Hon. Dale E. Ho — Individual Rules of Practice

S.D.N.Y.

Courtroom: 905

What Dale E. Ho's rules say, in the court's own words

Every answer below is copied exactly from the court's published page for this part. Nothing is paraphrased or inferred.

Which courtroom hears this part?

905

“Southern District of New York 40 Foley Square, Courtroom 905”

Full published rules for individual rules of practice

REVISED
OCTOBER 8, 2026

INDIVIDUAL RULES AND PRACTICES IN CIVIL CASES

Dale E. Ho, United States District Judge

Chambers Courtroom

United States District Court Thurgood Marshall Courthouse

Southern District of New York 40 Foley Square, Courtroom 905

40 Foley Square

New York, NY 10007 Courtroom Deputy

HoNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov Nicole Morales

Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, these Individual Rules apply to all civil matters

before Judge Ho except for civil pro se cases. The Individual Rules applicable to civil pro se

cases are available at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/hon-dale-e-ho.

1. Guidelines for All Submissions

a. Electronic Case Filing (“ECF”). In accordance with the S.D.N.Y. Electronic

Case Filing Rules and Instructions, except as otherwise expressly provided, all

documents filed with the Court must be filed electronically.

b. Text-Searchable Submissions. All written submissions and supporting materials

must be text-searchable to the extent practicable.

c. Submission of Large Electronic Files. The Court has a file transfer protocol for

the safe electronic transmission of large files. If a party needs to submit large

files by email (as opposed to ECF), the party should email the Court

(at HoNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov) requesting a link to be used for such

transfer. The email should include the name and docket number of the case as

well as the nature and size of the materials to be submitted electronically. The

Government may use USAfx.

d. No Courtesy Copies. Unless the Court orders otherwise, parties should not

submit courtesy copies of any submissions.

e. Amended or Corrected Filings. Any amended or corrected filing shall be filed

with a redline showing all differences between the original and revised filing.

f. Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence. Any party who uses generative artificial

intelligence (such as ChatGPT, Harvey, CoCounsel, or Google Gemini) to generate any

portion of a motion, brief, pleading, or other filing must attach to the filing a separate

declaration disclosing the use of artificial intelligence and certifying that the filer has

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reviewed the source material and verified that the artificially generated content is accurate

and complies with the filer’s Rule 11 obligations.

2. Communications with Chambers

a. Letters and Letter-Motions.

i. Unless otherwise provided below, communications with Chambers shall

be by letter filed on ECF. Letters seeking relief (consistent with S.D.N.Y.

Local Rules and the S.D.N.Y. Electronic Case Filing Rules and

Instructions) should be filed as letter-motions on ECF, not ordinary letters.

ii. Letters may not exceed three pages in length (exclusive of exhibits or

attachments) without prior permission from the Court.

iii. Copies of correspondence between counsel shall not be sent to the Court

or filed on ECF except as exhibits to an otherwise properly filed

document.

iv. Any request for relief shall be accompanied by a statement as to whether

the opposing party consents to the requested relief and, if not, the reasons

given by the adversary for refusing to consent.

b. Telephone Calls. Chambers is not accepting telephone calls at this time.

Technical questions pertaining to ECF filings should be directed to the ECF Help

Desk at helpdesk@nysd.uscourts.gov or (212) 805-0800.

c. Faxes. Faxes to Chambers are not permitted without express prior permission.

d. Hand Deliveries. Hand-delivered mail should be left with the Court Security

Officers at the Worth Street entrance (200 Worth Street, New York, NY 10007) of

the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States District Courthouse. If the hand-

delivered letter is urgent and requires the Court’s immediate attention, ask the

Court Security Officers to notify Chambers that an urgent package has arrived

that needs to be retrieved by Chambers staff immediately.

e. Requests for Adjournments or Extensions of Time.

i. All requests for adjournments or extensions of time must be made in

writing and filed on ECF as letter-motions per Section 2(a) of these Rules,

not as ordinary letters.

ii. Absent an emergency, any request for extension or adjournment shall be

made as early as possible, and at least two business days before the

deadline or scheduled appearance. Extension requests will ordinarily be

denied if made after the expiration of the original deadline.

