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Santa Clara County trial document templates

Not legal advice. Rules checked against the code on August 20, 2026. Verify every date yourself. Read the full disclaimer

Core CCP rules were checked against Westlaw (via CoCounsel legal research) on August 20, 2026. County local rules are paraphrased summaries. Individual department and judge standing orders are included only where the court publishes them and we have read the document, so assume your own department has requirements beyond what you see here. Verify every date against the operative code sections, your court’s rules and your department’s own order before relying on it. Using this site creates no attorney-client relationship.

20 documents, 27 required sections, taken from Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara’s own published rules and read 2026-09-14. Each one downloads as California pleading paper with this court’s required sections already placed, so the document cannot silently omit one.

A blank template is easy to find anywhere. What is hard to find is which sections this court requires inside the document, because that lives in a local rule nobody indexes. Every heading below is cited to the subdivision it came from, and the rule’s own sentence prints beside it in the reference sheet so you can check your work.

Download these as templates

The reference sheet below carries everything this court requires, each rule quoted from its own text and cited to the subdivision. The pleading paper templates are temporarily down while the line numbering is rebuilt, because the rail did not line up with the body text and a pleading whose lines cannot be cited is worse than no template at all.

Your details optional, blanks print as ruled lines

These stay in this browser. They are not sent anywhere, and the file is built on this machine, so a case name never reaches our server.

  • Mandatory Settlement Conference Statementeach party, 1 required sections. no later than five court days before the date set for the Mandatory Settlement Conference
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Joint Pre-Trial Documents Prepared at the Pre-Trial Meet and Conferjointly, 6 required sections. prepared at the pre-trial meet and confer, which must occur at least 10 days before the pre-trial conference
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Exhibit List (complex civil)each party, 1 required sections. at the Pre-Trial Meet and Confer
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Expedited Jury Trial Pretrial Exchangeeach party, 1 required sections. the CRC 3.1548(b) exchange no later than 10 days before the pretrial conference, and the remaining items no later than five days before it
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Motions in Limineeach party, 1 required sections. by noon on the Friday before the trial date
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Exhibit Listeach party, 1 required sections. by noon on the Friday before the trial date
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Witness Listeach party, 1 required sections. by noon on the Friday before the trial date
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Jury Instruction Requestseach party, 2 required sections. by noon on the Friday before the trial date
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Proposed Special Verdictseach party, 1 required sections. by noon on the Friday before the trial date
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Stipulations on Factual or Legal Issuesjointly, 1 required sections. by noon on the Friday before the trial date
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Copy of the Operative Pleadingseach party, 1 required sections. by noon on the Friday before the trial date
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Statement of the Caseeach party, 1 required sections. by noon on the Friday before the trial date
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Trial Briefeach party, 1 required sections. by noon on the Friday before the trial date
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Trial Exhibitseach party, 2 required sections. lodged with the trial department when known
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Proposed Voir Dire Questions and Jury Questionnaireseach party, 1 required sections. by 12:00 p.m. on the last court day before the date set for trial (Department 3), and by noon on the court day before the start of trial (Department 5)
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Original Deposition Transcriptseach party, 1 required sections. before trial begins
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Original Deposition Transcripts and Page and Line Specifications (complex civil)each party, 1 required sections. on the morning of the first day of trial
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Proposed Jury Instructions (complex civil)each party, 1 required sections. at trial; the guideline fixes no separate filing deadline of its own
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Trial Exhibits (complex civil)each party, 1 required sections. at trial, as exhibits are identified
    Pleading paper is being corrected
  • Extracted Discovery Responses (complex civil)each party, 1 required sections. at the appropriate time during trial
    Pleading paper is being corrected

Everything this court requires in one editable document, with each rule quoted and cited.

