The rapid growth of digital technology and its spread into every facet of life are producing increasingly complex discovery issues in federal criminal cases. There are several advantages to electronically stored information (ESI, or e-discovery), including speed, efficiency, and quality of information. To ensure these benefits are realized, judges and lawyers working on federal criminal cases need guidance on how best to address e-discovery issues. Judges can play a vital oversight role to ensure that e-discovery moves smoothly, trial deadlines are met, and the parties and courts are able to...

In this collection, we offer 59 new criminal jury instructions, almost all of them dealing with particular offenses. The collection also includes reprints of the original Marshall Committee instructions, and there is a common table of contents. Except for the instruction on insanity, which we have revised to reflect the enactment of 18U.S.C. 17, we have not revised either the original Marshall Committee instructions or the commentary that accompanied them. In accordance with our mandate, we have focused on the task of drafting instructions that are both clear and accurate. We have made a...

This manual is not intended to proclaim the right way of writing an opinion. Anyone who attempts to announce authoritative rules of good writing invites debate and comparison. As one judge said, "I have one overarching rule. That is, don't have any such rules." Indeed, in a leading text on good writing, E. B. White acknowledged that " s]tyle rules of this sort are, of course, somewhat a matter of individual preference, and even the established rules of grammar are open to challenge." Instead, the purpose of the manual is to stimulate judges to think as systematically about writing their...

This report presents preliminary findings from a survey of attorneys in recent closed civil cases with the Federal Judicial Center conducted in May and June 2009.

Assembled here are 354 case studies on emergency election litigation in federal courts. Because of the time constraints in emergency cases, the case records are often not easily available from other sources.

This pocket guide is designed to help federal judges manage the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). It encourages judges to actively manage those cases involving ESI, raising points for consideration by the parties rather than awaiting the parties' identification and argument of the matters. The guide 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. As you are reading, you may encounter some unfamiliar terms....

This second edition of the pocket guide on the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI) follows the first-and the related 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules-by more than five years. These intervening years have seen an explosion of civil case law on ESI. This case law interprets the 2006 amendments and sets forth practices that have proved helpful to the courts, lawyers, and litigants in the discovery and evidentiary use of ESI. In addition, with the adoption of Federal Rule of Evidence 502 in September 2008, the federal courts now have a common framework for analyzing privilege...

This module was developed by the Federal Judicial Center to support judges and court staff who want to speak to various groups about the history of an independent federal judiciary in the United States. This module focuses on the establishment of the federal judiciary and the history of the federal court system. Other modules in this series examine the constitutional origins of the judicial branch of government and historical debates on judicial independence. Each module includes four components: an historical overview to serve as talking points; a PowerPoint presentation that can be...