• The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are amended often.vintage bible book studio isolated image by dinostock from Fotolia.com
  
  If you are a lawyer, judge, or an individual who is often involved in federal civil litigation, you will need to know the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP). The FCRP lay out all the rules and guidelines which must be followed by the court and all parties involved in a civil mater before a U.S. district court. While the FRCP is a solid compendium of these procedures, it goes through revisions, with new rules being added and old rules being removed or amended, on an annual basis. As such, regular litigants and law practitioners should keep tabs on the amendments of the FRCP.
  
  

The Judicial Conference

• Each year, as required by federal law, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court calls together the chief judge, along with a district judge, of every federal circuit, and the chief judge of the Court of International Trade in a place of his choosing. This annual conference is known as the Judicial Conference of the United States, and its purpose is to draft changes to standing judicial procedure and rules which serve to "promote simplicity in procedure, fairness in administration, the just determination of litigation, and the elimination of unjustifiable expense and delay."
  
  The Judicial Conference is divided into various advisory committees which deal with specific areas of judicial procedure (i.e. Civil Rules and Procedures). These various committees may hold hearings of testimony and may issue subpoenas (issued by the Supreme Court) to hear testimony regarding their areas of interest. Additionally, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court may compel the U.S. Attorney General to attend and speak on issues pertaining to the business of U.S. courts, with an emphasis in cases where the U.S. government is a party. The end result of each Judicial Conference is a set of recommended amendments to both the standing Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. These proposed amendments are passed on to the Supreme Court for final review before the chief justice passes the amendments on to the speaker of the House of Representatives for legislative enactment through both congressional judicial committees.
  
  

Examples

• In April 2010, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts submitted the Judicial Conference's list of amendments as approved by the Supreme Court to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Joe Biden for approval.
  
  The approved list of amendments covered 22 pages of alterations to three primary areas of civil procedure: Rule 8, pertaining to the general rules of pleading; Rule 26, pertaining to discovery of evidence, scope of discovery, protections from discovery, discovery of expert witnesses in preparation for trial; and Rule 56, dealing with rules and types of summary judgment.
  
  

Tracking Amendments

• The current Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are available to the public through the website or office of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. The Administrative Office of U.S. Courts also maintains records of Judicial Conference meetings, as well as testimony given before the conference by agency directors, lawmakers and others.
  
  The House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary maintains and makes available to the public transcripts of hearings held on the proposed amendments. These may be obtained from the Judiciary Committee either in hard copy or in electronic form.
  
  Cornell University Law School also maintains electronic records, available to the general public, of these judicial rules as they have appeared over the years.