Stipulated Protective Order
(with Clawback Provision) (Federal)

Summary

This template is a stipulated protective order that may be used in a federal district court case. It includes practical guidance, drafting notes, and optional clauses. This order is designed to protect against the disclosure to the public of proprietary and confidential information of a party to the lawsuit (or third party subpoenaed to produce information in the lawsuit). You have the option of using a single designation of confidentiality or two tiers of confidentiality ("CONFIDENTIAL" and "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL—ATTORNEYS' EYES ONLY"). The two-tiered confidentiality designation system is reserved for cases involving trade secrets, patents and other intellectual property, or the disclosure of commercial information, such as pricing, product development, profits, and future marketing strategies, that if disclosed to the opposing side could result in serious competitive harm. Other categories of particularly sensitive information that may warrant the stricter designation relates to an individual's health or mental status. The two-tied system should not be used simply because a party would prefer that certain information not be disclosed to an opposing party, such as in an employment discrimination case to protect internal complaints of discrimination, where the less restrictive "confidentiality" designation would provide sufficient protection. See, e.g., Gillespie v. Charter Commc'ns, 133 F. Supp. 3d 1195, 1202 (E.D. Mo. 2015). Always check to see if your district court has a preferred template for protective orders. See, e.g., N.D. Ca. Model Protective Orders. For a full listing of key content covering fundamental civil litigation tasks throughout a federal court litigation lifecycle, see Civil Litigation Fundamentals Resource Kit (Federal). For more on protective orders, see Motion for Protective Order: Making the Motion (Federal). For charts listing the applicable standards for protective orders by circuit alongside language from representative cases, see, e.g., Motion for Protective Order Standards Chart (9th Cir.).