ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Effective December 1, 2009
Notice of Changes
The Court encourages counsel and parties to take note of the following changes to Local and Federal Rules:
- Amendments to Local and Federal Rules re: Time Computations
Time computation amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Bankruptcy Procedure, Appellate Procedure and the Court’s Local Rules go into effect on December 1, 2009.
Under the current federal rules, intermediate weekends and holidays are excluded when calculating time periods fewer than eight days. Effective December 1, 2009, the amended rules will count intermediate weekends and holidays for all time periods.
Deadlines of less than 30 days have been changed to multiples of seven days so that the expiration of the deadline ordinarily would occur on a weekday. Generally, under the revised rules:
- 5-day deadlines become 7 days;
- 10- and 15-day deadlines become 14 days;
- 20-day deadlines become 21 days; and
- 25-day deadlines become 28 days.
Please note that the time computation changes apply to all pending actions unless otherwise ordered by the Court. These time computation amendments will also be reflected in amendments to the Court’s Local Rules.
For more information on the changes to the Federal Rules, go to: http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/newrules6.htm#proposed0709
- New Local Rule re: Sealed Documents in Criminal Cases
The Court has adopted new Local Rule 157.6, regarding sealed documents in criminal cases.
- Amendments to Rules re: Attorney Admissions and Attorney Discipline
The United States District Court has amended Local Rules 83.1 –Attorney Admissions and 83.3—Attorney Discipline.
Local Rule 83.1 has been amended to change the process for both regular and pro hac vice admissions. Regular admissions will no longer be moved by the United States Attorney. Instead, individual members of the federal bar will move for the admission of new members of the bar during an admission ceremony. Visiting attorneys will be required to fill out a certificate, available on the court website, providing contact information and bar membership status, which will be verified by the Clerk’s Office.
Local Rule 83.3 has been amended to allow the court, in its discretion, to immediately suspend from federal practice an attorney who has been disbarred or suspended by any other court. The suspended attorney would have 14 days after receiving an Order to Show Cause to inform this Court why it should not impose the identical discipline imposed by the other court.
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November 18, 2009
Version 4 Newsletter
On Saturday November 21, 2009, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine will install a major CM ECF application upgrade –CM/ECF Version 4.0. With this latest version of the ECF system will come many new features and improvements. The Court has created an ECF Version 4 Newsletter to introduce ECF users to some of the new features. Please take a few minutes to review this newsletter for helpful information regarding the new version of ECF.
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September 11, 2009
NOTICE RE: RECAP SOFTWARE USAGE
The Court would like to make CM/ECF filers aware of certain security concerns relating to a software application or “plug-in” called RECAP, which was designed by a group from Princeton University to enable the sharing of court documents on the Internet.
Once a user loads RECAP, documents that he or she subsequently accesses via PACER are automatically sent to a public Internet repository. Other RECAP/PACER users are then able to see whether documents are available from the Internet repository. RECAP captures District and Bankruptcy Court documents, but has not yet incorporated Appellate Court functionality. At this time, RECAP does not appear to provide users with access to restricted or sealed documents. Please be aware that RECAP is "open-source" software, which can be freely obtained by anyone with Internet access and modified for benign or malicious purposes, such as facilitating unauthorized access to restricted or sealed documents. Accordingly, CM/ECF filers are reminded to be diligent about their computer security practices to ensure that documents are not inadvertently shared or compromised.
The Court and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts will continue to analyze the implications of RECAP or related-software and advise you of any ongoing or further concerns.
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