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6/1/2021

Court Rules and Procedures

Today, I’m going to discuss court rules. When you work in civil litigation, like I do, and when you practice in two different states on both a state and federal level, doublechecking the rules becomes second nature. But, as I learned recently, searching out just the local rules is not always enough.

A couple of months ago, I made two mistakes that involved instructions that were not in the local rules. The first mistake I made was to submit the proposed Scheduling Order in the wrong manner. The local rules of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri don’t say anything about the way to submit a Scheduling Order. However, on the Western District of Missouri Local Rules webpage, under the Procedures tab there is a “CM/ECF Administration Guide” which instructs that unlike other proposed orders, which are submitted to chambers in Word, Proposed Scheduling Orders are actually filed through the CM/ECF system. There is no real way of knowing this without looking at the Administration Guide.

The second mistake I made was also in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, but it was in a different case which was a minor relief. I hate making mistakes, and I certainly hate making multiple mistakes. This time it involved the MAP order. MAP is the Western District of Missouri’s “Mediation and Assessment Program.” Every civil case that’s filed in this District is subject to an order that is entered shortly after the Complaint is filed. This order compels early mediation sometimes through a Judge and sometimes parties are allowed to agree upon an outside mediator from an approved list. The order compels mediation by a certain date, and in this case we wanted to extend that deadline. So what did I do? I filed a motion for extension. However, in the MAP Order it clearly states that if the parties would like to request an extension to mediate then they have need to contact the MAP Director. Oh! if only I had read the order.

Anyone who works in civil litigation knows that the rules of each jurisdiction are many and various, but we should also remember that the local rules do not always contain all the pertinent information.

We all do ourselves a huge favor if we take the time to familiarize ourselves with the websites of the courts we are working in and with the phone numbers and emails to the clerk’s offices, to ensure we are actually in compliance.

4/7/2021

Introduction

Hey, everybody! My name is Kate Stuart. I’m going to be taking over the HPA blog, and I thought I would start off with an introduction before we jump into the interesting stuff. I got my B.A. in English from UMKC in 2004, and I graduated from JCCC’s Paralegal Program in 2012. For about 12 years, I was self-employed, but with the 2008 downturn in the economy, I found myself in dire need of a career change. And the thing is, I had been trying to change careers for years by that point. The list of careers I had contemplated and discarded is endless. But now it was crunch time and I really needed to decide. I’m in my car one sunny afternoon, and it comes to me, out of the blue, I should be a paralegal.

Finally! A career choice I could get behind. I was so excited. I did some research and in the fall of 2010, I entered JCCC’s Paralegal Program. About a month later, I had a job at the Hollis Law Firm in Prairie Village working on medical products liability claims. In the summer of 2011, I was offered a job at Horn Aylward and Bandy (HAB) and I have been there ever since.
HAB is a civil litigation firm mainly focusing on medical malpractice defense work. My team however works in class action and complex litigation. We also have a strong construction law team. Most of my posts will be about civil litigation paralegals and tips and tricks for the work we do, but if there’s a particular topic you would like me to discussed, let me know and I will do my best to accommodate.

I’m excited to be here and I look forward to any feedback you care to send my way.

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