2. Overview of the CJRA Pilot Program

The CJRA created a pilot program that required ten federal district courts to incorporate certain case management principles into their plans and to consider incorporating certain other case management techniques. Both the principles and the techniques were largely based on those recommended by the task force initiated by Senator Biden. The evaluation included ten other districts to permit comparisons; these districts were not required to adopt any of the case management principles or techniques.

The ten pilot districts selected by the Committee on Court Administration and Case Management of the Judicial Conference of the United States were: California (S), Delaware, Georgia (N), New York (S), Oklahoma (W), Pennsylvania (E), Tennessee (W), Texas (S), Utah, and Wisconsin (E).

The Judicial Conference, with advice from RAND, also selected the following ten comparison districts: Arizona, California (C), Florida (N), Illinois (N), Indiana (N), Kentucky (E), Kentucky (W), Maryland, New York (E), and Pennsylvania (M).

Using several methods, we confirmed that the pilot and comparison districts are comparable and adequately represent the range of districts in the United States. Together, the 20 study districts have about one-third of all federal judges and one-third of all federal case filings.

The pilot districts were required to implement their plans by January 1992; the other 84 districts, including the comparison districts, could implement their plans any time before December 1993.

The Six Case Management Principles

The act directs each pilot district to incorporate the following principles into its plan:

1. Differential case management;
2. Early judicial management;
3. Monitoring and control of complex cases;
4. Encouragement of cost-effective discovery through voluntary exchanges and cooperative discovery devices;
5. Good-faith efforts to resolve discovery disputes before filing motions; and
6. Referral of appropriate cases to alternative dispute resolution programs.

Pilot districts must incorporate these principles, while other districts may do so.

The Six Case Management Techniques

The act directs each district to consider incorporating the following techniques into its plan, but no district is required to incorporate them:

1. Joint discovery/case management plan;
2. Party representation at each pretrial conference by an attorney with authority to bind that party regarding all matters previously identified by the court for discussion at the conference;
3. Required signature of attorney and party on all requests for discovery extensions or trial postponements;
4. Early neutral evaluation;
5. Party representatives with authority to bind to be present or available by telephone at settlement conferences; and
6. Other features that the court considers appropriate.

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