San Mateo Superior Court Filing Rules

An attorney may withdraw from a probate proceeding by filing a noticed motion, a substitution of attorneys, or a notice of withdrawal consented to by the personal representative that contains the relevant address.

Moving counsel must submit to the Court at least one day before the hearing a declaration confirming the meet-and-confer conference and describing any agreements reached.

Each motion in limine should be clearly labeled using the prescribed motion number and topic format.

Agreed-upon jury instructions must be identified using the stated stipulated-instruction format with the blanks filled in.

The parties must file a joint proposed statement of the case for the jury with the Joint Pretrial Conference Statement.

A written stipulation to judicial arbitration must be filed at least 12 calendar days before the Case Management Conference, with a copy immediately emailed to the Case Management Coordinator.

The deadline for a motion to compel or other discovery motion is tolled when a party emails its IDC request, and the IDC request must be submitted well before the statutory deadline expires.

The filing deadline for motions in limine and their oppositions is 21 days before the Pretrial Conference.

The parties must meet and confer about deposition objections at least five days before the binder is due.

The parties must electronically file a Joint Pretrial Conference Statement at least 14 days before the Pretrial Conference.

The Notice is not served on an employee pension benefit plan.

Each side must serve the IDC brief on the Court and email it to both listed court addresses.

Plaintiff's counsel is responsible for maintaining and updating the email service list.

At or before the initial case management conference, the parties must provide the clerk with an email service list and indicate whether they agree to court email service.

All parties and counsel must electronically serve and accept electronic service of all documents unless another method is required by statute or rule.

Any modifications to a form jury instruction must be plainly identified.

Each party must place the official exhibit stamp on every trial document, and exhibit tabs may be obtained from the courtroom clerk.

Guardianship filings must include an original and two copies, and all signatures must be made in blue ink.

The joint witness list must be tabular and state each witness’s name, title if any, anticipated subject matter, and estimated examination, cross-examination, redirect, and cross-redirect durations.

The parties must email the proposed orders to the Court in Word format.

An Informal Discovery Conference in a complex case is conducted by Judge McCannon and must be scheduled with Department 2 by phone or email.

Ex parte hearing dates must be coordinated by email with the Department 11 clerk at the listed email addresses.

When requesting a hearing date, moving counsel must provide the case name and number, hearing type, requested dates, and the filing attorney's name, telephone number, and email address.

After clearing proposed hearing dates with the other parties, the moving party must email the Department 20 clerk at both listed addresses with specified case, hearing, date, and attorney information to obtain a hearing date.

Litigants and attorneys may obtain telephone assistance regarding remote appearances.

Except for self-represented litigants, electronic filing is mandatory in all Unlawful Detainer actions.

All pleadings must be emailed to Department 11 at the stated address on the date they are filed.

Paper copies of ex parte documents are required, while emailing those documents to the hearing department is encouraged.

Proposed orders must be submitted electronically through the Clerk’s Office with the information required by California Rule of Court 3.1312.

The parties must email the proposed jury instructions, verdict forms, jury questionnaire, statement of the case, and proposed orders to the Court.

A copy of every reply brief, unlawful detainer opposition, or motion for summary judgment must be emailed to lawandmotionreplybriefs@sanmateocourt.org.

Courtesy copies are not required for initial pleadings, including complaints and answers.

Absent permission to email them, courtesy copies for all documents must be delivered to Department 2 by messenger, mail, or overnight delivery.

The parties must provide the Court courtesy copies of the joint witness list, deposition designation binders, exhibit list, and motions-in-limine binders between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at the stated courthouse location.

Absent permission, courtesy copies must be sent to Department 4 by messenger, mail, or overnight delivery rather than email.

An informal-conference brief may not exceed three pages.

An opposition to a motion in limine may not exceed five pages unless the Court permits otherwise.

Unless the case is very complex, the proposed statement of the case should not exceed one page and should be double-spaced.

The trial brief is limited to 10 pages.

An appellant seeking to file a brief longer than 6,800 words must obtain Appellate Division approval through an application complying with LCR rule 1.8.