What each document has to carry

Mandatory Settlement Conference Statement

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, no later than five court days before the date set for the Mandatory Settlement Conference. Applies to all civil cases in which the court sets a Mandatory Settlement Conference. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(B)(2)

  1. Contents and length of the statement
    • A statement that complies with California Rules of Court, rule 3.1380
    • Five pages maximum, excluding exhibits

Joint Pre-Trial Documents Prepared at the Pre-Trial Meet and Confer

Prepared jointly. Not stated, prepared at the pre-trial meet and confer, which must occur at least 10 days before the pre-trial conference. Applies to complex civil cases (Departments 8 and 22). Santa Clara Complex Civil Guidelines XII.1 through XII.8, Revised 08/31/2026

  1. Joint Statement of the Case
    • A statement of the case prepared jointly by the parties
  2. Joint Witness List
    • Every witness, excluding impeachment and rebuttal witnesses
    • An accurate time estimate for each witness
  3. Exhibit exchange and inspection
    • Exchange of exhibits
    • Inspection of exhibits
  4. Joint list of controverted issues
    • The issues still in controversy, listed jointly
  5. Exchange of all motions in limine
    • Every motion in limine, exchanged at the meet and confer
  6. Voir dire questions
    • Proposed voir dire questions

Exhibit List (complex civil)

Prepared by each party. Lodged, at the Pre-Trial Meet and Confer. Applies to complex civil cases (Departments 8 and 22). Santa Clara Complex Civil Guidelines XIII.8(xii)(a)(iii) (Trial Exhibits, Introduction), listed in the table of contents as XIV, Revised 08/31/2026

  1. Contents of the exhibit list
    • A description of each exhibit
    • Whether the exhibit is to be admitted into evidence by stipulation

Expedited Jury Trial Pretrial Exchange

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, the CRC 3.1548(b) exchange no later than 10 days before the pretrial conference, and the remaining items no later than five days before it. Applies to expedited jury trials only. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(E)(3)

  1. The four pretrial exchange and filing items
    • The pretrial exchange required by CRC 3.1548(b), served no later than 10 days before the pretrial conference
    • The supplemental exchange required by CRC 3.1548(c), served no later than five days before the pretrial conference
    • The filing required by CRC 3.1548(d), no later than five days before the pretrial conference
    • The exchange of items required by CRC 3.1551(b), no later than five days before the pretrial conference

Motions in Limine

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, by noon on the Friday before the trial date. Applies to all civil trials. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(C)(1)

  1. The in limine motions themselves
    • All in limine motions

Exhibit List

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, by noon on the Friday before the trial date. Applies to all civil trials. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(C)(2)

  1. The list of exhibits
    • Every trial exhibit, except impeachment exhibits

Witness List

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, by noon on the Friday before the trial date. Applies to all civil trials. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(C)(3)

  1. The list of witnesses and scheduling problems
    • Every trial witness, except impeachment witnesses
    • Unusual scheduling problems

Jury Instruction Requests

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, by noon on the Friday before the trial date. Applies to jury trials. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(C)(4)

  1. The requested instructions
    • Every requested jury instruction, except instructions that cannot reasonably be anticipated prior to trial
  2. CACI list and bench copies (Departments 3 and 5)
    • A list of the requested CACI instructions, submitted to the court by noon on the day before the day set for trial
    • 16 to 17 copies of the final instructions, brought by counsel

Proposed Special Verdicts

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, by noon on the Friday before the trial date. Applies to jury trials. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(C)(5)

  1. The proposed special verdict forms
    • Proposed special verdicts

Stipulations on Factual or Legal Issues

Prepared jointly. Filed and served, by noon on the Friday before the trial date. Applies to all civil trials. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(C)(6)

  1. The stipulations
    • Any stipulations on factual issues
    • Any stipulations on legal issues

Copy of the Operative Pleadings

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, by noon on the Friday before the trial date. Applies to all civil trials. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(C)(7)

  1. The operative pleadings
    • The complaint
    • Each cross-complaint
    • Each answer

Statement of the Case

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, by noon on the Friday before the trial date. Applies to jury trials only. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(C)(8)

  1. The statement read to the jury
    • A statement of the case to be read to the jury
    • Concise
    • Non-argumentative

Trial Brief

Prepared by each party. Filed and served, by noon on the Friday before the trial date. Applies to all civil trials. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(C)(9)

  1. The brief and the required status explanation
    • The trial brief
    • An explanation of whether any causes of action have been dismissed or limited
    • An explanation of whether any parties have been dismissed

Trial Exhibits

Prepared by each party. Lodged, lodged with the trial department when known. Applies to all civil trials. Santa Clara County Superior Court Local Civil Rule 9(C)(10)

