(a) In General. Jury empanelment shall be conducted in the manner determined by the
presiding judicial officer and prescribed by any applicable statutes or rules of civil procedure.
(b) Voir Dire Questions. If and when directed by the Court, counsel shall submit a list of any
questions that counsel requests the Court to ask prospective jurors during voir dire
examination. Proposed questions for the jury voir dire shall be served and submitted to the
Court at least 5 days prior to empanelment.
(c) Challenges. Challenges of individual prospective jurors for cause shall be made on the
record but out of the hearing of the other prospective jurors. At the discretion of the Court,
challenges may be made orally or by executing challenge slips and presenting them to the
Clerk.
(1) Unless the Court otherwise orders, in any case in which there is a single plaintiff and
a single defendant entitled to an equal number of peremptory challenges, the
challenges shall be exercised alternately and one by one, with the plaintiff exercising
the first challenge.
(2) In any other case, the order of challenges shall be determined by the Court.
(d) Communication with Jurors. Unless otherwise permitted by the Court, no attorney, party,
or agent of an attorney or party shall communicate directly or indirectly with a juror during
or after the trial of a case.
Effective 12/1/11: The numerical references in this rule were altered as part of the restyling of numerical references
throughout the Local Rules. Effective 12/1/09: §(b) amended.
CROSS-REFERENCES
See LR Gen 107.1(g) (transcripts of petit jury empanelments), and LR Cr 24 (Empanelment of and
Communication with Jurors in criminal cases).
As to restrictions on communications with jurors, see United States v. O’Brien, 972 F.2d 12 (1st Cir.
1992)(unauthorized communications between persons associated with case and jurors deemed
presumptively prejudicial) and United States v. Kepreos, 759 F.2d 961 (1st Cir.), cert. denied 474
U.S. 901 (1985)(post-verdict communications with jurors prohibited unless under supervision of
court in extraordinary circumstances).
U.S. DISTRICT COURT RULES -- RULES APPLICABLE TO CIVIL PROCEEDINGS
