Judge Whitehill revises his guidelines for Division 1B.
- Amy Prueger
- Jul 25
- 2 min read
Judge Whitehill from the First Division of the Texas Business Court has revised his guidelines, providing extensive information to parties and counsel in his court about case management, discovery disputes and motions practice, pre-trial and trial practice, settlements, and legal writing tips.
He further details his judicial philosophy (excerpt below, p.1):
Business disputes require economic and efficient business solutions. This court’s approach is to promote party autonomy during the process—with active judicial decision making when needed.
He also explains his expectations of counsel (excerpt below, p.2):
The court respects zealous advocacy but expects parties and their counsel to follow the Texas Rules of Professional Conduct, The Texas Lawyer’s Creed, and Dondi Properties Corp. v. Commerce Savs. & Loan Ass’n, 121 F.R.D.284 (N.D. Tex. 1988) (en banc). Valuable judicial, legal, and client resources are wasted when counsel or their clients do not follow these standards.
A few other interesting bits from Judge Whitehill's revised guidelines:
The court requires a flowchart early in the case: "the court asks the parties to informally submit a flowchart or outline mapping what the jury charge or findings and conclusions should be based on the existing pleadings." (p.3)
The court provides detailed information about its brief preferences.
Simple, agreed motions can be handled by email, and the court wants to be made aware of any information agreements between the parties that modify the court's guidelines or affect the schedule.
The court also revised its Proposed Protective Order.
The guidelines and proposed protective order are available below:
Division 1b Guidelines: tbc-division-1b-guidelines-rev-7-21-25.pdf
Proposed Protective Order:
Note that Judge Bouressa, also with the First Division, has her own separate court procedures, available at: texas-business-court-division-1a-court-procedures.pdf