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Rules of Practice and Procedure: Guides

Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges, Third Edition
Ronald J. Hedges, Barbara J. Rothstein, and Elizabeth C. Wiggins
2017, 55 pages (In Print: Available for Distribution)
This third edition of the pocket guide on managing the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI) covers the December 1, 2015, amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and reflects the rise of new sources of ESI, particularly social media, and updates judges on how ESI may be searched. It also suggests case-management techniques that judges might use in smaller civil actions in which the costs of ESI discovery could hamper resolution on the merits.

Discovery in International Civil Litigation: A Guide for Judges
Timothy P. Harkness, Rahim Moloo, Patrick Oh, and Charline Yim
2015, 121 pages (In Print: Available for Distribution)
At an increasing rate, U.S. courts are hearing cases in which parties seek evidence located abroad or parties to a foreign or international proceeding seek evidence located in the United States. International discovery issues pose difficult and complex challenges, at both the procedural and substantive levels. This guide seeks to address these issues by providing a practical overview of cross-border discovery questions that commonly arise in civil cases before federal courts.

Confidential Discovery: A Pocket Guide on Protective Orders
Robert Timothy Reagan
2012, 21 pages (In Print: Available for Distribution)
Among the reasons that courts issue protective orders in both civil and criminal cases is to keep discovery confidential on a showing of good cause. Experience has proved confidentiality protective orders to grease the wheels of discovery in many cases. The protective orders discussed in this pocket guide are different from sealing orders that protect the courts' own records and protective orders that protect information from discovery. Among the topics addressed here are blanket orders, stipulated orders, and designating discovery for attorney eyes only.

Sealing Court Records and Proceedings: A Pocket Guide
Robert Timothy Reagan
2010, 26 pages (In Print: Available for Distribution)
Court case records and proceedings are presumptively public, but occasionally there are compelling reasons for keeping all or parts of them confidential, sometimes permanently but often only temporarily. This pocket guide summarizes the case law on sealing records and proceedings and presents a useful procedural checklist of seven principles to follow when denying public access.

A Primer on the Jurisdiction of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, Second Edition
Thomas E. Baker
2009, 120 pages (In Print: Available for Distribution)
This monograph provides an introduction to the complexity and nuance in the subject-matter jurisdiction of the U.S. Courts of Appeals. The monograph examines procedural issues related to the exercise of appellate jurisdiction in appeals from final judgments and interlocutory appeals. Coverage includes civil and criminal appeals, extraordinary writs, and federal administrative agency reviews. This edition contains new sections on the future of the Courts of Appeals, judicial rulemaking, non-party appeals in criminal matters, and an updated bibliography. Research for the second edition is current through the end of the Supreme Court Term 2007-2008, and includes appellate case law through October 2008.

A Practical Guide to Revision of Local Court Rules
Jeanne Johnson Bowden
1988, 74 pages (In Print: Available for Distribution)
A description of the Northern District of Georgia's two-year rules revision project. The author is a former law clerk with the court and was research assistant to the court's rules committee during the revision. This paper was written to facilitate the rules revision process in other trial courts by sharing the experiences of Northern Georgia. It is intended to be a "how-to-do-it" presentation. It does not address the philosophical considerations that influence the content of specific rules in the nation's trial courts.