SEP 3 0 2008

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

The Judicial Conference of the United States has revised its

ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER

2008-31

national policy addressing electronic availability of transcripts

IN RE: POLICY ON ELECTRONIC

AVAILABILITY OF TRANSCRIPTS OF

COURT

PROCEEDINGS

of court proceedings filed with the court. The Judicial Conference

FILED

IU)

D.C.

SEP

2008

STEVEN

M. LARIMORE

CLERK

S. DIST.

CT.

S. D.

FLA.

MIAMI

Policy on Electronic Availability of Transcripts applies to any

transcript of a court proceeding that is subsequently filed with the

court and made available to the public via electronic access. In

furtherance of the implementation of this policy locally, effective

for any transcript filed on or after the date of this

order(regard1ess of when the proceeding took place) it is

ORDERED

that transcripts of proceedings before the United

States District Court for the Southern District of Florida taken or

transcribed by Official Court Reporters and Contract Court Reporters

are now required to be filed with the Court in electronic format.

The Court will follow the Judicial Conference Policy on Electronic

Availability of Transcripts of court proceedings before making

official transcripts electronically available to the public. The

policy will apply to all transcripts of proceedings or parts of

proceedings ordered on or after this date, regardless of when the

proceeding took place, unless otherwise ordered by the Court. For

specifics as to the policy, please see the attached New Transcript

Policy;

It is

FURTHER ORDERED

that the policy set forth in this order:

Does not affect in any way the obligation of the court

reporter to file promptly with the Clerk of Court the

court reporter's original records of a proceeding or the

inclusion of a filed transcript with the records of the

court pursuant to

U.S.C.

753.

Does not affect the obligation of the Clerk to make the

official transcript available for copying by the public

without further compensation to the court reporter

days after the transcript is filed pursuant to Judicial

Conference policy.

C. Is not intended to create a private right of action.

D. Is intended to apply the Judicial Conference policy on

privacy and public access to electronic case files to

transcripts that are electronically available to the

public. It is not intended to change any rules or

policies with respect to sealing or redaction of court

records for any other purpose.

Does not prevent the production of a transcript on an

expedited basis for a party, or any other person or

entity, that may order such a transcript, subject to

whatever court rules or orders are currently imposed to

protect sealed materials. Any non-party that orders a

transcript on an expedited basis should be alerted to the

Judicial Conference policy on privacy and public access

to electronic case files by the entity providing the

transcript to the party.

DONE

and

ORDERED

in Chambers at Miami, Florida, this

day of September,

2008.

Copies provided to:

The Honorable J.L. Edmondson, Chief Judge, Eleventh Circuit

All Southern District and Magistrate Judges

U.S. Attorney

Alexander Acosta

Federal Public Defender Kathleen Williams

James Gerstenlauer, Circuit Executive

Steven M. Larimore, Court Administrator

Clerk of Court

Library

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

New Transcript Policy

Effective September

30,2008

At its September 2007 session, the U.S. Judicial Conference approved a new policy

regarding the availability of transcripts of court proceedings. A new release of CMIECF, Version

3.2., includes software that facilitates the implementation of this policy. The policy states:

(1)

A transcript provided to a court by a court reporter or transcriber will be available

at the office of the clerk of court for inspection only, for a period of 90 days after

it is delivered to the clerk.

(2)

During the 90-day period, a copy of the transcript may be obtained from the court

reporter or transcriber at the rate established by the Judicial Conference, the

transcript will be available within the court for internal use, and an attorney who

obtains the transcript from the court reporter or transcriber may obtain remote

electronic access to the transcript through the court's CMIECF system for

purposes of creating hyperlinks to the transcript in court filings and for other

purposes.

(3)

After the 90-day period has ended, the filed transcript will be available for

inspection and copying in the clerk's office and for download from the court's

CMIECF system through the judiciary's PACER system.

Transcripts must be compliant with the new Federal Privacy Rules, Civ. 5.2 and Crim.

49.1. The Judicial Conference approved procedures for applying the redaction requirements to

transcripts of court proceedings and

CMIECF Version 3.2 has been designed to include those

procedures.

Pursuant to 28

U.S.C.§ 753(b), the court reporter or transcriber must deliver promptly a

certified copy of any transcript made to the clerk of court for the records of the court. The Notice

of Electronic Filing (NEF) informs parties and attorneys of record of the 90-day restriction and

how to obtain the transcript during the restriction period. The starting point for all deadlines

begins the date the transcript is submitted. The redaction period for transcripts and the 90-day

restriction policy apply to transcripts of federal court proceedings only.

During the 90-day period (which may be extended by the court), access to the transcript in

CMIECF is restricted to the following users:

court staff

public terminal users

attorneys of record or parties who have purchased the transcript from the court

reporter or transcriber; and

other persons as directed by the court.

Except for public terminal viewers, persons authorized to view or download the transcript can

also create hyperlinks to the transcript.

