Judicial Profile

Specific Comments or Advice for Litigants

Specific Requirements or Preferences

The division can be reached at (602) 372-0756 or [email protected]  
 
The Court Connect link for the division is https://tinyurl.com/jbazmc-pcc01

Trial Practice and Protocol

Joint Pre-Trial Memo and/or Conference; Exhibits and Objections

Parties should email a copy of all filings to this division at [email protected]  
 
In preparing for the evidentiary hearing, each side should remember that they will be allotted equal time and should plan accordingly.  
 
For all evidentiary hearings, a minute entry will establish the following deadlines:  
 
Four weeks before the evidentiary hearing, the parties must exchange proposed exhibits with each other. The court may exclude any exhibit not provided to the other party by this date.  
 
Three weeks before the evidentiary hearing, the parties must confer in an attempt to reach an agreement regarding the admissibility of the exhibits as well as ways to streamline presentation of the evidence at the hearing.  
 
Two weeks before the evidentiary hearing, the parties must file a Joint Pre-Trial Statement and exchange a list of witnesses and exhibits with each other. This Statement must include whether any parties and/or witnesses will appear virtually or in-person. The exhibit list must indicate any exhibits that will be stipulated into admission. The witness list must indicate any witness that a party desires to attend the hearing virtually, a short statement justifying the virtual testimony, and opposing counsel’s position on the virtual testimony.  
 
One week before the evidentiary hearing, the parties must (1) file their individual lists of witnesses and (2) submit all proposed exhibits through the Clerk of Court exhibit portal: https://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/services/exhibits-submission  
 
For Exhibits:  
The parties must exchange their exhibits between each other by scanning/emailing their exhibits or sending their exhibits to the other party via mail with a list of documents enclosed.  
 
All exhibits you would like to have considered by the Judicial Officer at the time of your hearing must be filed at the Clerk of Court filing counter or electronically filed through the Clerk of Court exhibit portal:  
https://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/services/exhibits-submission  
 
All exhibits must be submitted at least one week before the evidentiary hearing. Exhibits received after this deadline may or may not be used at the evidentiary hearing.  
 
All exhibits shall include an Exhibit Coversheet that must be completed and submitted as the top coversheet of your exhibits. The Exhibit Coversheet must include your case number, the case caption, the date of your hearing, the Judicial Officer assigned to your case, and the name of the party submitting the exhibits.  
 
Each exhibit electronically filed must be separated by a COLORED Exhibit Slip Sheet to clearly identify each individual exhibit. If exhibits are not clearly separated, they will be combined as one (1) document.  
 
Please note that any media-type exhibits (i.e., flash drives, CDs, etc.) cannot be marked.  
 
Exhibits can be filed in-person at the Clerk of Court filings counter.  
 
Failure to comply with these deadlines and instructions regarding disclosure of witnesses and exhibits will mean that the witnesses and exhibits cannot be part of the evidentiary hearing unless the party who fails to comply with these deadlines and instructions can demonstrate good cause for their failure to comply.  

Other Courtroom Policies and Recommendations

Our in-court time is at a premium and it is expected that counsel will talk before a hearing about the next steps in a matter, whether that means clarifying the scope of disagreements, confirming any possible areas of agreements, or something else. To be clear, talking before a hearing means just that: live interaction (phone, video) and not email.  
 
In the transition to a mostly-virtual practice, we have lost most of the opportunities for the informal conversations that help move cases forward. Although calls cannot completely substitute for bumping into opposing counsel in the elevator or meeting in the hallway before a hearing, they are the next best thing and, therefore, are expected by all counsel in all cases.