General Rules; Protective Orders; Filing of Documents Under Seal; Settlement Conferences; Waiver of Appearance at Arraignment

=== General Rules ===

GENERAL RULES FOR THE TRIAL OF CASES BEFORE JUDGE SUZANNE MITCHELL The chambers procedures which are set forth below are consistent with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and are not intended to add to the already substantial demands of litigation practice. To the contrary, these chambers procedures are intended to remove uncertainty and guesswork for litigants and their counsel by providing reliable and concrete guidance as to my expectations and procedures in some of the many matters as to which the Federal Rules and the Local Rules leave the trial judge with substantial discretion. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 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. Please stand when you address the court or make objections. (Counsel with physical disabilities are excused from this requirement.) Stand at the podium when you examine witnesses, make statements and present argument. from this (Counsel with physical disabilities are excused requirement.) 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. If you intend to use demonstrative exhibits in opening statements, inform opposing counsel at least one week before trial regarding this intent and confer to determine whether there are any objections to such use. The attorney intending to use the demonstrative exhibits shall promptly inform the courtroom deputy for the undersigned, in advance of the trial, regarding any such objections. If you intend to question a witness about a group of documents, place it before the witness before 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. Court time may not be used for marking exhibits. Mark all exhibits in advance of the court session. 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. Unless permission is given at the bench for further examination, examination of a witness ends with the first redirect. 12. Never assert personal knowledge of a fact in issue or a fact not in evidence. Likewise, never express your personal opinion as to the credibility of a witness, the culpability of a civil litigant, or the guilt or innocence of the accused. 13. 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. 14. 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. 15. Bench conferences will be kept to a minimum. If objections are anticipated with an upcoming witness, the attorneys will be expected to raise the matter in Court, when the jury is not present, in advance of the witness' testimony. 16. 17. "Speaking objections" will not be permitted. Make your objections short and to the point. If opposing counsel does not object to a group of exhibits to be offered, the offering party may proffer the exhibits for admission as a group at the beginning of the trial. 18. Exhibits as to which no objection is lodged in the pretrial report shall not be objected to when offered at trial, even if the court routinely inquires as to whether there is an objection when the exhibit is offered. 19. Do not bring food or beverage into the courtroom. Water is provided. 20. Do not leave the courtroom while trial is in progress without obtaining leave of court. 21. It is the obligation of counsel to have their witnesses available to prevent any delay in the presentation of testimony and to avoid running out of witnesses before the end of any trial day. If counsel has a problem in this regard, it should be promptly brought to the court's attention. 22. Before each morning and afternoon session of court, and at the end of the day, each attorney should tell opposing counsel the names of the witnesses he or she intends to call in the next session of court. 23. 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 the testimony. 2 24. Do not publish an exhibit to the jury, with visual presentation equipment or otherwise, before the exhibit has been admitted into evidence. Always show demonstrative exhibits or enlargements of admitted exhibits to opposing counsel before they are used or published to the jury. 25. While the court permits exhibits to be passed to the jury, this procedure should be used sparingly and reserved for truly significant exhibits. If possible, when you wish to publish an exhibit to the jury, have a copy for each juror. 26. 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. 27. Do not ask the court, at trial, to certify your expert witness as an expert. 28. If you have reason to anticipate that any question of law or evidence is particularly difficult, give the court as much advance notice as possible. 29. 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. 30. The jury should hear the instructions on the law of the case from the court, an impartial source. In your final argument, you may tell the jury what you anticipate the substance of the court's instruction on a particular subject will be, but do not read or quote any instruction. Thank you for your cooperation. Suzanne Mitchell United States Magistrate Judge 3

=== Protective Orders; Filing of Documents Under Seal ===

PROTECTIVE ORDERS; FILING OF DOCUMENTS UNDER SEAL Any party moving for entry of a protective order by Judge Mitchell pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c) must abide by the following guidelines. Judge Mitchell will not sign a protective order that allows counsel, in their discretion, to decide which matters are to be deemed confidential. The proposed order must specify the categories of documents or other matters which may be subject to the order (e.g., personnel files, medical information, confidential financial matters, etc.). The motion for protective order must set forth why confidentiality is necessary as to each such category. Judge Mitchell will not sign a protective order that provides that items designated by a party as confidential may, for that reason, be filed with the court under seal. Rather, any protective order that contemplates under-seal filing must provide that no documents may be filed under seal absent a motion, filed and noticed for hearing prior to the due date of the particular filing, showing good cause for sealing a portion of the record in the case. The mere fact that information has been designated as confidential by a party is insufficient to permit under-seal filing. A party seeking to file material under seal must set forth in its motion the reasons why the record should be sealed. Issuance of a protective order will not be given binding effect as a determination of good cause for Rule 26(c) purposes if, at any future time, a party moves for relief from the protective order's limitations. If such a motion is made, the court will engage in an appropriate balancing of the interests between privacy and public access to make a new determination of good cause in light of the facts then before the court. A sample protective order will be provided by the Courtroom Deputy upon request.

