Policy and Procedure for Appearances by Tele/Videoconference (AT&T / Zoom)

Important Notice to All Hearing Participants and Observers

Effective September 22, 2023, the policy of the Judicial Conference of the United States was updated to 1) permit federal courts to provide remote public audio-only access to civil and bankruptcy non-evidentiary hearings and proceedings, and to 2) prohibit any form of remote public access to civil and bankruptcy evidentiary hearings and trials.

This policy update will require a slight change to the Zoom instructions noted below and published with the Court’s public calendars, but has no impact on the discretion of the presiding judge to permit remote participation in evidentiary civil hearings and trials by lawyers, parties, witnesses, or interpreters – it speaks only to how the public (i.e., non- litigants or others not involved in the evidentiary hearing or trial) obtains access to an evidentiary hearing or trial.

Additionally, this update does not alter Judicial Conference policy prohibiting the recording, retransmitting or otherwise copying or capturing of any portion of the video or audio content during a hearing, trial or other proceeding taking place before the Court, unless authorized by the Court.

A violation of this prohibition is subject to sanctions including, but not limited to, removal of media credentials, restricted or denial of entry to future hearings, monetary sanctions, the suspension of electronic filing privileges or other sanction the Court deems necessary.*

An official audio recording or written transcript of a hearing, trial or other proceeding may be available from the Clerk of Court, or from PACER .

* General Order 44: In re: Court Operations Following End of Covid-19 Emergency, at paragraph 3; United States District Court, Northern District of California General Order 58, at paragraph III.

Hearing Schedules

For a hearing scheduled to be conducted via Zoom or AT&T, click the below calendar link for the judge assigned to your case or proceeding.

Link:
Judge Blumenstiel
Link:
Judge Montali
Link:
Judge Novack
Link:
Judge Lafferty
Link:
Judge Hammond
Link:
Chief Judge Johnson

General Hearing Info

Important Information for Zoom and AT&T Hearings

Please note the following applicable to Zoom and AT&T hearings held before the Court:

· Be on time. Connect at a minimum 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the hearing.

· Hearings may be limited to a total number of participants.

· Hearings do not include “breakout rooms,” or any comparable means for hearing participants or attendees to talk among themselves. To confer with a client, an attorney or with another person during a hearing, do so by means outside of the hearing, such as phone, email or text.

· If you are connecting to a hearing via the internet, avoid using WiFi. Connection via a hard-wire Ethernet cable is faster and more reliable than WiFi. If you must use WiFi, make sure you are in close range.

· Connect your device (such as a computer, mobile phone, iPad or other tablet) to a reliable power source. Avoid using battery power only.

· Turn off or mute all audio and video applications on your device (messaging alerts, email alerts, etc.)

· Mute yourself when not speaking.

· When connecting via a home network avoid sharing your internet service with others during the hearing.

· Unless you have confirmed the quality is sufficient, avoid using an open microphone and speakers, such as those that are built-into laptops, webcams or mobile phones. Using a good quality headset (headphones with a microphone) will often help ensure you can be heard, and can hear others with maximum quality.

· Avoid noisy and echoing locations. Use of a headset will improve audio quality when this is unavoidable.

· For security and enforcement of Court standards, the Court may disable some Zoom or AT&T features.

· The Court will not provide technical support for Zoom or the AT&T Teleconference Service For assistance, contact AT&T Connect Customer Care (1-888-333-2505) the Zoom Help Center, your local IT support, service provider, or other online guidance.

· For information on connecting to your specific hearing, see Connecting to Your Hearing.

Connecting to Your Hearing

For a hearing scheduled to be conducted via Zoom or AT&T, click the calendar link for the judge assigned to your case or proceeding. A list of upcoming hearing calendars for the judge displays, arranged by date and time. Click on the date and time for your hearing.

A calendar displays showing a list of matters scheduled for your selected date and time.

· Before the hearing the Courtroom Deputy for the Judge assigned to your case may have sent you the hearing connection information via an email. Check your email inbox.

· If you did not receive a pre-hearing email from the Courtroom Deputy, check the calendar for a link or telephone number to connect to your scheduled hearing.

· If you did not receive a pre-hearing email from the Courtroom Deputy, or a link or telephone number to connect to your hearing does not appear on the calendar, contact the Courtroom Deputy at the information provided on the calendar to request the connection information for your hearing.

Zoom (Audio and Video)

Conduct and Procedures to Follow During a Zoom Hearing

Unless otherwise instructed, parties appearing before the court must wear business casual attire.

Be aware of your visual appearance, during the hearing you may be visible to the Court and all other Panelists and Attendees.