The letter-motion must state: (1) the original date and the new date

requested; (2) the number of previous requests for adjournment or

extension; (3) whether these previous requests were granted or denied; (4)

the reason for the extension or adjournment; (5) whether the adversary

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consents and, if not, the reasons given by the adversary for refusal to

consent; and (6) the date of the parties’ next scheduled appearance before the

Court.

iii. If the requested adjournment or extension affects any other scheduled

dates, a proposed Revised Civil Case Management Plan and Scheduling

Order must be attached, specifying all of the proposed changes (e.g., with

a redline showing the differences between the operative Scheduling

Order—see Section 3(c) below—and the proposed Revised Scheduling

Order).

iv. A request for an adjournment of a conference must also include three

alternative conference dates that are mutually agreeable to the parties.

v. A request to extend the deadline to complete all discovery is unlikely to be

granted. But any such request shall include a statement as to what

discovery requests have been propounded, who propounded each request,

and on what date; what responses were made, who made each response,

and on what date; and the volume of documents produced, who produced

the documents, and on what date. The letter shall further include a

statement as to any depositions that have been taken and on what date.

f. Related and Consolidated Cases.

i. After an action has been accepted as related to a prior filing, all future

court papers and correspondence must contain the docket number of the

new filing as well as the docket number of the case to which it is related

(e.g., 22-CV-1234 [rel. 21-CV-4321]).

ii. After two or more actions have been consolidated for all purposes under

a single docket number pursuant to Rule 42(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of

Civil Procedure, all future court papers and correspondence should be

filed only in the docket under which the cases have been consolidated.

3. Conferences

a. In-Person Conferences. In-person conferences will be held in Courtroom 905 of

the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, New York, NY.

b. Remote Conferences.

i. Absent permission of the Court, no more than one attorney shall speak on

behalf of any party.

ii. To facilitate orderly teleconferences and the creation of an accurate

transcript where a teleconference is held on the record, counsel are

required to identify themselves every time they speak. Counsel should

spell any proper names for the court reporter and take special care not to

interrupt or speak over one another.

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c. Initial Case Management Conference. In most cases, the Court will schedule a

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(c) conference, by Order, to occur no more

than three months after the filing of the complaint or notice of removal.

Plaintiff’s counsel (or, in a matter removed from state court, defense counsel) is

directed to promptly notify all counsel of the Notice of Initial Pretrial Conference.

In most cases, the Notice will direct the parties, among other things, to submit on

ECF a joint letter and a proposed Civil Case Management Plan and Scheduling

Order attached as an exhibit to the joint letter no later than Thursday of the week

prior to the conference date. The parties shall use the Proposed Case

Management Plan and Scheduling Order form available at the Court’s website

(https://nysd.uscourts.gov/hon-dale-e-ho).

d. Authority Consistent with Proceeding. All attorneys appearing before the

Court must have the authority to bind the party they represent consistent with the

proceedings (e.g., by agreeing to a discovery resolution or briefing schedule).

e. Participation of Attorneys. The Court invites the participation of less

experienced attorneys (i.e., those with six or fewer years of experience), including

attorneys from all backgrounds, where the attorney(s) played a substantial role in

drafting the underlying filing or preparing the relevant witness. Notwithstanding

Section 3(b)(i), the Court may permit more than one attorney to argue for one

party. The ultimate decision of who speaks on behalf of the client is for the

lawyer in charge of the case, not for the Court.

f. Pronouns and Honorifics. The parties and counsel are invited to advise the

Court of their honorifics and/or pronouns—such as Ms., Mx., or Mr.—so that the

Court may address them respectfully. People appearing before this Court may do

so in writing and/or when appearing for conferences, hearings, or trials, by

speaking to the Courtroom Deputy.