=== Settlement Conferences ===

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA , , Plaintiff, v. Defendant. Case No. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE ORDER The Court sets a settlement conference on __________________, at ________ a.m./p.m. All attorneys and client representatives should report to the United States Courthouse, 200 N.W. 4th Street, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Room 1301. Strict compliance with LCvR16.2 is required. The settlement conference statement and cover sheet are to be submitted to the undersigned via email to [email protected] no later than 5:00 p.m., _______________. The cover sheet should include all parties who will be in attendance along with each party’s email address if not previously provided. In addition, the Court orders: 1. FULL SETTLEMENT AUTHORITY REQUIRED: As stated in LCvR16.2(b), each party must attend with “full settlement authority,” defined as follows: For a plaintiff, such representative must have final settlement authority, in the representative’s discretion, to authorize dismissal of the case with prejudice or to accept a settlement amount down to the defendant’s last offer. client Except as otherwise provided representative for any entity named as the defendant must have discretion to commit the entity to pay an amount up to the plaintiff’s prayer or up to the plaintiff’s last demand, whichever is lower. in LCvR16.2(b)(2), the The purpose of the requirement for full authority is to have representatives present who can settle the case during the course of the conference without consulting a superior. 2. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE STATEMENTS: A. Required Statements conference settlement The required under LCvR16.2(d), are due no later than _______________, at 5:00 p.m. These statements must be served in compliance with the local civil rule. statements, B. Optional Statements In addition, each party has the option of submitting to the undersigned a confidential memorandum. This statement is not required. But if submitted, the statement is due _______________, at 5:00 p.m. In the confidential memorandum, the party may include any information that would be helpful for me to know in advance. 3. 4. PRE-CONFERENCE MEETING: To aid in my preparation for the settlement conference, I will extend an opportunity to meet privately with the attorneys for both parties. This meeting is optional for the attorneys. If the attorneys do exercise this option to meet in advance with me, I will be primarily interested in counsel’s perception of the negotiations, impediments to the settlement, and objectives for the settlement conference. If counsel wishes to schedule such a pre- conference meeting, he/she should contact Ms. Lesa Boles at the telephone number listed below. EXHAUSTION OF SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS: The parties may feel that they want to save room to negotiate until the judicial settlement conference. But that is not the function of the judicial settlement conference. Until the parties have exhausted negotiations on their own, neither the attorneys nor the settlement judge can meaningfully assess the impediments to settlement or determine whether a facilitative or evaluative process should be employed. Thus, 2 mere exchange of offers before the settlement conference is not enough. Instead, the parties should exhaust settlement negotiations prior to the proceeding. The failure to comply may result in cancellation or rescheduling of the proceeding. 5. RELIEF FROM THE REQUIREMENTS IN LCvR16.2 OR THIS ORDER: LCvR16.2 states that requests for relief from this rule shall be directed to the settlement judge. For guidance on how to otherwise seek relief from LCvR16.2 or this order, one may contact the courtroom deputy for the undersigned, Ms. Lesa Boles (405-609-5044). SO ORDERED this _____ day of ______________, 20__. 3

=== Waiver of Appearance at Arraignment ===

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. _________________________________, Defendant. Case No. ____________________ DEFENDANT’S WAIVER OF APPEARANCE AT ARRAIGNMENT AND ENTRY OF PLEA OF NOT GUILTY I hereby acknowledge that I am the Defendant named above and I have received a copy of the Indictment filed on ____________________. (ECF No. ___________); or Superseding Indictment filed on __________________. (ECF No. __________). I understand I have the right to appear personally at my arraignment pursuant to Rule 43 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and I have the right to have the indictment and any superseding indictment read to me in open court pursuant to Rule 10 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. I further understand I have the right to remain silent and if I choose not to remain silent then any statement I make may be used against me. I have discussed the charge(s) in the indictment or superseding indictment and the waiver of appearance at arraignment with my attorney and I fully understand the nature and substance of the offense(s) charged, the maximum penalties I face if convicted, and my right to appear in person at arraignment. Understanding my rights, I do hereby freely and voluntarily waive my right to be present at my arraignment on the indictment or superseding indictment referenced above, and my right to have it read to me in open court. As evidenced by my signature below, I do hereby enter my plea of NOT GUILTY to all charges. _______________________________________ Counsel* Date _______________________________________ Defendant Date APPROVED: ______________________________ Suzanne Mitchell U.S. Magistrate Judge *By signing this document counsel certifies to the following: (1) Counsel has entered an appearance in this case; (2) Defendant’s representations herein are truthful; and (3) the assigned AUSA has been contacted and has no objection to this Waiver.