General Rules; Guidelines for Requesting Extensions of Scheduling Order Deadlines; AI Guidelines; Guidelines for Confidentiality Orders (Revised October 2025)

=== General Rules ===

GENERAL RULES FOR TRIAL OF CASES BEFORE JUDGE SCOTT PALK PLEASE READ CAREFULLY PRIOR TO TRIAL Please be on time for each court session. Trial engagements take precedence over any other business. If you have matters in other courtrooms, arrange in advance for the handling of such matters by you or have an associate handle them for you. 1. Exhibits must be prepared as set out in LCvR39.4. Court time may not be used for marking exhibits. In addition, exhibits are to be placed in three- ring binders separated by tabs. The parties shall provide the original and one copy of the exhibit notebooks to the Court on the first day of trial, unless ordered to do so earlier by the Court. 2. Witness and Exhibit lists must be submitted as required by LCvR43.1. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Please stand when you address the court. This includes the making of objections. (Counsel with physical disabilities are excused from this requirement.) Stand a respectful distance from the jury at all times. Statements and arguments to the jury will be made from the lectern. In your opening statement to the jury, do not argue the case and do not discuss law. Confine yourself to a concise summary of the facts to follow. Do not describe in detail what individual witnesses will say. Unless the case is unusually complex, each party will be limited to 15 minutes. Please stand when you question witnesses. (Counsel with physical disabilities are excused from this requirement.) Do not pace about the courtroom when questioning witnesses, but remain at the lectern unless given permission to approach the witness, diagram, bench, or the like. If you intend to question a witness about a group of documents, avoid delay by having all the documents with you when you start the examination. Except for children, address witnesses by their surnames, for example, Mr. A, Sergeant B, or Doctor C. Do not greet or introduce yourself to adverse witnesses. Commence your cross-examination without preliminaries. 10. When you object in the presence of the jury, make your objection short and to the point. Do not argue the objection in the presence of the jury, and do not argue with the ruling of the Court in the presence of the jury. Do not make motions in the presence of the jury. Such matters may be raised at the first recess without waiving any rights by such delayed motion. 11. Do not face or otherwise appear to address yourself to jurors when questioning a witness. 12. Never assert your personal opinion as to the credibility of a witness, the culpability of a civil litigant, or the guilt or innocence of an accused, nor as counsel assert personal knowledge of a fact in issue, nor assert a fact not in evidence. 13. Do not react to a statement by another counsel or a witness being examined by another counsel by any gesture or facial expression signifying agreement, disagreement, approval, or disapproval. Advise your clients they are subject to this same limitation. 14. Do not bring food or beverages into the courtroom. Water is provided. 15. When another counsel has the floor, do not distract the Court or jury by audibly conversing with your client or co-counsel, ostentatiously passing notes, rummaging through papers, or other conspicuous conduct. 16. Do not leave the courtroom while trial is in progress without obtaining leave of Court. This applies to all persons at the counsel table. 17. Where more than one attorney represents a party, only the attorney handling the particular witness may respond to an objection or raise an objection in regard to his testimony. 18. Presentation of exhibits to the jury should ordinarily be by use of the overhead projector or other, similar means of presentation. The Court does not ordinarily permit exhibits to be passed to the jury, but may permit it if the exhibit is particularly significant and other means of presentation are impractical. 19. Do not publish an exhibit to the jury, with visual presentation equipment or otherwise, before the exhibit has been admitted into evidence. 20. If you intend to use any special evidence presentation equipment not already present in the courtroom, you should make the appropriate arrangements prior to the date of the trial and advise the courtroom deputy. The “Attorney’s Manual for Courtroom Technology,” located under “Rules and Procedures” on the Court’s website, includes information as to the presentation equipment already available. 21. If you have any reason to anticipate that any question of law or evidence is particularly difficult, give the Court as much advance notice as possible. 22. The judiciary’s privacy policy restricts the publication of certain personal data in documents filed with the Court. The policy requires limiting Social Security and financial account numbers to the last four digits, using only initials for the names of minor children, and limiting dates of birth to the year. (For criminal cases, also limit home addresses to city and state.) However, if such information is elicited during testimony or other court proceedings, it will become available to the public when the official transcript is filed at the courthouse unless, and until, it is redacted. The better practice is for you to avoid introducing this information into the record in the first place. Please take this into account when questioning witnesses or making other statements in court. If a restricted item is mentioned in Court, you may ask to have it stricken from the record or partially redacted to conform to the privacy policy, or the court may do so on its own motion. Thank you for your cooperation. SCOTT PALK UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

