California Legal Secretary (Revision 24)

Filing procedures are seldom found in either traditional practice guides, or on the Web. Colleagues with experience in the area may be unavailable. Courts clerks are hard to reach. When you need ready and reliable answers to procedure questions, turn to Marlene Hazlewood’s California Legal Secretary. Written specifically for those who have to quickly prepare and file legal documents, California Legal Secretary contains concise statements of procedure, completed forms and detailed completion and filing instructions

Written in plain English, with no confusing statutory language or legalese, the instructions are given in quick-reading outline format with no extra law to wade through - only the rules and procedures you need. The forms are completed so you know what to place where, and memory-prodding checklists keep you from omitting any key steps.

Revision 24 includes 6 updated sample forms and covers recent key developments such as:

• California Rules of Court, rule 3.670 amended to provide additional service requirements for the Notice of Intent to Appear by Telephone (form CIV-020).
• Code of Civil Procedure § 430.41 amended to impose meet and confer requirements on parties before filing a demurrer.
• Code of Civil Procedure §2025.220 amended to require disclosure on deposition notices of contracts between the noticing party, or a third party financing all or part of the action, and the court reporter or company providing the court reporter.
• The time to serve a defendant under Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 4(m) is reduced from 120 days to 90 days.
• Scheduling conferences in federal court can no longer be held by telephone, mail, or other means.