery shall provide courtesy copies of all
requests for written discovery (i.e., interrogatories, document requests, requests for admission) to
the responding party in an electronic format (e.g., Microsoft Word or other word processing
application) that easily permits the responding party to copy the requests for purposes of
responding to them. Parties responding to discovery are reminded of their obligation to state
clearly what they agree to produce and what they refuse to produce. 1
Depositions. Counsel noticing a deposition must consult in advance with opposing
counsel (as well as with any unrepresented witness whose deposition is to be noticed) to
schedule depositions at a mutually convenient time and location. Counsel and parties must
comply with Rule 30(d)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Speaking objections are
prohibited. When privilege is claimed, the witness must answer questions relevant to the
existence, extent, or waiver of the privilege unless such information is itself privileged.
Privilege Logs. Claims of privilege or work product protection must be sufficiently
detailed and informative to justify the privilege or protection claimed; generalized claims of
privilege or work product protection are not permitted. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5). Privilege
logs shall be promptly provided, and updated periodically, as documents are reviewed for
production. The parties should agree on interim and final dates for the exchange of privilege logs
that permit any disputes about claims of privilege or work product protection to be addressed in
advance of the discovery cut-off.
Disputes Regarding Search or Collection. When the parties’ discovery dispute concerns
the adequacy of a search or production, it is the Court’s expectation that the producing party
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For example, discovery responses offering to produce documents “subject to and without waiving the foregoing
objections” are improper if they do not make clear what exactly will and will not be produced.
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disclose to the requesting party the material aspects of its search and collection process that
would allow the parties and the Court to assess the reasonableness of the search. This would
typically include the search terms used, the repositories searched, the person performing the
search (e.g., whether it is litigation counsel versus a party itself), among other things, depending
on the way in which responsive material is stored. To the extent that the producing party will
need to disclose facts to the Court to justify its discovery conduct, those facts should be shared
with opposing counsel during the meet-and-confer process, so as to help facilitate a resolution.
Motions for Sanctions. Any party seeking an award of attorney fees or other form of
sanction under Fed. R. Civ. P. 37 may not use the expedited joint discovery dispute letter
procedure described above but instead must file a motion conforming to the requirements of
Civil L.R. 37-4.
6. Civil Case Management
No later than seven days before the initial case management conference, the parties shall
file a Joint Case Management Statement in full compliance with Civil Local Rule 16-9 and the
Northern District of California’s standing order entitled “Contents of Joint Case Management
Statement.” For further case management conferences, the parties shall file an updated joint
statement seven days before the scheduled conference.
Unless the Court orders otherwise, case management conferences will be conducted by
Zoom Webinar. Instructions for participating in the Zoom Webinar will be provided by Clerk’s
Notice and posted on the docket for each conference. Guidance on how to use Zoom
functionality is posted on the Court’s website, https://www.cand.uscourts.gov/zoom/. If any party
believes that a particular conference should be conducted in person, the party must request an in-
person conference in the joint case management statement or in a separate submission no later
than seven days before the case management conference and must explain why it believes the
conference should be conducted in person.
7. Parties Unrepresented by an Attorney
Litigants who are not represented by an attorney (“pro se litigants”) are encouraged to
contact the Legal Help Center for assistance. The Center is located on the fourth floor of the
Federal Courthouse in Oakland, Room 470S, to the left of the Clerk’s Office. Support is provided
by appointment and on a drop-in basis on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Appointments may be made by calling the Center at (415) 782-8982. More information is
available on the Court’s website at https://cand.uscourts.gov/representing-yourself/jdc-legal-
help-center-san-francisco-oakland-courthouses. Pro se litigants are also encouraged to consult
the Court’s “Pro Se Handbook,” available at https://cand.uscourts.gov/representing-yourself/pro-
se-handbook and from the Clerk’s Office.
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Pro se litigants may file documents manually, unless they have applied for and been
given permission to become an ECF user pursuant to Civil L.R. 5-1(b). To manually file
documents, litigants should bring an original and three copies to the Clerk’s Office on the fourth
floor of the Federal Courthouse in Oakland.
8. Other Matters
Skills Development. When a party intends to have a junior attorney argue, it shall notify
the Court by emailing Courtroom Deputy Means at
[email protected] at least one week
before the hearing date. An attorney is considered “junior” for these purposes if they have fewer
than seven years of experience and have argued fewer than five motions in federal court. The
Court will consider the participation of junior attorneys when determining whether to hear
argument.
Statement of Appearances. Litigants and lawyers shall arrive at least ten minutes before
their in-person or virtual hearing or conference to state their appearances to Judge Krishnan’s
Courtroom Deputy, Kim Means.
Mode of Address. Litigants and lawyers may indicate their preferred pronouns (e.g.,
she/her, he/him, they/their) and honorifics (e.g., Mr., Ms., Mx., Dr.) either: (a) confidentially by
sending an email to
[email protected] or mailing a confidential letter to Judge
Krishnan’s chambers; or (b) non-confidentially by filing a request on the case docket, saying so
at a hearing or conference with the Court (including at the time of stating one’s appearance with
Judge Krishnan’s Courtroom Deputy), or adding such information in the name block or signature
block of the pleadings.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: July 7, 2026
AJAY KRISHNAN
United States Magistrate Judge
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