Appendix B FOR REFERENCE: COURT WEBSITE INFORMATION
Almost every court posts relevant rules on its web site. These rules may include the applicable state or federal rules of civil procedure as well as local rules and standing orders.
See Chapter Eight for a discussion of how local rules and standing orders dictate court requirements. This appendix gives general guidance on how to find court rules.The rules of the United States Supreme Court, which have been referenced throughout the text, can currently be found at this web site: https://www.supremecourt.gov/filingandrules/2017RulesoftheCourt.pdf
Some federal courts combine the generally applicable rules with their own local rules. At the following link, for example, the tenth circuit’s local rules are interspersed with the relevant Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure: https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/clerk/FinalDraftwChangeReAudioRecordings1-22-2018.pdf
Other courts may post their local rules as a separate document, as this link shows: http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/AppellateCourt/LocalRules/3rd.pdf If you are writing a motion brief, remember that many trial courts do not use rules to articulate formal requirements for these briefs. Nevertheless, consult the appropriate civil or criminal rules, the local rules, or the court’s standing orders for any existing requirements for motion briefs or oral arguments. This link shows a judge’s standing order regarding civil motions for summary judgment: http://www.ohsd.uscourts.gov/sites/ohsd/files/forms/standing%20order%20governing%20civil%20motions%20for%20summary%20judgment.pdf Instead of a formal “standing order,” some judges may post tips or guidelines for practitioners: https://courts.delaware.gov/chancery/docs/CompleteGuidelines2014.pdf If you are looking for the rules of a particular court, search for the court by its full name, and then look on the main page for a link to the court’s rules. Be careful when searching. Sites other than the court’s official web site may give you inaccurate information or no information due to “link rot” or other problems. Be sure to link to the court’s official web site (perhaps designated with a “dot-gov” url) so that you can be certain to have the most up-to-date rules. Useful search terms include phrases like “standing orders,” “standard orders,” “general orders,” “forms and procedures,” and, of course, “local rules.”