SIGNING OF PAPERS – Amended August 1, 2013
(a) All pleadings, motions, and other papers that are submitted for filing, except a list, schedule, or statement, or amendments thereto, shall be signed by an attorney of record in the attorney's own name or, if there is no attorney, all papers submitted for filing shall be signed by the party. The name of the attorney or party shall be clearly printed or typed below the signature, together with the attorney's or party's address and telephone number.
(b) The signing of documents filed electronically shall be governed by the Procedures for the Filing, Signing, and Verification of Documents by Electronic Means issued by the Court, which shall be available on the Court’s website (http://www.nysb.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/5005-2-procedures.pdf). An original signed copy of the filing shall be maintained in the attorney's files.
(c) Any password required for electronic filing shall be used only by the attorney to whom the password is assigned and authorized members and employees of such attorney's firm.
Comment
This rule is an adaptation of Civil Rule 11.1 of the Local District Rules. This rule was amended in 2004 to conform to Civil Rule 11.1(b) of the Local District Rules to allow attorneys to use an identification number issued by the District Court instead of the last four digits of the attorney’s social security number.
This rule was amended in 2008 to conform to the repeal of Civil Rule 11.1(b) of the Local District Rules, which previously required that every pleading, written motion and other paper signed by an attorney include the attorney’s initials and the last four digits of the attorney’s social security number or any other four digit number registered by the attorney with the clerk of the court.
Subdivision (a) was also amended in 2008 to conform to Rule 9011(a), which does not require an attorney’s signature on lists, schedules, and statements.
Subdivision (b) was also amended in 2008 to provide that signing electronically filed documents is governed by the Court’s standing order on electronically filed cases. This rule was amended in 2013 to specify the title to the procedures promulgated by General Order M-399 relating to electronic filing, signing and verification of documents, and to state the link to the Court’s website where practitioners may access them. It is anticipated that these procedures, which also may be obtained from the Clerk, will be amended from time to time to account for changes in technology or the law.