4. Motions

a. Pre-Motion Letters and Conferences in Civil Cases. Pre-motion letters and

conferences are not required, except for: (i) discovery disputes under Section 4(k)

of these Rules; and (ii) summary judgment motions in non-jury cases under

Section 4(g) of these Rules.

b. Timeline for Filing of Motion Papers. Unless otherwise agreed upon by the

parties and ordered by the Court, the parties shall assume that the submission

deadlines outlined by Local Civil Rule 6.1 shall apply.

c. Memoranda of Law.

i. Motion papers must conform to Local Civil Rule 11.1 of the S.D.N.Y.

Local Rules.

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ii. Memoranda of law in support of and in opposition to motions are limited

to 25 pages and reply memoranda are limited to 10 pages.

iii. All memoranda of law shall be in twelve-point font or larger and double-

spaced. All footnotes shall be in twelve-point font or larger and may be

single-spaced.

iv. Memoranda of 10 pages or more shall contain a table of contents and a

table of authorities, neither of which shall count against the page limit.

v. Sur-reply memoranda are not allowed (unless specifically permitted in

extraordinary situations for good cause).

vi. All appendices to memoranda of law must be indexed.

d. Unpublished Cases. The parties need not provide copies of unpublished cases if

the case is available on Westlaw or LexisNexis. For cases only available on

Westlaw or Lexis, the Westlaw citation should be used whenever possible.

e. Oral Arguments on Motions.

i. Rarely Held. The Court rarely holds oral argument. But a party may

request oral argument on a motion by indicating “ORAL ARGUMENT

REQUESTED” on the cover page of its memorandum of law. If a party

believes that the Court would benefit from oral argument for a particular

reason not obvious from the parties’ briefing, the party may file a letter

explaining the reason—not a letter-motion—on ECF. The Court will

determine whether argument will be heard and, if so, advise counsel of the

argument date.

ii. Participation by Less Experienced Attorneys Encouraged. If oral

argument would be handled in whole or in part by a less-experienced

attorney, a party may so advise the Court consistent with Section 3(e)

above.

f. Motions for Leave to Amend a Pleading. When moving to amend any

pleading, the moving party shall file as an attachment to the motion a redline

showing all differences between the operative pleading and the proposed amended

pleading.

g. Summary Judgment Procedures.

i. Discouraged in Non-Jury Cases. Summary judgment motions are

strongly discouraged in non-jury cases. Notwithstanding Section 4(a) of

these Rules, a party seeking to file a motion for summary judgment in a

non-jury case shall file a letter on ECF seeking leave to move for

summary judgment prior to filing any motion.

ii. Successive Motions Prohibited. Parties may not file more than one

motion for summary judgment absent prior Court approval.

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iii. Rule 56.1 Statements. Any party moving for summary judgment shall

provide all other parties with an electronic copy, in Microsoft Word

format, of the moving party’s Statement of Material Facts Pursuant to

Local Rule 56.1 (“Rule 56.1 Statement”), limited to 20 pages. Opposing

parties must reproduce each entry in the moving party’s Rule 56.1

Statement and set out the opposing party’s response directly beneath it. If

the opposing party wishes to file their own, additional statements of

material fact, it shall begin numbering each entry where the moving party

left off. Such additional statements are limited to 20 pages. A Rule 56.1

Statement may contain only factual statements – any non-factual

statements (e.g., legal argument) will not be considered by the Court.

iv. Deposition Transcripts. Deposition transcripts that are supplied in

connection with a summary judgment motion, whether in whole or in part,

should be text-searchable and include an index.

h. Default Judgment. A party seeking a default judgment must proceed by filing a

motion for default judgment on ECF pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

55(b)(2) and Local Civil Rule 55.2(b). A party seeking a default judgment should

not proceed by order to show cause. The motion must be supported by the

following papers:

i. If failure to answer is the basis for the default, a Certificate from the Clerk

of Court stating that no answer has been filed;

ii. an attorney’s affidavit or declaration setting forth:

1. the basis for entering a default judgment, including a description of

the method and date of service of the summons and complaint;

2. the procedural history beyond service of the summons and

complaint, if any;

3. legal authority for why such service was proper;

4. whether, if the default is applicable to fewer than all of the

defendants, the Court may appropriately order a default judgment

on the issue of damages prior to resolution of the entire action;

5. the proposed damages and the basis for each element of damages,

including interest, attorney’s fees and costs; and

6. legal authority for why an inquest into damages would be

unnecessary;

iii. a proposed default judgment;

iv. copies of all the operative pleadings; and

v. a copy of the affidavit of service of the summons and complaint.

