UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF COLORADO HONORABLE RICHARD P. MATSCH Courtroom A, the Byron White United States Courthouse, 18th and Stout Streets, Denver, Colorado TRIAL PROCEDURES This is a sum m ary of the procedures which I use in the trial of civil and crim inal cases. If you will take the tim e to fam iliarize yourself with these few points, and follow the attached checklist, it will be of great assistance in helping m e and m y staff to provide you with a m ore effective and efficient opportunity to present your case. The official record of all trials and proceedings will be taken by electronic sound (audiotape) recording. The advantages of this technology have been proven. It requires the lawyers to use m icrophones which are strategically placed in the courtroom . There is a single lectern from which you will address the court, witnesses and the jury. Microphones are on the counsel tables, which are arranged parallel with the bench, the plaintiff's table being on your right as you face the bench. Please be sure to speak into the m icrophone w hen you stand to make your objections and address the court. The courtroom deputy clerk will present the exhibits to the witnesses. Instead of the traditional "I hand you what has been m arked for identification as plaintiff's exhibit num ber...", you m ay sim ply say "Please look at exhibit num ber one..." and the exhibit will be placed before the witness. You need not m ove from the m icrophone at the lectern. The courtroom deputy clerk working with m e is Mr. Chris Sm ith and the official court recorder operator is Ms. Kathy Terasaki. Transcripts of all proceedings m ay be ordered from Ms. Kathy Terasaki in the Clerk's office at telephone num ber (303) 3352095. Copies of the Tapes and CDs m ay be ordered from her at a cost of $26 per Tape or CD. Requests for daily copy m ust be m ade at least twenty (20) days before the trial date. Please take special note of paragraph 1 of the attached checklist to facilitate record taking in the courtroom . On the first day of trial, counsel are expected to be present at 8:30 a.m. At that time, counsel will go over the attached checklist w ith the courtroom deputy clerk. Trials begin at 9:00 a.m . If you have any questions, I suggest that you call m y secretary, Ginger W entz at (303) 844-4627. The law clerks working with m e are instructed that they m ay speak to counsel only pursuant to m y specific instructions. Please do not call the law clerks on procedural or scheduling m atters. Thank you for your cooperation in working with each other and with us to try to achieve the com m on objective of a fair trial of the issues in your case. 12/08 American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com CHECKLIST FOR TRIAL 1. There are a num ber of steps you can take to facilitate record taking in the courtroom (or conference room ). * Give your business card to the court recorder operator before the proceeding begins. * Give the court recorder operator a com plete list of the witnesses you will call during the proceeding. * If any of your witnesses will present testimony containing unusual or technical vocabulary, prepare a list of such correctly spelled names and terms for the court recorder operator. * Make certain that verbal responses are elicited from all witnesses or that som e audible indication be m ade by you through the m icrophone. * SPEAK DIRECTLY INTO THE M ICROPHONES. * Do not m ove from the lectern and be careful to m ake objections into the table m icrophones. * You m ust speak directly into the sidebar m icrophone which is not connected to the am plifier system . * Do not m ove or pick up m icrophones unless otherwise directed. They are expensive. 2. EXHIBIT LISTS. Please prepare an index of exhibits which you expect to offer, using the attached form . If you will provide an original and three copies of this form for the court and a copy for opposing counsel, there will be no requirem ent to offer exhibits in sequence. 3. EXHIBITS. Exhibit labels can be obtained from the Clerk's office before trial. Plaintiff's exhibits should be m arked with the yellow labels, using num bers. Defendant's exhibits should be m arked with the blue labels, using alphabetical letters. If there are m ore than twenty-six exhibits for the defendant, please m ark them as A-1 through A-26, B-1 through B-26, etc. Do not use double or triple letters. The civil action num ber should also be placed on each of the exhibit stickers. 4. COPIES OF EXHIBITS. It is expected that copies of all exhibits will be provided to opposing counsel and that you will have copies of your exhibits. Exhibits should be placed, if possible, in 3-hole notebooks not m ore than 3" thick, tabbed appropriately. Exhibit notebooks should be provided for the witness and the court. These books should be given to the courtroom deputy the first day of trial. 5. W ITNESSES. Please provide the court with an original and three copies of the list of your witnesses. One copy will be provided to the recorder operator. 6. VOIR DIRE QUESTIONS AND PROPOSED INSTRUCTIONS. Tw o copies of reasonably anticipated jury instructions will be subm itted to chambers five days before trial. COPIES M UST BE DOUBLE SPACED. There will be an additional opportunity to subm it proposed instructions during the trial. W ritten instructions will not be given to the jury. Instructions will be read to the jury after closing arguments. Please number the copies of proposed instructions e.g., "Plaintiff's Instruction No. 1," to facilitate reference to them during the instructions conference. Sources should be shown on all copies. Requested voir dire questions should also be submitted with the proposed instructions, five days before trial. These submissions m ust be delivered on paper, original and one copy, directly to chambers. DO NOT USE ELECTRONIC FILING. American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com 7. W RITTEN CURRICULUM VITAE. In trial to the court, a written curriculum vitae, m arked as an exhibit will usually suffice for the qualification of expert witnesses. 8. DEPOSITIONS. Counsel are rem inded that pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 5(d), depositions, interrogatories, requests for adm issions, and the answers and responses thereto are not filed with the Clerk unless on special order of the court. The original deposition transcripts should be in the possession of the party to whom they were delivered and m ust be brought to the trial. If you are going to use deposition testim ony, you should advise opposing counsel of your proposed offer by page and line reference to enable the preparation of objections and the offer of additional portions of the transcript. In jury trials, you are also requested to provide a person (who m ay be co-counsel) to read answers. In trials to the court, depositions will not be read in open court. The court will read them in chambers in any sequence which is requested. The preferred practice is to provide the court with a copy of the transcript with the plaintiff's designations highlighted in yellow and the defendant's designations highlighted in blue and objections m arked and identified in red in the colum ns. 9. VIDEOTAPE DEPOSITIONS. If videotaped deposition testim ony is to be used, the court m ust be given at least ten (10) days advance notice, with objections m arked on a copy of the written transcript. Objections will be ruled on before trial and excluded m aterial m ust then be rem oved from the tape. 10. SPECIAL EQUIPM ENT. If you intend to bring any special equipm ent to use such as m odels, videotapes, m ovies, slides or tape recorders, or if any necessary Am ericans with Disabilities Act accom m odations need to be m ade, you are asked to call Mr. Sm ith at (303) 335-2112 a week before trial to m ake arrangem ents for set-up. 12/08 American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com