Western District of Washington Local Rules and Judge Filing Requirements

Case designated for mediation under Local Rule CR 39.1

Motions for default judgment must provide sufficient information for the court to enter judgment.

Proposed order required with any motion requiring Court's signature.

Trial runs Mon-Fri, may be shortened on Thursdays due to in-custody hearings.

Objections to deposition designations must be filed by deadline.

Video appearances are a privilege, not a right, allowing remote participation.

Chambers phone number provided for contact

Contact Courtroom Deputy for urgent discovery disputes.

District judge handles release/detention reviews; magistrate handles other release reviews in criminal cases.

Physical copies of in camera review documents must be delivered to chambers, clearly marked for in camera review.

All pleadings must be in 12-point Times New Roman font.

Professional attire required for video appearances.

Trial exhibits must be pre-marked with consecutive numbering (Plaintiff: 1+, Defendant: A-1+)

All PDFs must be text-searchable.

Citations must be in the body of briefs, not in footnotes.

Good faith meet and confer required before filing motions to compel.

Meet and confer required before filing dispositive motions.

Discovery motions prohibited until status conference on discovery dispute.

Pre-motion conference with the Court is required for all discovery motions if parties cannot reach agreement.

Good faith conference required to resolve discovery disputes before filing motion.

Motions must be filed 28 days before trial.

Default motion length is 15 pages.

Joint discovery dispute statement limited to 3 pages.

Pleasings must comply with Local Rule CR 7(e) length restrictions; over-length pleadings may be returned or arguments beyond limits may be disregarded.

Joint statement for discovery disputes must not exceed 3 pages.

Motions to seal must comply with Local Rule CR 5(g) and include specific descriptions, facts justifying sealing, and a proposed order.

Magistrate judges can order sealing/unsealing of documents by the clerk.

Parties must redact specified personal data identifiers from all filed documents and exhibits, with specific redaction rules per identifier type.

Avoid eliciting personal identifiers from witnesses; redaction available if inadvertently disclosed

Witness sequestration rule applies throughout trial until closing arguments.

Motions to continue trial date only allowed for exceptional circumstances.

14-day deadline to file appeal motion for magistrate rulings not covered by other procedures.

Motions to continue must be filed timely; failure to do so constitutes waiver.

Continuance requests require prior contact with chambers to obtain an approved trial date, followed by a stipulated motion.

Discovery and non-dispositive motions must be noted no earlier than the 3rd Friday after filing; dispositive motions and preliminary injunction motions must be noted no earlier than the 4th Friday after filing.

Discovery motions must be filed before discovery closes to allow resolution.

Encouraged bundling of cross-motions into 4 briefs instead of 6.

Trial schedule may be shortened on Thursdays due to criminal in-custody hearings.

Dispositive motion cutoff is set 105 days before trial.

Government trial brief due 21 days before trial.

Courtesy copy required for documents over 50 pages filed via CM/ECF.

No courtesy copies required.

Courtesy copies are not required for any filings.

Courtesy copies required for pleadings over 50 pages or trial exhibits.

Courtesy copies required for documents over 100 pages.

Court encourages Rule 9 interns and junior attorneys to argue, permits multiple attorneys to argue for one party.

Oral argument granted when Court needs clarification or when opposing party likely to lose.

Oral arguments and status conferences generally granted; in-person preferred but remote considered.

Each side limited to 20 minutes for oral argument plus 5 minutes for rebuttal.

Attorneys must have at least 7 years of bar membership or judicial experience to serve as neutrals.