In an effort to improve work life balance for attorneys, all Delaware State Courts will institute “new standards designed to improve both the quality of practice and work life balance for legal professionals in the state”.
Because attorneys, just like anyone else, often work right up to deadlines, the courts are amending deadlines for non-expedited matters from 11:59pm to 5:00pm. Expedited matters will continue with the 11:59pm deadline. This change will become effective September 14, 2018.
The courts are also discouraging other practices in an effort to improve work life balance. These include discouraging due dates that fall on Mondays or the day after a holiday, issuing non-expedited opinions after 4:00pm or after noon on Fridays, and scheduling trials or oral arguments in the month of August.
The courts will review these additional recommendations on or before March 15, 2019.
“The proposed changes are all designed to try to address the work life imbalance issues in the legal profession, and they indicate that the Delaware Courts are concerned about trying to improve the wellbeing of the many lawyers that practice here,” said attorney Bill Lafferty, one of the authors of the report.
For more information, see the court notice.