The Local Rules for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of North Carolina are going to be amended to square up with the new time periods for various filings contained in the revised Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The Revised Middle District Rules, blacklined to show the changes, are already available. So are the Revised Eastern District Rules, also blacklined. The new Western District Rules are in the works and expected to be available shortly.

The Middle District has an entire page on its website devoted to the changes in its Local Rules and Standing Orders, which includes a summary of the Rules changes. The Middle District also has a brand new Rule 6.2, which defines what constitutes "inaccessibility" of the Clerk’s office and what should be done if there is an instance of inaccessibility.

The Eastern District didn’t do a summary of the changes to its Rules, but I’ve prepared one, available here. The Eastern District has a LOT of Rules and there are around 50 changes. I categorized them by subject, including general motions practice, trial, mediation, admiralty, and patents.

The changes to North Carolina’s Local Rules further the implementation of the new "a day is a day" time computation rules, which I wrote about last month. The new Local Rules, like the Federal Rules, take effect on December 1.

If you’ve been keeping up with this blog, you know that there’s an issue with exactly what that effective date means for deadlines calculated under the old Rules and already running on December 1.