Avoid running any unnecessary applications besides Zoom, to conserve your device’s processing power and networking capability.

Avoid using a mobile device. Although tablets (iPads) and smartphones can be used they are limited, and the performance is inferior.

Avoid using real or simulated backgrounds with distracting colors or images.

Avoid heavy backlighting and any lighting that overly darkens or lightens your screen image.

Avoid poor camera positioning. Try to frame yourself so you take up most the screen, at eye level.

Look into the camera.

Pay attention to what is happening during the hearing.

Avoid excessive movement to avoid distracting others.

Connecting to a Court Hearing via Zoom

Zoom hearings before the Court are done using the Zoom Webinar format.  A Zoom account is not required.

Audience Members (Listen Only)

An audience member (a person not participating in the hearing, for example, a member of the press or public) may only participate by audio using the Zoom telephone number and Webinar ID posted on the hearing calendar.

Hearing Participants (Audio and Video)

Before a hearing, a participant (for example, a party to a case such as a debtor or a creditor, an attorney representing a party, an interpreter, or a witness) will be provided a Zoom Webinar link and password via email by the judge's courtroom deputy.  A hearing participant may use this link and password to connect to the hearing by video and audio.

Click on the hearing link to connect to a Zoom hearing from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device.

· Follow the prompts to save (download) and launch the Zoom file.

· Enter your email address and name. Select Join Webinar. If you receive a password prompt, enter the password specified for the hearing.

After Connecting to a Zoom Hearing

After connecting to the Zoom hearing, if naming instructions are posted on the screen follow the instructions to identify yourself for the courtroom deputy.

The hearing participant can initially see and hear the judge and courtroom deputy, but no one attending can see or hear the hearing participant.  When it is time for a hearing participant to speak, the courtroom deputy will change the hearing participant's status.  Hence, they become visible on screen and can be heard by the judge, the courtroom deputy, and all others attending the hearing.

NOTE : Information on how to connect to your scheduled hearing is located above in the Connecting to Your Hearing section.

Before each Zoom Hearing

Make sure your internet connection is good. Click this link to test your internet connection speed. https://www.pcworld.com/article/2048594/how-to-test-your-home-internet-speed.html .

Test your audio and video connection. Run a quick test to connect with another Zoom user, or click this link to use the Zoom test: https://zoom.us/test.

AT&T (Audio Only)

Conduct and Procedures to Follow During an AT&T Hearing

The Courtroom Deputy for the presiding judge may communicate with you prior to the hearing to take a roll call of hearing participants, or to otherwise learn who is on the call for each scheduled hearing.

Pay attention to the instructions provided by the Courtroom Deputy. Matters listed by number on the calendar may not be called in the listed numerical order.

When your case is called the Courtroom Deputy, or the Judge may ask you to enter your appearance or to state your name on the record.

Identify yourself when speaking.

NOTE: When multiple participants talk at the same time, the system is not able to distinguish between speakers. The Courtroom Deputy may need to mute a participant(s), so the Judge or other participants can be heard.

When the Judge informs the participants that the hearing is completed, the participants may disconnect, and the next case will be called.

Additional Information for Using the AT&T Teleconference Service

For information about using the AT&T Teleconference Service go to AT&T Connect Customer Care at https://www.corp.att.com/attconnect-support/att-connect-customer-care/ , or call 1-888-333-2505.

Connecting to a Court Hearing Via AT&T

An AT&T account is not required to connect to an AT&T hearing held before the Court.

There is no fee to connect to an AT&T hearing held before the Court.

AT&T hearings held before the Court are audio only, no video.

There are two ways to connect to an AT&T hearing: 1) Connecting via a link to a specific AT&T hearing, and 2) Connecting by directly dialing a phone number.

· To connect to an AT&T hearing from a computer, click on the hearing link. Using a headset (headphones with a microphone) works best.

 

· Select “As Guest,” enter theDial-in phone number, theMeeting access code, and your first and last name, and the case name or case number, as directed.

· Check the box next to “I’m not a robot” and click “ Continue.”

· Follow the prompt.

· Click the “Call Me” button.

· To connect to the hearing, in the “Call Me” box enter the Area code and Phone Number you want AT&T to call you, then click “Call.”

Separately, you may also connect to an AT&T hearing by directly dialing the provided phone number, and when prompted entering theMeeting access code for the specific AT&T hearing.

 

Before each AT&T Hearing

If you are connecting to your hearing via the internet, make sure your internet connection is good. Click this link to test your internet connection speed.

Link:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2048594/how-to-test-your-home-internet-speed.htm…