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Paper Filings - How to Properly Submit

The United States District Court has transitioned from paper to electronic filing. There are a few things that you can do to assist us in processing your filings until you become an e-filer (Pro se filers must still file in paper). Electronic Filing for all attorneys is mandatory.

if necessary, please submit your pleadings in paper to the Court as follows:

  • DO NOT STAPLE THE ORIGINAL - The Clerk's Office is now scanning all documents. It takes additional time to remove the staples and the removal of the staples can create problems with scanning the document.
  • DO NOT USE TABS IN THE ORIGINAL - Removing the tabs and ensuring that the exhibits/attachments are correctly labeled takes a lot of time for the Court. Please use a label on the first page of the exhibit or use a separate page of light colored paper marked with the exhibit number to denote the start of each exhibit (please note: the darker the color of paper used the larger the document is when scanned. Light pink or yellow are preferrred). Continue to use tabs in the judge's courtesy copy for the convenience of chambers.
  • ALL PROPOSED ORDERS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED AS A SEPARATE DOCUMENT - The local rules require submission of proposed orders as a separate document and do not allow addition of a "so ordered" line in the motion requesting court relief.
  • DO NOT FILE DOUBLE SIDED DOCUMENTS - double sided documents or exhibits create scanning problems and the back page will not be scanned.
  • DOUBLE CHECK THE CASE NUMBER AND JUDGE ASSIGNMENT - If the case number or judge information are incorrect then the document has to be corrected and then scanned again. This creates more work for the court staff and slows down the processing of you documents.
  • FILING CIVIL COMPLAINTS IN PAPER - Attorneys filing civil complaints in paper must also submit the opening document(s) and cover sheet on a disc in PDF format. Each pdf file must be 25 mb or less.

We appreciate your assistance in speeding up our internal processing of your documents. If you have any questions regarding filing a pleading, please call the Office of the Clerk at 801-524-6100.