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i. Applications for a Temporary Restraining Order. A party must confer with

their adversary before making an application for a temporary restraining order

unless the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(b) are met. As soon

as a party decides to seek a temporary restraining order, that party must file a letter

on ECF (under seal if proceeding ex parte) and state clearly whether: (1) it has

notified its adversary and whether the adversary consents to temporary injunctive

relief; or (2) the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

65(b)(1) are satisfied and no notice is necessary.

The moving party must email HoNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov giving

notice of the filing and the time frame requested for Court action. The moving

party should then file a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order, supporting

documents, and a proposed order on ECF in accordance with ECF procedures.

Where the motion is made on notice to the other parties, the moving party should

simultaneously serve the documents on any party that will not receive electronic

service via ECF.

If a party’s adversary has been notified but does not consent to temporary

injunctive relief, the party seeking a restraining order must file the application at a

time mutually agreeable to it and the adversary, so that the Court may have the

benefit of advocacy from both sides in deciding whether to grant temporary

injunctive relief.

j. Proposed Orders and Stipulations. Proposed orders to show cause, temporary

restraining orders, stipulations, consent orders, and proposed judgments are to be

filed electronically on ECF, as explained in the S.D.N.Y. Electronic Case Filing

Rules and Instructions. Counsel should also email an electronic courtesy copy of

any proposed order to Chambers, in both Microsoft Word and PDF formats.

k. Discovery Disputes. Parties must follow Local Civil Rule 37.2 with the following

modifications.

i. Any party wishing to raise a discovery dispute with the Court must first

confer in good faith with the opposing party—in person, by

videoconference, or by telephone—to resolve the dispute. Where a party

raises a discovery dispute with the opposing party, the opposing party must

make itself available to confer in good faith to resolve the dispute within

two business days of a request for a conference.

ii. If the meet-and-confer process does not resolve the dispute, the party

seeking discovery may file on ECF a letter-motion, no longer than three

pages, explaining the nature of the dispute and, if applicable, why the party

is entitled to relief and requesting a conference before the Court.

iii. Any letter-motion seeking relief must state: (1) the date and time of each

conference conducted pursuant to Section 4(k)(i) above; (2) the

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adversary’s position as to each issue being raised; and (3) that the moving

party informed the adversary during the last conference that the moving

party believed the parties to be at an impasse and that the moving party

would be requesting a conference with the Court.

iv. Any opposition to a letter-motion seeking relief shall be filed as a letter,

not to exceed three pages, within three business days.

v. Counsel should seek relief in accordance with these procedures in a timely

fashion. If a party waits until near the close of discovery to raise an issue

that could have been raised earlier, the party is unlikely to be granted the

relief that it seeks or more time for discovery.

vi. Privilege Logs and Privilege Log Disputes. Privilege logs should be

sufficiently detailed to enable the receiving party to evaluate a claim of

privilege, including identification of attorneys involved in the relevant

documents or communications. Privilege logs must be promptly produced

and updated on a rolling basis as documents are produced. Each log and

update must include a certification from counsel that counsel has reviewed

the withheld or redacted documents, and that there is a good-faith basis to

assert privilege over those documents. Disputes related to privilege logs

are subject to the Rules governing discovery disputes specified in Section

4(k). On its own initiative, the Court may order in camera production to

the Court of unredacted documents from the producing party’s log where a

dispute is raised.

