A report on procedures and standards used by the courts of appeals in the 1980s for deciding cases without oral argument. The authors discuss the responses of clerks of court to a survey on court practices and present statistical information along with a review of relevant local rules.

Research on the local impacts of Federal Civil Rule 16(b)

An examination of the local rules federal district courts have developed in response to the 1983 amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16, which calls for increased use of scheduling orders in managing caseloads. An appendix contains sample local rules from fifteen districts.

An examination of attempts by courts and individual judges to limit the consumption of judicial resources, expedite the discovery process, curb abuses in the use of discovery methods, and provide for more effective sanctions. Reprint of 63 Minnesota Law Review 253 (1979).