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BENCHBOOK FOR U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGES-2007
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With March 2000 Revisions

Appendix: FJC publications

The Federal Judicial Center publishes numerous manuals, reference works, monographs, and research reports on criminal litigation and the sentencing process, civil litigation, case management, the history of the federal court system, and federal judicial administration. The Center sends selected publications to new circuit and district judges upon their nomination and to new bankruptcy and magistrate judges upon their appointment. Listed below are publications sent to new district judges.

The Center also has a wide collection of media programs, including Center-produced audio and video programs and commercially produced instructional programs. Many judges find particularly helpful the audio recordings of presentations at Center seminars and workshops. The Center also publishes a series of monographs on substantive legal topics, to help judges who may not have much previous experience in those fields. The monograph series includes titles on patent, copyright, securities, and business bankruptcy law.

All Center publications and media programs can be found and ordered through the Resource Catalog on the Center’s site on the judiciary’s intranet at http://cwn.fjc.dcn. Most publications can also be downloaded from the site, and a growing number of media programs are available in streaming audio and video formats.

Civil litigation and case management

Awarding Attorneys’ Fees and Managing Fee Litigation, Second Edition 2005 (162 pp.): This monograph explains the doctrinal and case-management aspects of fee awards. It analyzes the law of attorneys’ fee awards under fee-shifting statutes, the common fund doctrine and its offspring, and the substantial benefit doctrine, and it addresses an issue of special significance to bankruptcy courts—the propriety of sua sponte review of fee petitions. It also presents a selection of case-management strategies, based on interviews with judges, attorneys, U.S. trustees, and others.

Civil Litigation Management Manual 2001 (463 pp.): This manual provides trial judges with a guide to managing civil cases. It sets out a wide array of case-management techniques, beginning with case filing and concluding with steps for streamlining trials, and it discusses a number of special topics, including pro se and high-visibility cases, the role of staff, and automation that supports case management. The manual, which was produced in response to the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990, is based on the experiences of federal district and magistrate judges and reflects techniques they have developed. It was prepared under the direction of the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management, with substantial contributions from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and the Federal Judicial Center, and was approved by the Judicial Conference in March 2001.

The Elements of Case Management: A Pocket Guide for Judges, Second Edition 2006 (22 pp.): This is a primer for judges on techniques and methods of case management.

Guide to Judicial Management of Cases in ADR 2001 (193 pp.): This publication offers guidance to federal trial and bankruptcy courts on when and how to refer appropriate cases to ADR and how to manage cases referred to ADR. The purpose of the book is not to advocate ADR use, but to present various approaches that judges and parties may choose to follow when considering and using ADR. The book identifies areas where there may be disagreement, describing advantages and disadvantages of various approaches. The book also alerts readers to emerging trends or what are perceived by many as preferred approaches.

Managing Class Action Litigation: A Pocket Guide for Judges 2005 (29 pp.): This guide is designed to help federal judges manage the increased number of class actions expected as a result of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. As called for in that legislation, the guide is part of a continuing effort of the federal judiciary to identify "best practices" for managing class actions and ensuring that class action settlements primarily benefit class members.

Manual for Complex Litigation, Fourth Edition 2004 (798 pp.): This manual describes approaches that trial judges have found useful in managing complex cases. This edition updates the treatment of electronic discovery and other aspects of pretrial management and describes major changes in the substantive and procedural law affecting case management in mass tort, class action, intellectual property, employment discrimination, and other types of litigation. A new chapter deals with managing scientific evidence.

Criminal litigation and sentencing

The Bail Reform Act of 1984, Third Edition 2006 (78 pp.): This monograph provides a summary of appellate court decisions that interpret provisions of The Bail Reform Act of 1984 on issues of release and detention. The third edition primarily addresses areas that have been changed by statute or case law since the second edition, and cites more recent cases that discuss the substantive issues through June 1, 2006. In addition, the monograph covers practical considerations regarding conditional release, release orders, detention hearings, and waiver. It also includes new material on how the Crime Victims’ Rights Act of 2004 affects proceedings under The Bail Reform Act.

Manual on Recurring Problems in Criminal Trials, Fifth Edition 2001 (178 pp.): The fifth edition of the late Judge Donald S. Voorhees’s guide to the law governing many of the procedural matters that arise in criminal trials includes cases decided during the Supreme Court’s 2000–2001 Term and U.S. Court of Appeals cases reported through 212 F.3d 306. Among the topics covered are jury-related problems, evidentiary issues, civil and criminal contempt, the Fifth Amendment, confessions, and severance of defendants.

