The 3rd Circuit has proposed a change to the Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 26(a) which currently sets the filing deadline for courts as midnight of the day that the filing is due. The 3rd Circuit has proposed changing that deadline to 5 pm, citing to the need for a work life balance of the court staff, as well as the attorneys appearing before the court.
For the modern attorney, this change has perturbed many who worry about how this may disrupt their office practices and habits. Before the advent of e-filing, filings used to need to stamped as received at 5pm, but in the years since, attorneys have become accustomed to working up until the last minutes of a deadline. For the fast paced work environment that many firms operate within, these extra seven hours are often crucial for providing adequate representation to their clients and meeting the court imposed deadlines.
It is easy to see how changing this rule back to 5pm may help with both the work-life balance of the filing attorneys, and especially for the court staff. However, critics of the change argue that attorneys who regularly practice in other circuits may be caught off guard by the unusual rules in the 3rd Circuit, resulting in missing deadlines that they otherwise could meet.
As future attorneys, do you have strong opinions on whether it is more appropriate for there to be a 5pm or a midnight deadline for filing? How do you think your practice would change based on a change in these rules?
This is a very hot button topic for appellate lawyers. A few years ago one of the justices on the Michigan Supreme Court advocated for the same change - 5 p.m. instead of the existing midnight deadline. The practicing appellate bar went ballistic and flooded the Supreme Court with complaints. In the end, the proposal was dropped. Lawyers really really like the midnight (actually 11:59 p.m.) deadline.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a 5pm deadline would encourage a better work life balance and probably have a good effect on lawyers, support staff, and court staff alike. As long as the deadline is somewhat uniform across the board and does not change back again soon, I think a 5pm deadline shouldn't disrupt attorneys too much.
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