• Rose Gale
  (312) 435-7610

• Mathew John
  (312) 435-7611
  Room: 1438

• Michael Snyder
  (312) 435-5563
  Room: 1432

The court will set cases for initial pre-trial conference within 60 days of the filing of the complaint. Prior to the conference, the parties are expected to conduct a face-to-face meeting in person or through counsel to complete the Report of Parties' Planning Meeting form for presentation to the court. The Report form may be downloaded from this page or obtained from the clerk’s office.

Report of Parties' Planning Meeting

A. Motions will be heard Monday through Thursday beginning at 9:30 a.m.

B. All motions and supporting documents shall be filed and served no later than three (3) business days in advance of the hearing date. Motions will be heard with less notice only if counsel certifies that the motion must be heard sooner because of an emergency.  The nature of the emergency must be set forth.

Pursuant to the last clause of LR 5.2(e), Judge Bucklo no longer requires that hard copies of electronically filed motions, pleadings or documents be provided to chambers except 1) motions containing exhibits in combined excess of 20 pages (in which case the motion and exhibits shall be properly bound and appropriately tabbed); and 2) motions and responsive pleadings filed pursuant to Rule 56 of the FRCP and LR 56.1.  Courtesy copies will no longer be accepted unless authorized by the court.  In the event you are required to provide courtesy copies, they shall be placed in the box outside the office of her Courtroom Deputy, Room 1438.  Please do not bring courtesy copies to chambers.

C. Moving counsel should check Judge Bucklo's Calendar of Events (www.ilnd.uscourts.gov, Daily Calendar, select hearing date, then Judge Bucklo) the day before the hearing date to determine if there is a need to appear personally.  The court will attempt to rule on "routine" motions without requiring counsel to appear.  If no appearance is required, moving counsel must so notify respondent's counsel. (Failure to notify the opposing party resulting in an unnecessary appearance by that party will result in the imposition of costs.)

Moving counsel shall attempt to learn whether there will be an objection and shall note whether the motion is agreed or not.

D. When a case is set for a status conference, any party may, within the time periods and in the manner set forth above, file a motion to be heard at the time of the status conference.

E. Civil discovery motions shall not be heard without an affidavit pursuant to LR37.2 of the Local General Rules. In addition, no party shall serve on any other party more than 25 interrogatories in the aggregate without leave of court, unless otherwise agreed in a Rule 16, Fed. R. Civ. P., written order.

A. Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures are due within 14 days of the parties' planning conference, unless they have agreed otherwise and placed the agreement in writing.

B. Compliance with Rule 26(a)(2)is required before an expert may be designated as a trial witness in the final pretrial order.

A. Parties are to provide one copy for use in chambers of each cited authority found only on electronic databases such as Westlaw and Lexis or not reported in the West National Reporter System. Copies of the following authority must also be included: Bankruptcy Reporter, Code of Federal Regulations. Illinois cases should be cited in both N.E.2d and Illinois Decisions.

B. All exhibits or other material left with the court longer than 90 days after a ruling has been issued will be discarded without further notice. (This does not include original documents or exhibits filed with the Clerk of the Court.)

C.  Except in exceptional cases, no pleadings are to be filed under seal.  Accordingly, unless absolutely necessary, no attorney shall quote from or otherwise disclose material designated as confidential pursuant to a previously entered protective order in any document to be filed in court.  If an attorney believes it is absolutely necessary to disclose such material in a brief or memorandum, before doing so the attorney shall file a motion with this court asking for permission to file a document under seal.  Such motions will not be routinely granted.

In light of the holding in Jepson, Inc. v. Makita Elec. Works, Ltd., 30 F.3d 854, 858-59 (7th Cir. 1994), with respect to protective orders:

A. This court will not require the inclusion of an express finding of good cause in such orders. Instead it will review such orders with care and in detail before signing them. Its issuance of the protective order in the light of this Standing Order will constitute its determination, as required by Rule 26(c), that good cause existed for such issuance.

B. Issuance of any protective order will not, however, be given binding effect as a determination of good cause for Rule 26(c)purposes if at any future time either party moves for relief from the limitations of the protective order. At that time this court will engage in an appropriate balancing of the interests between privacy and public access in order to make a new determination of good cause in light of the facts then before this court (see Jepson, supra, 30 F.3d at 859).

Judge Bucklo’s requirements for the filing of final pretrial orders and jury instructions differ somewhat from those of Local Rule 16.1. The parties should consult Judge Bucklo’s Final Pretrial Order requirements (below). The "Endnotes" section of Local Rule 16.1is applicable except where specific direction is otherwise noted.

Too often litigants are unaware of the efficiencies to be gained by having their cases tried before United States Magistrate Judges. The court strongly urges counsel to inform their clients of this option and to discuss it with opposing counsel. Magistrate Judge Consent Form

Preparation of Final Pretrial Order (PDF 14KB)

General Voir Dire Questions (PDF 5KB)

Please refer to the Pattern Civil Jury Instructions for the 7th Circuit.

Proposed Orders are technically not to be "filed." Rather, they are to be "submitted" to the judge to consider, to modify, if appropriate, and to enter electronically. For example, proposed orders such as stipulated protective orders require court approval before actually being given full effect. To prevent confusion, such proposed orders must be attached to an e-mail sent to the e-mail address of the assigned judge, Proposed_Order_Bucklo@ilnd.uscourts.gov  The subject line of the e-mail must include the case number and name, the docket number of the corresponding motion, if any, and the title of the order that is proposed as indicated on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF). All such documents must be submitted to the court in a format compatible with WordPerfect, which is a "Save As" option in most word processing software. Such proposed orders should also be served on all parties.