Loretta A. Preska at a glance
- Current role
- Senior Judge
- Jurisdiction
- New York · Federal
- Judicial service
- Active
Loretta A. Preska
Senior Judge · U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Service record and verification
Judicial service and assignments
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York · Judge · Senior · August 12, 1992–present · Assignment source ↗
Appointment and verification
- Appointment method
- Presidential appointment with Senate confirmation
- Appointing authority
- George H.W. Bush
- Source authority
- Federal Judicial Center Biographical Directory
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Biography
Professional career
- Judge, District Court, S.D. New York, 1992-present
- Her tenure as chief judge and her continued service in senior status reflect her long-standing contributions to the Southern District of New York and the broader U.S. legal system
Education
- New York University School of Law in — LL.M. (1978)
- College of St. Rose — B.A. (1970)
Additional information
- Board member, Federal Judicial Center, 2008-2012
- President George H.W. Bush nominated Preska to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 31, 1992, to fill the seat vacated by Robert J. Ward.
- Private practice, New York City, 1973-1992
- Practiced law in New York City from 1973 to 1992.
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel from 1973 to 1982 and then at Hertzog, Calamari & Gleason (now Winston & Strawn) from 1982 until her federal appointment.
- Date of birth: 1949-01-01
- Judge Loretta A. Preska has had a distinguished career in both private practice and the federal judiciary.
- Bethlehem Central High School
- Her practice focused primarily on commercial civil litigation in federal courts, and she represented several officers of EF Hutton in grand jury proceedings
- focusing on trade regulation
- The American Bar Association rated her unanimously qualified.
- Birth place: Albany, NY
Applicable Court Rules & Procedures
Remote appearances
Courtwide
In federal district-court civil proceedings, testimony is ordinarily taken in open court; remote contemporaneous testimony requires good cause in compelling circumstances and appropriate safeguards.
For good cause in compelling circumstances and with appropriate safeguards, the court may permit testimony in open court by contemporaneous transmission from a different location.Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court ↗
Recording and broadcasting
Courtwide
Federal district courts may not permit courtroom photography or broadcasting during criminal judicial proceedings unless a statute or another federal rule provides an exception.
Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom.Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited ↗
Published courtroom rules
Judge and named-part rules
Published judge / part rules (31 excerpts)
See document heading and cited passage; do not apply outside the issuing part or proceeding.
Official rules document ↗ · Collected 2026-10-27
Communications with chambers
A. Letters Except as otherwise noted below, communications with chambers shall be by letter. All letters shall be filed electronically on ECF subject to the exceptions in the next sentence. Exceptions: (1) letters filed under seal or requesting sealing;
Source page 1Communications with chambers
(2) letters containing sensitive or confidential information; (3) letters submitted by pro se parties. All letters falling into the aforementioned exceptions shall be sent to chambers by mail or fax (in accordance with Practice 1.C, infra) with copies simultaneously delivered to all counsel. Copies of correspondence between counsel shall not be sent to the Court. IF FILING A LETTER VIA ECF, DO NOT SEND A PAPER COPY BY HAND OR MAIL. Letters shall be in at least 14-point type, both text and footnotes.
Source page 1Communications with chambers
B. Telephone Calls For questions that cannot be answered by reference to these Rules or the S.D.N.Y. Local Rules, or for situations requiring immediate attention from the Court, counsel should call Chambers directly; in such situations, parties should email the Chambers inbox (PreskaNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov) requesting the Court’s contact information.
Source page 1Adjournments
E. Requests for Adjournments or Extensions of Time Absent an emergency, requests for adjournments or extensions of time shall be made at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled deadline. All requests for adjournments or
Source page 1Adjournments
(1) the original date; (2) the number of previous requests for adjournment or extension; (3) whether these previous requests were granted or denied; and (4) whether the adversary consents, and, if not, the reasons given by the adversary for refusing to consent.
Source page 1Adjournments
If the requested adjournment or extension affects any other scheduled dates, a proposed Revised Scheduling Order (reflecting only business days) must be attached.
