After a special meeting where the Rules Committee submitted its recommendations, the Court of Appeals of Maryland has revised Md. R. 1-322.1 slightly and dropped the requirement for a Certificate of Compliance. The order was issued August 26, 2014 and is available here: http://www.courts.state.md.us/rules/rodocs/184ro.pdf.

Md. R. 1-322.1 formalized the requirement for counsel to redact personal identifier information “in any electronic or paper filing with a court.” Part of the original rule change added a requirement for certification that counsel complied with that requirement (the now repealed Md. R. 1-322.2). However, on June 17, following strong opposition from district and circuit court clerks, the Maryland Court of Appeals issued an order deferring the effective date of R. 1-322.2. The Maryland Rules Committee subsequently met and recommended repealing that requirement. The Court agreed and repealed R. 1-322.2 last month.

In the same rules order, the Court made a minor change to 1-322.1 clarifying that the responsibility for the removal of personal identifier information rests with the filer of the document.

Also, Maryland rules are available at LexisNexis, at no charge, via this link: Maryland Rules.

Please contact me with any questions regarding preparing and filing any appeal. Counsel Press provides a full spectrum of appellate services. Our Washington, DC office focuses on rule-compliant appellate filings in the Maryland, DC and Virginia state and district courts, as well as the D.C. Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. We offer unparalleled in-depth expertise nationwide in all state & federal courts through our local offices.

Tagged: Appellate Practice, Appellate Procedure, The Maryland Court of Appeals