After responsive papers are filed, the moving party must arrange a pre-hearing meet-and-confer, personally or by telephone, and all parties must negotiate in good faith; harassment and domestic-violence matters are exempt, and noncompliance may result in attorney’s fees or sanctions.

The parties must meet and confer at least 35 days before the Pretrial Conference to determine whether evidentiary issues can be resolved by stipulation.

Unless the Court orders otherwise, counsel and pro se persons must meet in person or by video, and the parties must participate in an informal discovery conference before filing any discovery motion if the dispute is unresolved.

The party preparing a written order must make a good-faith effort to confer with the other parties before submitting it to the court.

Counsel for the moving party must arrange the pre-hearing conference to occur at least three calendar days before the hearing.

An appellant must arrange payment of the required clerk’s-transcript preparation fees within ten days after receiving notice of the estimated cost.

Self-represented parties who have not signed up for e-filing and appear in person at the Central Courthouse may pay ex-parte fees by phone with a Credit or Debit card before the hearing and must submit their applications, supporting papers, and proof of payment to the assigned Civil Judge’s courtroom clerk no later than 15 minutes from the time set for the hearing.

The ex parte application fee must be paid when the papers are electronically filed.

Parties who electronically file ex parte papers must pay the ex parte application fee when filing.

Self-represented parties not enrolled in e-filing and appearing in person at the Northern Courthouse may pay ex-parte fees before the hearing at the specified Clerk’s Office window or by phone with a Credit or Debit card; they must give their applications, supporting papers, and proof of payment to the assigned Civil Judge’s courtroom clerk no later than 15 minutes from the hearing time, while check payments may be given to the clerk at the hearing.

Counsel must call the assigned department clerk at least five court days before the MSC to confirm the conference or request a continuance.

Moving-party counsel must notify Department 11 as soon as possible by both telephone and email when a matter will be taken off calendar or continued.

A continuance by stipulation requires the Court's prior approval and may receive only a date pre-approved by the Court.

For summary judgment and motions to quash when the opposing party wants discovery, the parties should work out the discovery and timeframe and continue the motion at least three days before the hearing.

Moving-party counsel must promptly notify Department 28 by telephone and email about matters taken off calendar or continued, and the movant must provide all hearing-continuance notices.

At least three sets of trial exhibits, in binders no more than 2½ inches wide and on a thumb drive, must be delivered to the court at least 14 days before trial.

Three sets of joint trial exhibit binders and thumb drives must be delivered to the court on the day of trial.

At least 14 days before the pretrial conference, parties must provide one binder containing the specified pretrial materials.

Each party must submit one tabbed binder containing its motions in limine in numerical order, with the opposition immediately behind each motion in the same tab.

Each party must submit a tabbed binder containing its motions in limine in numerical order, with each opposition placed immediately behind the corresponding motion in the same tab.

The victim-or-witness confidentiality sealing procedure preserves specified disclosure provisions, informant and search-warrant procedures, authorized defense access to unredacted reports, and documents submitted in support of civil complaints.

A motion or application to seal must be heard no later than a motion that relies on the materials sought to be sealed.

After denial of sealing, the moving party must either notify the Court that the materials will be filed unsealed or refrain from relying on materials that will not become part of the record.

A sealing motion or application must be decided no later than a motion that relies on the materials sought to be sealed.

A sealing motion or application must be decided before any motion relying on the materials, and after denial the moving party must either identify the materials for unsealed filing or refrain from relying on them.

The court encourages parties and senior attorneys to permit junior lawyers to participate in proceedings, especially oral argument when the junior lawyer substantially drafted or contributed to a motion or opposition.

The court strongly encourages parties and senior attorneys to allow junior lawyers to participate in proceedings, particularly by arguing motions they drafted or substantially contributed to.

Parties and senior attorneys are encouraged to allow junior lawyers to participate in court proceedings, especially by arguing motions they drafted or substantially contributed to.

The Court encourages junior lawyers to participate in all proceedings, especially by arguing motions they drafted or substantially contributed to.