  1. Lodging rather than filing
    • Trial exhibits lodged with the trial department when known
    • No filing of the trial exhibits themselves
  2. Pre-numbered sets and the clerk's copy of the list (Departments 3 and 5)
    • Multiple identical, identically pre-numbered sets of all trial exhibits
    • A set for the bench or judge
    • A set for the clerk
    • A set for the witness stand
    • A set for each party
    • A minimum of four full sets
    • The exhibit list given to the courtroom clerk in editable Word format

Proposed Voir Dire Questions and Jury Questionnaires

Prepared by each party. Lodged, by 12:00 p.m. on the last court day before the date set for trial (Department 3), and by noon on the court day before the start of trial (Department 5). Applies to jury trials in Department 3 and Department 5. Santa Clara Superior Court, Orders Regarding Courtroom and Trial Conduct, Department 3, Pretrial Submissions and Conference, Jury Trials

  1. Proposed voir dire questions and jury questionnaires
    • Proposed voir dire questions
    • Proposed jury questionnaires

Original Deposition Transcripts

Prepared by each party. Lodged, before trial begins. Applies to all trials in Department 3 and Department 5. Santa Clara Superior Court, Orders Regarding Courtroom and Trial Conduct, Department 3, All Trials; and Santa Clara Superior Court, Civil Trial Procedures for Department 5, All Trials

  1. Originals lodged with the clerk
    • The original of every deposition that may be used during trial

Original Deposition Transcripts and Page and Line Specifications (complex civil)

Prepared by each party. Lodged, on the morning of the first day of trial. Applies to complex civil cases (Departments 8 and 22). Santa Clara Complex Civil Guidelines XIII.2(9), Revised 08/31/2026

  1. Original deposition transcripts and page and line specifications
    • The original of all deposition transcripts to be used during the course of the trial
    • A written specification of the page and line of anything to be read for a purpose other than impeachment, delivered to opposing counsel

Proposed Jury Instructions (complex civil)

Prepared by each party. Lodged, at trial; the guideline fixes no separate filing deadline of its own. Applies to complex civil jury trials (Departments 8 and 22). Santa Clara Complex Civil Guidelines XIII.8(ii), Revised 08/31/2026

  1. Jury instructions
    • Proposed instructions in Word, marked up against the official CACI version
    • Clean sets of the instructions, meaning the text of the instruction as corrected, in binders for the jury room

Trial Exhibits (complex civil)

Prepared by each party. Lodged, at trial, as exhibits are identified. Applies to complex civil cases (Departments 8 and 22). Santa Clara Complex Civil Guidelines XIII.8(xii)(b)(i) (Submission of Exhibits) and XIII.8(xii)(a)(ii) (Trial Exhibits, Introduction), listed in the table of contents as XIV, Revised 08/31/2026

  1. Exhibits
    • The exhibits, plus one copy, provided to the Court
    • No pre-marking by counsel, since the courtroom clerk marks exhibits in chronological order as they are identified

Extracted Discovery Responses (complex civil)

Prepared by each party. Lodged, at the appropriate time during trial. Applies to complex civil cases (Departments 8 and 22). Santa Clara Complex Civil Guidelines XIII.8(xii)(b)(iii) (Submission of Exhibits), listed in the table of contents as XIV, Revised 08/31/2026

  1. Extracted discovery responses
    • Extracted responses to interrogatories expected to be used at trial
    • Extracted responses to requests for admission expected to be used at trial
    • A copy of each extract given to counsel

Start with the joint documents

2 of these are prepared jointly: Joint Pre-Trial Documents Prepared at the Pre-Trial Meet and Confer; Stipulations on Factual or Legal Issues. A joint document needs a meet and confer before it can be filed, so it sets the real deadline even though the filing date is the same as everything else.

When each one is due

Most of these do not run off the trial date. They run off the mandatory settlement conference, which the court sets, and counting back from trial instead is the commonest way one gets missed. The full rule list for Santa Clara County carries every rule with its quoted text, and the trial countdown calculator computes the statewide CCP chain.

How these were built

Every rule was researched from the court’s own published text, then checked a second time by a reader told to assume a rule had been invented. Grouping those rules into the documents a court actually wants was a further pass, and an adversarial check corrected it: the commonest error was a document whose contents the first pass left empty while the rule enumerated them. Templates are generated in your browser, so nothing you type is sent anywhere. See methodology.

Related: All courts with templates · Santa Clara trial binder rules · Trial countdown calculator