The following procedures are designed to promote professionalism, civility and efficiency in all cases tried before the Court:

1. Be on time. Please arrive early in order to set up. Trials should take precedence over other business. If you have matters in other courtrooms, please arrange in advance to continue them.

    

2. Be prepared. The Court attempts to provide at least six hours of trial time each day. Have your witnesses and exhibits ready in order to make efficient use of the trial day.

    

3. Be professional. Counsel shall treat each other and all witnesses professionally and courteously.

    

4. Counsel shall disclose the identity of trial witnesses no less than one day before the beginning of the trial day in which counsel expect to call the witnesses.

    

5. At least 5 days before the trial begins, provide copies of anticipated exhibits to opposing counsel.During trial, the Court uses an integrated evidence presentation system for display of exhibits. Click here to view this District’s Courtroom Technology page. Parties are responsible for obtaining training on the Court’s document projection system through the contact information on this linked website, and are encouraged to schedule this training no later than 2 weeks before the start of trial. All individual(s) responsible for showing exhibits during trial should attend this training.

    

6. Trial exhibits in civil trials will be given to the jurors during deliberation through the Court's JERS system. Click here to view information about the JERS system. JERS relies on particular naming conventions with respect to the file name of your exhibits. The following PDFs explain how to name your documents properly for uploading to JERS.

    

    

    

    

    

    

   

   JERS revised 5-2016.pdf

    

   

   JERS_Attorney_Instructions.pdf

    

    

    

7. One week before trial you need to provide a thumb drive with a sampling of your exhibits using various file extensions (pdf, jpg, avi, wmv, mpg, mp3, wma, wav) for Chambers to look at to make sure you’re naming them correctly before you prepare all of your final exhibits. We will also need a thumb drive immediately before closing arguments with only the exhibits that have been admitted during trial, so that we may upload them to the JERS system.

    

8. Due to security concerns at the courthouse, if there is any equipment you need to bring into the courthouse for use during trial, you will need a court order to this effect. Please use the following sample and provide the appropriate proposed order to Judge Jantz’s proposed order box at least one week before the start of your trial.

    

    

    

    

    

    

   

   Order allowing counsel to bring in items for jury trial.rtf

    

    

    

9. Counsel shall retain the originals of their own exhibits for possible appeal.

    

10. Counsel must stand for all objections and concisely state the basis for the objection (e.g., "hearsay," "relevancy").

     

11. Side-bars while the jury is present are disfavored. Counsel should attempt to “front” all anticipated issues with Judge Jantz before the jury is brought in each day.

     

12. Witnesses (other than parties and expert witnesses) are generally excluded from proceedings except to testify. Except for parties, a witness shall not discuss the case with anyone during breaks or recesses once their testimony has begun.

     

13. If a case has been settled before trial, counsel shall promptly notify the courtroom deputy. Jury costs may be assessed for failure to promptly advise of a settlement.

     

14. Counsel shall not attempt to contact any jurors after the trial, without prior permission from the Court.

     

15. Enjoy yourself.