5. Pretrial Submissions and Procedures

a. Joint Pretrial Order. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, at least 30 days

prior to the scheduled final pretrial conference, the parties shall both file on ECF,

as a “Joint Pretrial Statement,” and submit by email to

HoNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov a proposed joint pretrial order, which

shall include the following:

i. the full caption of the action;

ii. the names, law firms, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses

of trial counsel if not already listed on the docket;

iii. a brief statement by plaintiff (or, in a removed case, by defendant) as to

the basis of subject matter jurisdiction, and a brief statement by each other

party as to the presence or absence of subject matter jurisdiction. Such

statements shall include citations to all statutes relied on and relevant facts

as to citizenship and jurisdictional amount;

iv. a brief summary by each party of the claims and defenses that the party

asserts remain to be tried, including citations to any statutes on which the

party relies. Such summaries shall also identify all claims and defenses

previously asserted that are not to be tried. The summaries should not

recite any evidentiary matter;

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v. a statement as to the number of trial days needed and whether the case is

to be tried with or without a jury;

vi. a joint statement summarizing the nature of the case, to be read to

potential jurors during jury selection;

vii. a list of people, places, and institutions that are likely to be mentioned

during the trial, to be read to potential jurors during jury selection;

viii. a statement as to whether all parties have consented to trial by a

Magistrate Judge, without identifying which parties do or do not consent;

ix. any stipulations or agreed statements of fact or law to which all parties

consent. In a jury case, the parties should memorialize any such

stipulations or agreed upon statements of fact or law in a standalone

document that can be marked and admitted at trial;

x. a list of all trial witnesses, indicating whether such witnesses will testify in

person or by deposition, whether such witnesses will require an interpreter

(and, if so, which party will pay the costs for the interpreter), and a brief

summary of the substance of each witness’s testimony. Absent leave of

Court, a witness listed by both sides shall testify only once (with the

defendant permitted to go beyond the scope of the direct on cross-

examination), and counsel should confer with respect to scheduling;

xi. a designation by each party of deposition testimony to be offered in its

case-in-chief and any counter-designations and objections by any other

party. The parties need not designate deposition testimony to be used for

impeachment purposes only;

xii. a list by each party of all exhibits to be offered in its case-in-chief, with a

single asterisk indicating exhibits to which no party objects on any ground.

If a party objects to an exhibit, the objection should be noted by indicating

the Federal Rule of Evidence that is the basis for the objection. If any

party believes that the Court should rule on such an objection in advance

of trial, that party should include a notation to that effect (e.g., “Advance

Ruling Requested”) as well.

xiii. a statement of the damages claimed, and any other relief sought, including

the manner and method used to calculate any claimed damages and a

breakdown of the elements of such claimed damages; and

xiv. a statement of whether the parties consent to less than a unanimous

verdict.

b. Required Pretrial Filings. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, each party

shall file and serve with the joint pretrial order:

i. in all cases, motions addressing any evidentiary issues or other matters

that should be resolved in limine. Absent leave of the Court, each party

must file a single memorandum of law, consistent with Section 4(c) above,

in support of all motions in limine filed by that party;

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ii. in all jury cases, joint requests to charge, joint proposed verdict forms, and

joint proposed voir dire questions as specified by Section 5(d) below; and

iii. in all non-jury cases, proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law.

The proposed findings of fact should be detailed and should include

citations to the proffered trial testimony and exhibits, as there may be no

opportunity for post-trial submissions. At the time of filing, parties should

also submit copies of these documents to the Court by email, both in PDF

format and as a Microsoft Word document.

c. Electronic Copies of Exhibits and Exhibit Lists. Unless otherwise ordered by

the Court, the parties shall also submit with the joint pretrial order (but not file on

ECF):

i. an electronic copy of each exhibit sought to be admitted (with each

filename corresponding to the relevant exhibit number, e.g., “PX-1,” “DX-

1,” etc.). If submission of electronic copies would be an undue burden on

a party, the party may seek leave of Court (by letter-motion filed on ECF)

to submit prospective documentary exhibits in hard copy. Each hard copy

shall be pre-marked (i.e., with an exhibit sticker) and assembled

sequentially; and

ii. a Microsoft Excel document listing all exhibits sought to be admitted,

emailed to the court. The list shall contain four columns labeled as

follows: (1) “Exhibit Number”; (2) “Description” (of the exhibit); (3)