Court reporters will either email a PDF version of the transcript to the clerk's office for

uploadingldocketing or the court reporter will upload /docket transcript into CMIECF. When an

official transcript of a court proceeding has been filed, parties will be notified via CMECF

notice of electronic filing (NEF) which will include various standard deadlines:

calendar days after the filing of the transcript, party to file the Redaction Request, if

necessary;

calendar days after the filing of the transcript, court reporter to file the redacted

transcript, if requested;

calendar days after the filing of the transcript, normal release of remote restrictions,

unless redaction issues are pending.

Redaction responsibilities apply to the attorneys even when the requestor of the transcript is a

judge or a member of the publiclmedia.

Any party needing to review the transcript for redaction purposes may purchase a copy

from the court

reporterltranscriber or view the transcript at the courthouse using a public

terminal. If a party purchases the transcript from the court reporter, and he or she is an attorney

on the case, he or she will be given remote access to the transcript via CMECF and PACER.

PACER fees apply at all times when accessing transcripts remotely. The clerk's office will grant

remote access upon notification from the court reporter that payment was received.

There is no obligation on the part of the Clerk's office to perform any redaction. Instead,

it rests on the attorneys to tell the court reporter where to redact, and on the court reporter to

perform the redaction.

Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the attorney is responsible for privacy compliance

of the following portions of the transcript:

opening and closing statements made on the party's behalf;

statements of the party;

the testimony of any witness called by the party;

sentencing proceedings;'

any other portion of the transcript ordered by the court.

Only the following personal identifiers listed by the Judicial Conference in its policy on the

Electronic Availability of Transcripts may be redacted through this part of the process:

Minors' names: use the minor's initials;

Financial account numbers: use only the last four numbers of the account;

Social Security numbers: use only the last four numbers;

Dates of birth: use only the year; and

Home addresses: use only the city and state (applicable in criminal cases only).

If redaction is requested within

calendar days of the transcripts' delivery to the clerk,

or longer if so ordered by the Court, the parties must file with the court a Transcript Redaction

Request (sample attached). A copy of the Transcript Redaction Request must be either faxed,

Both the government and the defendant are responsible for privacy compliance of sentencing

proceedings.

mailed, or mailed to the court reporter. The request should indicate where the personal

identifiers to be redacted appear on the transcript.

For example, if a party wanted to redact the Social Security number 123-45-6789 on page

10, line 12 of a transcript the Redaction Request would include the information: Page 10, line 12,

SSN to read xxx-xx-6789. Access to the Transcript Redaction Request document will be

restricted in PACER and

CM/ECF to the court and the attorneys of record in the case.

Redacted Transcript Within

Calendar Davs

Within 3 1 calendar days from the filing of the transcript with the Clerk (or longer if

ordered by the court), if redaction is requested, the court reporter will file the redacted transcript.

Motion to Redact (other than five listed ~ersonal identifiers within

davs)

If a party wishes to redact additional information (that is not listed by the Judicial

Conference) he or she may make a motion to the court. The transcript will not be electronically

available until the court has ruled on any such motion, even though the 90-day restriction period

may have ended.

The original un-redacted electronic transcript should be retained by the clerk of court as a

restricted document. The court will monitor this deadline to ensure that the redacted transcript is

available for the parties and attorneys should there be

appeal.

**SAMPLE REDACTION REQUEST FORMAT*

Note: the event is located on CMIECF by clicking:

Civil or Criminal

OTHER DOCUMENTS or APPEALS DOCUMENTS Redaction Request

Transcript

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

Case No. -Civ or Cr-(USDJ's last name/USMJ's last name)

TRANSCRIPT REDACTION

REOUEST

Pursuant to

Fed.R.Civ.P.5.2/Fed.R.Crim.P.49.1,

Plaintiffmefendant requests that the

following personal identifiers be redacted from the transcript filed on (Date)

Doc# Page Line Identifier Redaction Requested

5 3 15 10 Social Security Number

xxxx-xx- 1234

53 25 2 Taxpayer ID Number

xx-xxxx5678

7 0 32

Date of Birth

xx/xx/ 1 9 54

72 24 23 Minor Child's Name

Pxxx Txxxx

80 56

1 Financial Account Number xxx-xxx-xxxx2689

93 89

Home Address

City, State

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ [Name of Password Registrantl(F1orida

Bar

Number

Attorney e-mail address

Firm Name

Street Address

City, State, Zip Code

Telephone: (xxx) xxx-xxxx

Facsimile: (xxx) xxx-xxxx

Attorneys for

Plaintiffmefendant [Party Name(s)]

Certificate

Service

hereby certify that on (date),

electronically filed the foregoing document with the Clerk

of the Court using

CMIECF and

hereby certify that

have served by some other authorized

manner the document to the following Court Reporter: Name of Court Reporter or Court

Reporter Coordinator.

also certify that the foregoing document is being served this day on all

counsel of record or pro se parties identified on the attached Service List in the manner specified,

either via transmission of Notices of Electronic Filing generated by CMIECF or in some other

authorized manner for those counsel or parties who are not authorized to receive electronically

Notices of Electronic Filing.