Local Rule Rule 39.1: Summations by Attorney
E.D. Pa. — Civil rule
Rule 39.1 Summations by Attorney
(a) Unless the trial judge shall otherwise grant leave, only one attorney may sum up for any party.
(b) In actions which involve no third-party action, if evidence has been admitted on offer by both sides, the plaintiff's attorney shall first sum up, stating explicitly upon what the plaintiff relies. The defendant's attorney shall next sum up as the nature of defendant's defense may require. The plaintiff's attorney may then reply, restricting himself or herself to rebuttal without assertion of any new ground on plaintiff's behalf.
In like actions, if no evidence has been admitted on offer of any defendant, the same order of summation shall prevail, except that plaintiff's attorney shall not reply.
(c) In actions involving more than one plaintiff, defendant, or third-party defendant, if the attorneys are unable to agree, the trial judge shall determine the order of speaking, inter se, of attorneys for plaintiffs, defendants, and third-party defendants.