Brian T. McGuffin

Contact with Chambers

Judge McGuffin expects that counsel and all parties will review the procedures and requirements below before communicating with the Court, and to the extent that an attorney is aware of these procedures, he or she should make other attorneys and/or unrepresented parties aware of these procedures. The following should be considered standing Orders, which the parties and litigants must follow when practicing or appearing before Judge McGuffin.

Counsel and unrepresented parties should not correspond or communicate with the Court concerning pending matters, unless or until they have first communicated with opposing counsel and confirmed with opposing counsel that they intend to contact the Court. Copies of letters should be sent to opposing counsel before they are sent to the Court. Requests for continuances should first be made to opposing counsel (seeking an agreement). If no agreement is reached, opposing counsel and/or the opposing party, should receive a copy of the continuance request with sufficient time to respond to same.

Communications with the Court, concerning pending matters, should either be by formal pleadings (petitions and motions) or if all parties and counsel agree the Court will accept correspondence or a phone conference. The Court expects that there will be an actual purpose for the communication other than to complain generally about the other attorney's (or parties') lack of cooperation or failure to do something. The Judge's staff screens correspondence and does not present letters to the Court which are ex parte, inappropriate communication, or in some other way not consistent with the above referenced procedures and requirements.

All correspondence should confirm that direct communication with the Court complies with these procedures and requirements, and in particular that the communication is being presented with the full knowledge of the other attorneys and/or parties.

When the parties agree to conference a matter with the Court, the Court will do everything in its power to accommodate the parties with personal conferences and/or phone conferences. If the parties have a disagreement which they believe can be resolved by a phone conference, or a short personal conference and they all agree to proceed in that fashion, the Court will do it's very best to accommodate the parties.

Fax / Email Communications

The Court will accept communications by fax or email provided the other party has had an opportunity to review same and respond.

Please note, the Court’s fax number and email address are only monitored and responded to during the Court’s regular business hours. Do not send an email or fax at night or on the weekend and expect that it will be reviewed or responded to at any time prior to the Court’s next business day.