Using Mr. Bayer As Your Court-Appointed Neutral

Court-Appointed Neutral administrative processes are handled differently, according to each judge’s wishes. Accordingly, each judge allows us some flexibility to tailor the process to your particular lawsuit.

During your Initial Conference we will determine the administrative process for your case. It would be helpful for legal assistants and client representatives to attend or listen to the Initial Conference so they are fully informed about the process for your case.

Although we know it might increase the expense somewhat, whenever possible, we recommend that you arrange for a court reporter to record and transcribe the Initial Conference. From experience, having this written record can prove invaluable.

Ms.Chaky will serve as your sole administrative contact (Alyson's email) when our office is your Court-Appointed Neutral. Communicating about administrative matters through Ms. Chaky as the primary agent for your Court-Appointed Neutral process makes things faster and simpler and cheaper.

You may reach Ms. Chaky by email, courier, or US Postal Service. She will contact Mr. Bayer for you, as needed.

Again, if you treat Mr. Bayer as you would a judge, and you treat Ms. Chaky as you would a combination of a District Court clerk, a court coordinator, a judge’s assistant, and a law clerk, your administrative process should run smoothly.

COMMUNICATION

When we can easily search email, you can feel confident that all the information you want Mr. Bayer to consider for your case can be retrieved quickly and easily.

Therefore, when you email our office with an attached document, please always include the case name and a brief description of the attachment in the subject line and expand on the description in the body of the email. Here’s an example of well-formatted communication:

If you really don’t care if Mr. Bayer reviews particular documents, you can use the following email format: “Subject: Internal Document Number #123ABC” followed by a message line that reads, “Please see attached.” Here’s an example of communication that’s more than likely to get lost:

When you need to send requests for hearings, specific pleadings, evidence, or correspondence you want Mr. Bayer to review, please transmit them electronically to Ms. Chaky, with a carbon copy (CC) to Mr. Bayer and all other parties involved in the lawsuit.

Transmitting Exhibits

If you have exhibits exceeding 35 pages included in your pleading and/or you need to transmit more than five exhibits, you must follow up your electronic transmission by sending paper copies to our office through courier or US Postal Service.

In cases where you have many lengthy exhibits to transmit, you are welcome to send us your pleading electronically - without your exhibits attached. In these cases, please send an immediate email notification that your exhibits will follow by courier or US Mail.

You can always phone Ms. Chaky if you need her to inform Mr. Bayer of any scheduling and hearing needs or to get answers to questions and responses to concerns, or her attention to an emergency that may arise during your lawsuit.

FEES & CHARGES

The judge may have ordered Mr. Bayer an hourly rate for his Court-Appointed Neutral services.

If the judge hasn’t ordered an hourly rate, Mr. Bayer’s hourly rate for Court-Appointed Neutral services is $400 per hour and Ms. Chaky’s hourly rate is $60 per hour, plus actual expenses.

The judge’s order may contain provisions about deposits and billing.

If it doesn’t, we will determine the amount of the deposit you need to make for all services at the Initial Conference. The amount of the deposit typically will be between $4,000 and $20,000 depending on the magnitude and complexity of the case. We will bill against your deposit throughout the process usually at $350 per hour for Mr. Bayer's time, $60 per hour for Ms. Chaky's time, plus actual expenses. When your balance on deposit sinks below 25% of your initial deposit, you can expect us to ask you to replenish your deposit.

CANCELLATION OR CHANGES

To the extent that the judge has given Mr. Bayer authority to schedule hearings on the matters that have been delegated to the Court-Appointed Neutral, Ms. Chaky will be as flexible as possible about scheduling. From our experience, however, some judges prefer to maintain a close control of their docket and like to set or modify hearing dates by court order.

If our office has established a hearing date that you need to modify, as soon as you become aware of the situation, please contact both the opposing counsel and Ms. Chaky.

If the Court has set the hearing date, you will need to follow the Court’s procedure in making any modifications.

WORKFLOW

Our workflow for handling Court-Appointed Neutral processes is outlined here.