Judge Joseph F. Leeson, Jr.

Communications Policy - General Communication with chambers is permitted by e-mail, telephone, letter, or facsimile regarding scheduling and non-substantive matters only, with the exception of the procedures for raising discovery disputes with the Court.

Under no circumstances may any party or counsel communicate ex parte with any chambers personnel concerning substantive matters.

An e-mail does not constitute a filing.

Stipulations should be sent by e-mail or facsimile to chambers with a proposed form of order for Court approval.

Stipulations should not be sent to the Clerk of Court.

In a civil case, counsel for the moving party will be responsible for initiating the telephone conference and contacting the Judge through the Judge's Civil Deputy Clerk after all parties are present on the call.

In a criminal case, the United States Attorney's Office will be responsible for initiating the call and contacting the Judge through the Judge's Criminal Deputy Clerk after all parties are present on the call.

Requests for Court approval for the parties to provide and pay for (at the parties' expense) courtroom technology should be directed to the Criminal/Courtroom Deputy Clerk, Justin F. Wood.

(2) The lettering shall be clearly legible and shall not be smaller than 12 point word processing font, using Times New Roman typeface. The text must be double spaced, but quotations more than two lines long may be indented and single-spaced. Headings and footnotes may be single-spaced. The font type and size used in footnotes shall be the same as that used in the body of the document. Margins must be at least one inch on all four sides. All pages should be numbered.

A reply brief is not to exceed ten (10) pages and is to address only issues raised in opposition to the motion, without repeating arguments included in the initial brief.

A party may file a sur-reply brief only with permission of the Court upon good cause shown. The sur-reply brief may not exceed five (5) pages.

Each party shall submit one (1) copy of proposed jury instructions and verdict forms (or special interrogatories) on those issues not agreed upon by the parties in their joint submission, all of which shall be marked to show the specific words on which the parties do not agree.

Any requests concerning seating (e.g., requests for more than one counsel table or special requests for seating, visual aids, etc.) are to be submitted to the Criminal/Courtroom Deputy Clerk, Justin F. Wood, at least one week before trial.

Counsel may not approach a witness without leave of court.

Counsel are reminded that they may not discuss a witness’s testimony with him or her once that witness has begun testifying until the witness is excused.

Only one attorney for each side may examine the same witness or address the jury during opening statements or closing arguments.

If counsel wishes to examine a witness on the basis of a prior written statement made by the witness, the witness shall first be shown the statement and asked whether he or she acknowledges having made it.

If counsel wishes to cross-examine a witness on the basis of a deposition, counsel must give a copy of the deposition to the witness, who will be permitted to read the deposition and to adopt or deny the testimony before counsel may proceed with cross-examination.

Counsel are to bring objections to the Court’s attention at the time of the final pretrial conference. After the Court rules on any objections, counsel is required to edit the video recording before offering the videotaped testimony at trial.

If the parties are directed to file proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, all proposed findings of fact shall cite to specific pages and lines of the transcript where the proposed findings of fact appear.

Judge Leeson requires counsel to submit, for his confidential review, a brief written settlement conference memorandum one week before any scheduled in-person settlement conference or telephone settlement conference, which shall not exceed three (3) pages in length.

Counsel are further directed to provide a settlement conference memorandum to chambers by e-mail one week before the scheduled settlement conference, not to exceed three (3) pages in length. The e-mail address is: Chambers_of_Judge_Joseph_F_Leeson_Jr@paed.uscourts.gov