Source page 2Motion practice
A. Pre-Motion Conference in Civil Cases For discovery motions, follow Local Civil Rule 37.2 (effective as of July 1, 2024). For motions other than discovery motions, a pre-motion conference with the Court is required before making any
Source page 2Motion practice
To arrange a pre-motion conference, the moving party shall submit a letter not to exceed 1,050 words setting forth the basis for the anticipated motion. Whereupon, the non-moving party shall, within 3 business days, submit a letter not to exceed 1,050 words setting forth its position with respect to the anticipated motion. The moving party is permitted to submit a reply letter not to exceed 700 words within 1 business day. Upon submitting a pre-motion conference request letter, the moving party shall remind the non-moving party of its obligation to submit a response letter to the Court. If filed by a party who is not represented by an attorney and handwritten or prepared with a typewriter, the moving and non-moving parties’ letters may not exceed 3 pages, and a reply letter may not exceed 2 pages.
Source page 2Motion practice
B. Memoranda of Law Unless prior permission has been granted, memoranda of law in support of and in opposition to motions are limited to 7,000 words, and reply memoranda are limited to 3,500 words. Memoranda of 3,500 words or more shall contain a table of contents and table of authorities. Memoranda shall be in at least 12-point type, both text and footnotes. If filed by a party who is not represented by an attorney and handwritten or prepared with a typewriter, briefs in support of and in response to a motion may not exceed 20 pages, and reply briefs may not exceed 10 pages.
Source page 2Motion practice
C. Filing of Motion Papers Motion papers shall be filed promptly after service.
Source page 3Motion practice
E. Court Appearances The Court encourages senior lawyers to allow junior lawyers the opportunity to argue in court, whether at a conference, hearing, trial, or otherwise. Indeed, the Court prefers that the lawyer most familiar with an issue argue it in court, regardless of seniority. The Court may permit more than one lawyer to argue for a party where doing so would create the opportunity for a junior lawyer to argue. Counsel may inform the Court in advance in the letter requesting oral argument that a junior lawyer is scheduled to argue all or part of a matter.
Source page 3Motion practice
F. Procedures for filing Motions for Default Judgment For motions for default judgment, follow Local Civil Rules 55.1 and 55.2. The moving party shall also provide to the Court a proposed Order to Show Cause.
Source page 3Filing and working copies
1. Sealing/Redactions Not Requiring Court Approval. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 describes sensitive information that must be redacted from public court filings without seeking prior permission from the Court.
Source page 3Motion practice
2. Sealing/Redactions Requiring Court Approval. Motions or letter-motions for approval of sealed or redacted filings in civil and miscellaneous cases must be filed electronically through the Court’s ECF system. The subject documents, including the proposed sealed document(s), must be filed in the traditional manner, on paper, as described below.
Source page 3Motion practice
The motion to seal must be filed in public view, must explain the particular reasons for seeking to file that information under seal, and should not include confidential information sought to be filed under seal. Supporting papers must be separately filed electronically and may be filed under seal or redacted only to the extent necessary to safeguard information sought to be filed under seal.
Source page 3Motion practice
Where the motion to seal seeks permission to redact information from a document, the filing party shall contemporaneously file the redacted document in public view in the ECF system.
Source page 3Communications with chambers
The proposed sealed/redacted document, a copy of the motion to seal, and any supporting papers must be contemporaneously submitted to the Court by hand delivery or emailed to chambers (outside the ECF system) at PreskaNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov
Source page 3Filing and working copies
If the application is granted, the unredacted document must be filed under seal in the traditional manner, on paper, in conformity with the sealed records filing procedures available at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/programs/records/sealed
Source page 4Discovery
A. Joint Pretrial Orders in Civil Cases Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, within 30 days from the date for the completion of discovery in a civil case, the parties shall submit to the Court for its approval a joint pretrial order, which shall
Source page 4Trial exhibits and witnesses
• a statement as to whether all parties have consented to trial of the case by a magistrate judge (without identifying which parties have or have not so consented);
Source page 4Filing and working copies
B. Filings Prior to Trial in Civil Cases Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, each party shall file, 15 days before the date of commencement of trial if such a date has been fixed, or 30 days after the filing of the final pretrial order if no trial date
Source page 4Trial exhibits and witnesses
• in jury cases, requests to charge and proposed voir dire questions. When feasible, proposed jury charges should also be submitted electronically to the law clerk;
Source page 4Motion practice
• in all cases, motions addressing any evidentiary or other issues should be resolved in limine; and
Source page 5Communications with chambers
C. All General Purpose Computing Device Orders (for cellphones, laptops, and BlackBerrys) should be submitted to chambers at least five days prior to trial.
