Civil Litigation Management Manual

After the passage of the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA), and the judiciaryÕs implementation of the requirements of that Act, the Judicial Conference stated that Ò[t]he federal judiciary is committed to, and believes in, sound case management to reduce unnecessary cost and delay in civil litigation, and thus ensure the Ôjust, speedy, and inexpensiveÕ determination of civil actions called for in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.Ó It has been shown that managed cases will settle earlier and more efficiently, and will provide a greater sense of justice to all participants. Even in the absence of settlement, the result will be a more focused trial, increased jury comprehension, and a more efficient and efficacious use of our scarcest institutional resource, judge time.

Elements of Case Management is primarily for the use of federal trial judges, legal teams, and American citizens. It provides insights in how a federal trial judge handles his or her cases. Each federal judge must abide by Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of the Civil Procedure that is "to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action." This manual briefly describes techniques that judges have found effective in managing their cases at various stages of the litigation process. It begins with a discussion of the Rule 16 conference, outlining how proper use of this conference enables judges to establish control of cases at the outset. It then provides separate discussions of several items on the Rule 16 agenda covering settlement, discovery, and motions--that continue to play an important role in case management and decision-making. As part of case management, the manual also touches on the pretrial conference, and then the trial itself to propose a foundation for thinking about techniques and methods that will best suit the individual judge. Related products: Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, December 1, 2016 can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/federal-rules-civil-procedure-2016 Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, December 1, 2016 is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/federal-rules-criminal-procedure-2016 Federal Rules of Appellate Court Procedure, December 1, 2016 is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/federal-rules-appellate-procedure-2016 Federal Rules of Evidence, December 1, 2016 can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/federal-rules-evidence-2016