“Date Identified”; and (4) “Date Admitted.” The parties shall complete the

first two columns, but leave the third and fourth columns blank, to be

filled in by the Court during trial.

d. Requests to Charge and Proposed Voir Dire. Unless otherwise ordered by the

Court, in all jury trials, joint requests to charge, joint proposed verdict forms, and

joint proposed voir dire questions shall be submitted as attachments to the

proposed joint pretrial order, with any differing proposals displayed side-by-side

or sequentially and supported by authority or other justification. At the time of

filing, parties should also submit copies of these documents to the Court by email

as Microsoft Word documents. For any request to charge or proposed voir dire

question on which the parties cannot agree, each party should clearly set forth its

proposed charge or question, and briefly state why the Court should use its

proposed charge or question, with citations to supporting authority.

e. Additional Submissions in Non-Jury Cases. Unless otherwise ordered by the

Court, at the time the joint pretrial order is filed, each party in a non-jury trial

shall submit to the Court by email and serve on opposing counsel, but not file on

ECF, the following:

i. copies of affidavits constituting the direct testimony of each trial witness,

except for the direct testimony of an adverse party, a person whose

attendance is compelled by subpoena, or a person for whom the Court has

agreed to hear direct testimony live at the trial. The affidavit should be

treated as a direct substitute for the witness’s live testimony; that is,

counsel should be attentive to the Rules of Evidence (e.g., hearsay and the

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like) and authenticate any exhibits that will be offered through that

witness’s testimony. Three business days after submission of such

affidavits, counsel for each party shall submit: (1) a list of any objections

to particular paragraphs of an affidavit; and (2) a list of all affiants whom

they intend to cross-examine at the trial. Only those witnesses who will be

cross-examined need to appear at trial. The original signed affidavits

should be brought to trial to be marked as exhibits;

ii. all deposition excerpts that will be offered as substantive evidence, as well

as a one-page synopsis of those excerpts for each deposition. Each

synopsis shall include page citations to the pertinent pages of the

deposition transcripts; and

iii. proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The proposed findings

of fact must be detailed and include citations to the proffered trial

testimony and exhibits. The version of these documents submitted to the

Court must be in Word format.

f. Filings in Opposition. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, any party may file

the following documents within one week after the filing of the pretrial order:

i. opposition to any motion in limine; and

ii. opposition to any legal argument in a pretrial memorandum.

6. Redactions and Filing Under Seal

a. Privacy Policy. The parties are referred to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2

and the S.D.N.Y. ECF Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”).

b. Redactions Not Requiring Court Approval. There are two categories of

information that may be redacted from public court filings without prior

permission from the Court: “sensitive information” and information requiring

“caution.”

Parties should not include in their public filings, unless necessary, the five

categories of “sensitive information,” i.e.,

• social security numbers (use the last four digits only),

• names of minor children (use the initials only),

• dates of birth (use the year only),

• financial account numbers (use the last four digits only), and

• home addresses (use only the City and State).

Parties may also, without prior Court approval, redact from their public filings the

six categories of information requiring “caution” described in the Privacy Policy,

i.e.,

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• any personal identifying number,

• medical records (including any information regarding medical treatment,

including for substance abuse, and diagnosis),

• employment history,

• individual financial information,

• proprietary or trade secret information, and

• information regarding an individual’s cooperation with the government.

c. Redactions and Sealed Filings Requiring Court Approval. Except for

redactions permitted by the eleven categories of information identified in the

Privacy Policy, all redactions or sealing of public court filings require Court

approval. To be approved, any redaction or sealing of a court filing must be

narrowly tailored to serve whatever purpose justifies the redaction or sealing and

must otherwise be consistent with the presumption in favor of public access to

judicial documents. In general, the parties’ consent or the fact that information is

subject to a confidentiality agreement between litigants is not, by itself, a valid

basis to overcome the presumption in favor of public access to judicial

documents.

