On September 7, 2018, the Court of Chancery ordered that Rule 171(b) be amended to provide that the time for filing briefs is to be governed by newly-added Rule 79.2. Effective September 14, 2018, Rule 79.2 states:

Except for the initial pleadings governed by Rule 7(a) and notices of appeal, all electronic transmissions of documents (including, but not limited to, motions, briefs, appendices and discovery responses) in non-expedited cases must be filed and/or served by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time in order to be considered timely filed and/or served that day. All electronic transmissions of documents in expedited cases must be filed and/or served before midnight Eastern Time in order to be considered timely filed and/or served that day, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties and so ordered by the Court. For purposes of meeting the filing and/or service deadline set forth herein, expedited cases shall mean any case that is set for expedited treatment by an order of the Court.

The changes ensure that the Court of Chancery Rules conform to the new filing deadlines issued by the Delaware Supreme Court on July 18, 2018 as part of an initiative to improve work life balance for Delaware’s legal professionals. The Court of Chancery Rules can be found here.