=== Guidelines for Requesting Extensions of Scheduling Order Deadlines ===

GUIDELINES FOR REQUESTING EXTENSIONS OF SCHEDULING ORDER DEADLINES Chambers of United States District Judge Scott L. Palk 1. The Court requires compliance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4). Requests should address the specific efforts undertaken to date to move the case 2. forward, including the discovery conducted and the discovery which remains. Generalized assertions or conclusory statements that “settlement negotiations are 3. underway” or “ongoing” will not suffice. 4. Requests should be filed sufficiently in advance of the deadline so as to allow the Court to rule on the request prior to the expiration of the deadline. Requests submitted on the same day as the deadline for which the extension is sought are highly disfavored and should be avoided absent exceptional circumstances.

=== AI Guidelines ===

DISCLOSURE AND CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS – GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Chambers of United States District Judge Scott L. Palk 1. Consistent with Rule 11(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and the certifications required thereunder, the Court directs that any party, whether appearing pro se or through counsel, who utilizes any generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool in the preparation of any documents to be filed with the Court, must disclose in the document that AI was used and the specific AI tool that was used. The unrepresented party or attorney must further certify in the document that the person has checked the accuracy of any portion of the document drafted by generative AI, including all citations and legal authority. 2. If generative AI is utilized in the preparation of any documents filed with the Court, the unrepresented party or attorney will be held responsible for the contents thereof, in accordance with Rule 11 and applicable rules of professional conduct and/or attorney discipline. The failure to make the disclosure and certification described in paragraph 1 may 3. result in the imposition of sanctions.

=== Guidelines for Confidentiality Orders (Revised October 2025) ===

Guidelines for Confidentiality Orders in Civil Cases Pending Before Judge Scott L. Palk (Revised October 2025) A request for entry of a protective order directed to the confidentiality of documents produced in discovery in civil cases should comply with the following: 1. The parties should be mindful of the concerns noted in Coker v. Hartford Life Group Ins. Co., Case No. CIV-06-0911-HE (W.D. Okla. Feb. 21, 2007) (Doc. #22 - order denying joint motion for protective order). 2. The proposed order should demonstrate the parties’ agreement to comply with Rule 5.2 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court’s ECF Policies & Procedures Manual, and any governing General Order of the Western District of Oklahoma. 3. The following sample language is preferred: This Order extends leave of court to electronically file under seal any document or information that has been designated “Confidential” as an exhibit to any pleading, brief or other court filing. Pursuant to Section II.H.1. of the ECF Policies & Procedures Manual, only those portions of a document that must be filed under seal should be electronically filed under seal. If, however, a party files a brief, pleading or other court filing which contains substantial argument or information related to that information which has been designated “Confidential,” that party may either: a. identifier redact all such personal information, “Confidential” information, or reference to information which has been designated “Confidential,” and file a separate, unredacted, version of the brief under seal in accordance with Rule 5.2 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Section II.H.2. of the ECF Policies & Procedures Manual; or b. that party may, by separate motion, seek leave of court to file the entire brief, pleading or other court filing under seal. 4. The parties should define the information to be kept confidential as narrowly as reasonably practical in the circumstances of the case. Categories of information to be treated as confidential should be specifically stated, not described with phrases such as “including but not limited to” or “anything designated by a party in good faith.” 5. A party should minimize the nature and amount of information filed under seal. Where confidential information is mentioned in or attached to a pleading or brief, the confidential information should ordinarily be redacted from the filed pleading or brief and an unredacted copy of it filed under seal. See generally, ECF Policies and Procedures Manual, § II.H. 6. The parties’ proposed order should not attempt to control the use of confidential documents at court hearings or trial of the case. Decisions in that regard will be made by the court at the time. 2