d. Procedures for Filing Sealed or Redacted Documents. Any party seeking

leave to file a document under seal or in redacted form shall proceed as follows:

i. Meet and Confer. The party should meet and confer with any opposing

party (or any third party seeking confidential treatment of the information)

in advance to narrow the scope of the request. When a party seeks leave

to file a document under seal or in redacted form on the ground that an

opposing party or third party has requested it, the filing party shall notify

the opposing party or third party that it must file, within three business

days, a letter explaining the need to seal or redact the document.

ii. Sealed Document(s). The party shall file a letter-motion seeking leave to

file a document wholly under seal on ECF in accordance with Standing

Order 19-MC-583 and Section 6 of the S.D.N.Y. Electronic Case Filing

Rules and Instructions. The letter-motion itself shall be filed in public

view, should explain the reasons for seeking to file the document under

seal, and should not include confidential information. The proposed

sealed document shall be contemporaneously filed under seal on ECF

(with the appropriate level of restriction) and electronically related to the

motion (or to the relevant Court order if the Court previously granted

leave to file the document under seal). Note that the summary docket text,

but not the document itself, will be open to public inspection and should

not include confidential information sought to be filed under seal.

iii. Redacted Document(s). Where a party seeks leave to file a document in

redacted form, the party shall file a letter-motion seeking leave to file a

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document in redacted form on ECF in accordance with Standing Order 19-

MC-583 and Section 6 of the S.D.N.Y. Electronic Case Filing Rules and

Instructions. The letter-motion itself shall be filed in public view, should

explain the reasons for seeking to file the document in redacted form, and

should not include confidential information. At the same time, the party

shall: (1) publicly file on ECF and electronically relate to the letter-motion

a copy of the document with the proposed redactions; and (2) file under

seal on ECF (with the appropriate level of restriction) and electronically

relate to the motion an unredacted copy of the document with the proposed

redactions highlighted.

iv. Submission by Email. Any party unable to comply with the requirement

for electronic filing under seal on ECF, or who believes that a particular

document should not be electronically filed at all, shall file a letter-motion

by email, seeking leave of the Court to file in a different manner. Such

letter-motions may be emailed to HoNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov

as text-searchable PDF attachments, with copies simultaneously delivered

to all counsel. In the subject line, the cover email should state clearly: (1)

the caption of the case, including the lead party names and docket number;

and (2) a brief description of the nature of the request. Parties shall not

include substantive communications in the body of the email.

7. Settlement Agreements. As soon as the parties reach an agreement to settle in principle,

the parties must email HoNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov to alert the Court and file

a joint letter promptly. The Court will not retain jurisdiction to enforce confidential

settlement agreements. If the parties request that the Court retain jurisdiction to enforce

an agreement, the parties must place the terms of their settlement agreement on the public

record. The parties may request that the Court endorse the settlement agreement or

include the terms of their settlement agreement in their stipulation of settlement and

dismissal.

8. Policy on Use of Electronic Devices

a. Personal Electronic Devices. Attorneys’ use of personal electronic devices

(including mobile phones) and general purpose computing devices (such as

laptops and tablets) within the Courthouse and its environs is governed by

Standing Order M10-468. When Court permission is required under the Standing

Order, attorneys seeking to bring electronic devices to the Court should email a

completed Model Court Order to HoNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov no later

than five business days before the relevant trial or hearing. Upon the Court’s

approval, Chambers will coordinate with the District Executive’s Office to issue

the order and forward a copy to counsel. The order must be presented upon

bringing the electronic device(s) into the Courthouse. If permitted by the

13

Standing Order, mobile telephones are permitted inside the Courtroom, but they

MUST be kept turned off at all times.

b. Wi-Fi Access for Hearings and Trials. Attorneys may obtain authorization to

use the Court’s Wi-Fi system in Judge Ho’s Courtroom during a hearing or trial.

For further information, see Judge Ho’s Individual Practices for Hearings and

Trials, available on the Court’s website (https://nysd.uscourts.gov/hon-dale-e-ho).

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Updated by the court: not stated on the court's page
Checked by us: Oct. 9, 2026, 11:50 a.m.

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