Source page 5Filing and working copies
A. Filing Every sentencing submission, including letters, should be filed in the public record either in paper form or through the ECF system, using the procedures described below. The defendant is responsible for filing all letters submitted on behalf of the defendant, including those from friends, relatives, etc. The government is responsible for filing all letters from victims.
Source page 5Filing and working copies
In this regard, the parties are referred to E-Government Act of 2002 and the Southern District's ECF Privacy Policy ("Privacy Policy") and reminded not to include (unless necessary) the five categories of "sensitive information" in their submissions (i.e., social security numbers, names of minor children [use the initials only], dates of birth [use the year only], financial account numbers, and home addresses [use only the City and State]). Parties may redact the five categories of "sensitive information" and the six categories of information requiring caution (i.e., personal identifying number, medical records, treatment and diagnosis, employment history, individual financial information, proprietary or trade secret information, and information regarding an individual's cooperation with the government) as described in the Privacy Policy, without application to the Court.
Source page 5Communications with chambers
If any material is redacted from the publicly filed document, only those pages containing the redacted material will be filed under seal. A copy of the redacted material should be sent to chambers and also an additional copy should be handed up at the sentencing proceeding, marked to indicate what information has been redacted from the publicly filed materials.
Source page 5Filing and working copies
1. A defendant's sentencing submission shall be served two weeks in advance of the date set for sentence. The government's sentencing submission shall be served one week in advance of the date set for sentence. At the time it is served, a party shall file its sentencing submission following one of the two procedures described here. (If the criminal case is a non-ECF case, then only paper filing is allowed.)
Source page 5Filing and working copies
i. Paper Filing If letters are filed as hard copies, a party shall group all letters together in a single paper filing under a cover marked SENTENCING MEMORANDUM bearing the caption and docket number and submit it to the Clerk's Office.
Source page 5Filing and working copies
ii. ECF Filing If letters are filed electronically, they shall be grouped and filed together as attachments to a single document marked SENTENCING MEMORANDUM bearing the caption and docket number.
Source page 6Filing and working copies
2. If a party redacts information beyond the eleven categories of information identified in the Privacy Policy, an application to do so shall be served and filed at the time the sentencing submission is served. The application should clearly identify the redaction and explain the reasons for the redaction. The application will be addressed at the sentencing proceeding.
Source page 6Shared court rules
SDNY and EDNY — Joint Local Civil and Criminal Rules
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Federal district-court proceedings only. Civil and criminal sections have distinct scope and district-specific exceptions. Not Bankruptcy Court rules.
Official source ↗ · Collected 2026-10-27Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, December 1, 2025
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Civil actions in United States District Courts; Rule 81 exceptions apply. Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule.
Official source ↗ · Collected 2026-10-27Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, December 1, 2025
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Criminal proceedings in United States District Courts; this conservative mapping does not distribute appellate-specific provisions to appellate judges. Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule.
Official source ↗ · Collected 2026-10-27Sources
Identity source checked July 25, 2026.
Biography sources checked August 3, 2026.
Federal Judicial Center biography
Identity source · HTML · Federal Judicial Center Biographical Directory · effective August 12, 1992 · Source checked July 25, 2026
View Federal Judicial Center biography ↗CourtListener judicial biographical directory
Identity source · HTML · CourtListener / Free Law Project · Source checked August 2, 2026
View CourtListener judicial biographical directory ↗Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court
Courtwide source · HTML · Supreme Court of the United States and Judicial Conference of the United States · Source checked July 26, 2026
View Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court ↗Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited
Courtwide source · HTML · Supreme Court of the United States and Judicial Conference of the United States · Source checked July 26, 2026
View Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited ↗