Rule 3.4.Local Authority

Rule 3.4 hands local circuits the authority Rule 3.1 already anticipates — the ability to elect a different assignment system than the default equal-distribution plan. The method of assignment, and the procedures needed for an orderly transition from one calendaring system to another, are established by each multi-judge circuit itself, not imposed uniformly by this rule.

That local authority comes with a transparency requirement attached. Whatever system a circuit adopts must be adequately published to the local bar, and copies of it must be filed with the respective clerk or clerks and with the Supreme Court of Georgia. Those filing and publication steps give the bar notice of how a circuit assigns its cases and give the Supreme Court a record of what each circuit has chosen to do.