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Judge Whitehill's comprehensive chamber guidelines for Division 1B (rev. Feb. 5, 2026): a party-autonomy philosophy with active judicial management; professionalism per the Texas Rules of Professional Conduct, the Lawyer's Creed, and Dondi; NO AI NOTETAKERS in virtual conferences; an in-person planning conference within 30 days of the first defendant's appearance (client representative attending; ESI plans pre-discussed; the proposed scheduling order helpful three business days ahead; a one-year trial goal; dispositive-motion cutoff and trial date immovable without leave); early identification of pure legal issues under TRCP 166(g),(p); informal jury-charge flowcharts within 30 days of the scheduling order; status calls every two to three months; email accessibility through the Court Manager and Staff Lawyer with all counsel copied; redline comparisons with amended pleadings; court reporters scheduled for trials and dispositive hearings; targeted document requests with rule-compliant objections; the informal discovery-dispute path (authorized counsel confer → brief court phone conference with non-binding guidance → 7-day letters → motion only for what remains, modifying BCLR 4(d)); electronic courtesy copies only; dispositive-motion responses in 14 days and replies in 7 (expert-strike motions treated as dispositive); special-appearance resolution plans within a week; special-exception hearings on the movant; sealing discipline (redaction-first, temporary orders discouraged, § 134A.0065 for trade secrets, in-camera email delivery); Word proposed orders; hearings requested after filing with a 25-minute-per-side default, conducted in person in the court's hearing room or at the Robert H. Dedman SMU School of Law; briefs per BCLR 5 in 14-point Century Schoolbook with tables for 10+ pages; record-stamped single-appendix practice; a pre-trial conference at least 14 days out with the proposed pre-trial order and limine motions three days ahead; party-selected mediators against a scheduling-order deadline; jury mechanics (fee paid eight weeks out; 30–40 minutes voir dire per party; 10–20 hours of evidence per party; 25–45 minute closings; Casteel-aware charges in Word by trial day one); equivalent non-jury practice with appellate-standard findings; non-speaking objections; a 30-day settlement dismissal presumption; and the court's legal-writing guidance.
Texas > Business Court, First Division > cases assigned to Judge Bill Whitehill (Division 1B; BCDivision1B@txcourts.gov, (945) 495-1718). Supplements the Local Rules of the Texas Business Court (the guidelines' discovery-conference step is a stated chamber-specific modification of BCLR 4(d)); the 1B Procedural Quick Reference (same revision) restates the practice points in table form.
Reviewer note: Text-layer instrument (15 pages incl. the 1B Procedural Quick Reference) read in full and transcribed with operative provisions verbatim. The guidelines' AI-notetaker bar is recorded in the Phase 8 AI sweep as a division-level provision (distinct from the covered-county regimes). Composed benchpath-ajr1-p8.
1 verbatim requirement on judge preferences.
20 verbatim requirements on judge preferences.
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