Ethics and Codes of Conduct

Maintaining the Public Trust: Ethics for Federal Judicial Law Clerks 2002 (24 pp.): The Federal Judicial Center, in cooperation with the Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, prepared this pamphlet to help new law clerks understand their ethical obligations. The pamphlet covers confidentiality; conflicts of interest; outside legal activities; dealings with prospective employers; outside professional, social, and community activities; receipt of gifts and honoraria; and political activity. It includes an ethics checklist that clerks should fill out upon starting work and review with their judges.

Recusal: Analysis of Case Law Under 28 U.S.C. §§ 455 & 144 2002 (86 pp.): This monograph offers a synthesis and analysis of the case law under 28 U.S.C. §§ 455 and 144 to assist judges in ruling on recusal. After providing a history of section 455, the monograph identifies the core principles and recurring issues in the voluminous case law and examines, in representative cases, how the courts of appeals have applied these principles. The monograph also covers the application of section 144 and section 47, and goes into detail on issues such as timeliness of motions, recusal in bench trials, standing, and the Rule of Necessity.

Federal judicial administration

Deskbook for Chief Judges of U.S. District Courts, Third Edition 2003 (138 pp.): A detailed reference for chief judges of federal district courts, the Deskbook describes the position of chief judges within the system of federal judicial administration as well as their specific roles and responsibilities with respect to national and regional bodies of judicial administration; other judges, officers, and employees of the district court; various functions of the court; and external groups such as the bar, the media, and the public. It includes citations to statutory requirements and Judicial Conference and Administrative Office policies.

A New Judge’s Introduction to Federal Judicial Administration 2003 (20 pp.): This brief pamphlet describes the major agencies that administer the federal courts on the national, regional, and local levels and summarizes their primary functions. It covers, for example, the circuit judicial councils, the circuit conferences, the Judicial Conference of the United States and its committees, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and the Federal Judicial Center.

General references

Benchbook for U.S. District Court Judges, Fifth Edition 2007: An ongoing compilation of information that federal district judges have found useful for immediate bench or chambers reference, the Benchbook contains sections on such topics as assignment of counsel, taking guilty pleas, sentencing procedure, standard voir dire questions, and contempt proceedings. It is prepared under the guidance of experienced district judges and is produced in loose-leaf format for easy supplementation.

Conducting Job Interviews: A Guide for Federal Judges 1999 (29 pp.): This guide describes an interviewing process that is simple, effective, and fair and gives examples of questions to help determine whether job candidates have the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for the position. The guide may be helpful to judges as they select law clerks, and to chief judges and other judges who are in the process of selecting unit executives.

Effective Use of Courtroom Technology: A Judge’s Guide to Pretrial and Trial 2001 (358 pp.): This publication is the result of a joint project between the Federal Judicial Center and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. It describes the substantive and procedural considerations that may arise when lawyers bring electronic equipment to the courtroom or use court-provided equipment for displaying or playing evidentiary exhibits or illustrative aids during trial. It draws upon the expertise of judges who work in courtrooms equipped with technology, law professors who teach trial advocacy and evidence, and practitioners who have trial experience using technology in civil and criminal cases. It comes with a CD-ROM that contains the entire text of the book for easy searching, reference, or excerpting, and includes examples of the kinds of exhibits that may raise objections as to transitions, animations, color, sound, and special effects.

A Guide to the Preservation of Federal Judges’ Papers 1996 (83 pp.): This publication discusses the importance of federal judges’ papers as a documentary record of judges’ careers and the work of the federal courts. It describes how students of the federal courts use judges’ papers and offers guidelines for judges’ selection of a repository to house a collection. The guide also offers recommendations for the management of documents in chambers.

Judicial Writing Manual 1991 (41 pp.) (3 copies, including 2 for law clerks): The Center prepared this manual to help judges organize opinions and improve their opinion writing. Drawing on interviews with twenty-four experienced judges, and guided by a board of editors comprising judges, law professors, and writers, the manual offers advice on writing tailored to the needs of the federal judiciary.

Law Clerk Handbook, Second Edition 2007 (137 pp.): This handbook provides an overview of chambers operations and the work of the federal courts. It replaces the Chambers Handbook for Judges' Law Clerks and Secretaries (1994).

Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges 2007 (26 pp.): This pocket guide helps federal judges manage the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). It covers issues unique to the discovery of ESI, including its scope, the allocation of costs, the form of production, the waiver of privilege and work product protection, and the preservation of data and spoliation.

Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Second Edition 2000 (638 pp.): This reference manual was produced to assist judges in managing expert evidence in cases involving issues of science or technology. It contains articles analyzing the Supreme Court’s decisions on admissibility of expert evidence and describing techniques for managing expert evidence. It also contains an overview of scientific methods and reference guides on statistics, multiple regression, survey research, estimation of economic loss in damage awards, epidemiology, toxicology, medical testimony, DNA evidence, and engineering practice and methods.