Loading…
The Lawyer’s Pledge (29 pledges, among them compliance with the California Rules of Professional Conduct, punctuality, candor, civility to the court, opposing counsel, witnesses and court personnel, and good faith in discovery) and the Judges’ Pledge (13 pledges of courtesy, civility, punctuality, full consideration and prompt decision), each effective 1/1/2000, printed after the last division of the rule book.
California > Sixth Appellate District > Santa Cruz County > Superior Court of California, County of Santa Cruz
THE LAWYER’S PLEDGE In order to raise the standards of civility and professionalism among counsel and between the Bench and the Bar, I hereby pledge the following: 1. To at all times comply with the California Rules of Professional Conduct; 2. To honor all commitments; 3. To be candid in all dealings with the Court and counsel; 4. To uphold the integrity of our system of justice and not compromise personal integrity for the sake of a client, case or cause; 5. To seek to accomplish the client’s legitimate goals by the most efficient and economical methods possible; 6. To act in a professional manner at all times, to be guided by a fundamental sense of fair play in all dealings with counsel and the Court, and to be Courteous and respectful to the Court; 7. To be on time; 8. To be prepared for all Court appearances – to be familiar with all applicable Court rules; 9. To adhere to the time deadlines set by statute, rule, or order; 10. To avoid visual displays of pique in response to rulings by the Court; 11. To discourage and decline to participate in litigation or tactics that are without merit or are designed primarily to harass or drain the financial resources of the opposing party; 12. To avoid any communications with the judge concerning a pending case unless the opposing party or lawyer is present, or unless permitted by Court rules or otherwise authorized by law; 13. To refrain from impugning the integrity of the judicial system, its proceedings, or its members; 14. To treat all Court personnel with the utmost civility and professionalism; 15. To remember that conflicts with opposing counsel are professional and not personal – vigorous advocacy is not inconsistent with professional Courtesy; 16. To refrain from derogatory statements or discriminatory conduct on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or other personal characteristic; 17. To treat adverse witnesses and litigants with fairness and due consideration; 18. To conduct discovery proceedings as if a judicial officer were present; 19. To meet and confer with opposing counsel in a genuine attempt to resolve procedural and discovery matters; 20. To not use discovery to harass the opposition or for any other improper purpose; 21. To not arbitrarily or unreasonably withhold consent to a just and reasonable request for cooperation or accommodation; 22. To not attribute to an opponent a position not clearly taken by that opponent; 23. To avoid unnecessary “confirming” letters and to be scrupulously accurate when making any written confirmation of conversations or events; 24. To not propose any stipulation in the presence of the trier of fact unless previously agreed to by the opponent; 25. To not interrupt an opponent’s legal argument; 26. To address opposing counsel, when in Court, only through the Court; 27. To not seek sanctions against or disqualifications of another lawyer to attain a tactical advantage or for any other improper purpose; 28. To not schedule the service of papers to deliberately inconvenience opposing counsel; 29. To refrain, except in extraordinary circumstances, from using the fax machine to demand immediate responses for opposing counsel. (Eff. 1/1/2000) THE JUDGES’ PLEDGE As a member of the judiciary who desires to improve relations among counsel and between the Bench and the Bar, I pledge as follows: 1. To be Courteous, respectful and civil to the attorneys, parties, and witnesses who appear before the Court; 2. To exercise my authority to ensure that all the attorneys, parties, and witnesses conduct themselves in a civil manner; 3. To refrain from any conduct or statement which discriminates on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or other personal characteristic of attorneys, parties, or witnesses; 4. To instruct all Court personnel to act civilly toward attorneys, parties, and witnesses; 5. To refrain from the use of abusive, demeaning or humiliating language and opinions in oral or written communication with attorneys, parties, and witnesses; 6. To be punctual in covering all hearings, meetings, and conferences; 7. To give full consideration to the papers and arguments presented by counsel; 8. To make a reasonable effort to decide promptly all matters presented for decision; 9. To be aware of the time restraints and pressures imposed upon attorneys by the exigencies of litigation practice, while nevertheless endeavoring to resolve disputes efficiently; 10. To make every effort to adhere to the statutes and Court rules which are intended to establish uniformity among all of the Courts; 11. To consider the legitimate calendaring conflicts of attorneys, parties, and witnesses in the administration of those matters before the Court; 12. To avoid conduct which would give an appearance of favoritism to any particular counsel or party; 13. To be mindful that the Court is the servant of the people and its purpose is the administration of justice. (Eff. 1/1/2000)
THE LAWYER’S PLEDGE In order to raise the standards of civility and professionalism among counsel and between the Bench and the Bar, I hereby pledge the following: 1. To at all times comply with the California Rules of Professional Conduct; 2. To honor all commitments; 3. To be candid in all dealings with the Court and counsel; 4. To uphold the integrity of our system of justice and not compromise
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-10-07 (California T4 Santa Cruz build 2026-10-07) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-santa-cruz/docs/local-rules/santa-cruz-superior-court-local-rules-court-july-1-2026-final.pdf (1421611 bytes, sha256 a997ec993bbbd5c2534a1f92b30961a0c2586b4bbd601a165d1ba05a75622910; 175 pages; the pledges are pages 122 to 124) with the shared verbatim composer (v2 reflow). The running header (Superior Court of California; County of Santa Cruz; Local Rules July 1, 2026) and the page numbers removed as chrome; the cover, the navigation note, the table of contents, Appendix A (the list of rules with their histories), Appendix B (the list of local forms) and the index belong to no card; the strike report found no struck text; lines reflowed into the court's paragraphs, each rule heading and history note on its own line; proof 1 (whitespace-only) and proof 2 (same character multiset as the text layer minus chrome) pass. Review note: The pledges are printed after Division Eleven and numbered by no rule. The court's Local Rules page lists the Lawyers and Judges Pledges among the changes proposed for January 1, 2027 (revoked), with public comment until November 13; a review task re-reads the page after January 1, 2027.
Division XI: information forms for data processing (Rule 11.2); required action - action taken on all calendared cases and a future date always set (Rule 11.19); and pro tem judges - an attorney named as a plaintiff in a civil or small claims case may not sit as a judge pro-tem during the case or within six months following its resolution, nor one named as a defendant in two or more such cases (Rule 11.22). Rules 11.1, 11.3 to 11.5, 11.7 to 11.18, 11.20 and 11.21 are repealed, and Rule 11.6 (voluntary arbitration; see Local Rule 10.2) was repealed and renumbered.
Duval County's indigent-defense and magistration rules under the Texas Fair Defense Act (S.B. 7): who may be booked into the county jail and on what paper; arrest-case numbering; presentment to a magistrate within 48 hours (art. 15.16); the magistrate's warnings, counsel inquiry, interpreter duty, indigence determination and appointment of counsel within 24 hours of a request; the alternative appointment plan under art. 26.04(g)-(h) with annual applications, seven attorney categories (capital, first and second degree, third degree/state jail/misdemeanor, competency, appeals, post-conviction, extradition), CLE and experience standards, random rotation within each category, written acceptance within 48 hours, first contact by the end of the next working day, replacement and suspension of counsel, fee applications within five days of completing services and the compensation attachment ($500 pleas; $175/$150 hourly; $1,400 per jury-trial day; appellate caps); bail schedules by offense class with a personal bond office (fee $20 or 3%), pre-trial supervision and revocation hearings within two working days; arraignment settings and notice; repeal of conflicting rules.