Joseph C. Spero
How Judge Spero rules, drawn from 22 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Spero
Joseph C. Spero has served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California since March 1999 and served as Chief Magistrate Judge from 2015 to 2023. He earned degrees from Grinnell College and Columbia Law School, clerked for the Ninth Circuit, and practiced law in San Francisco before joining the bench.
Judge Spero's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Spero, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Filing
Do not send paper courtesy copies absent an order; email courtesy copies to the designated address.
“no paper courtesy copies will be accepted by the 26 undersigned unless the Court specifically orders that hard copies of a particular filing be provided. Instead, courtesy copies should be emailed to [email protected].”
Discovery
After a video meet and confer, provide a detailed joint discovery letter within five business days, limited to five pages without leave.
“five business days of the meet-and-confer session, the parties shall provide a detailed Joint 9 Letter to the Court, not to exceed five pages without leave of Court.”
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026).
How Judge Spero decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Parker, Spero granted summary judgment on a failure-to-prevent-discrimination claim after the plaintiff left two elements unanswered and identified no shortcoming in the employer’s preventive practices.
“Because Parker did not address Conduent’s arguments as to the second and third elements, or point to any shortcomings in Conduent’s practices and procedures for preventing discrimination, the Court concludes that for this additional reason Conduent is entitled to summary judgment on this claim.”
Procedural preferences
In Wine, Spero denied leave to amend after finding that the plaintiff identified no change to his complaint that would cure the court’s jurisdictional defects.
“Here, the Court finds that amendment is futile because Plaintiff has pointed to no possible amendments to his complaint that would establish that this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over his claims or personal jurisdiction over the individual defendants.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The court has reviewed Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero's Report and Recommendation regarding plaintiff's motion to remand. Defendant filed no objections within the time allowed under 28 U.S.C. Section 636(b)(1). The court finds the Report correct, well-reasoned and thorough, and adopts it in every respect. Accordingly, plaintiff's motion to remand the case to the Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo, is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees is DENIED.”
“The Court has reviewed Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero's Report and Recommendation regarding enforcement of an Internal Revenue Service summons against Respondent Margaret Watson. The Court finds the Report well-reasoned and thorough, and adopts it in every respect. Accordingly, Petitioner's summons shall be ENFORCED and the Respondent shall appear for examination and provide the requested books, papers, records and data.”
“On August 22, 2019, I declined to adopt Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero's recommendation to remand the case because, although it was improper for Woodruff to remove the action as only defendants may remove a case, one of the defendants filed a notice of intent to remove the case.”
“the Motion is GRANTED and all of Plaintiff’s claims are dismissed. Because Plaintiff may be able to cure the defects discussed above, Plaintiff is given leave to file an amended complaint”
“the Motion is DENIED to the extent it seeks dismissal of 16 Plaintiff’s Title VII and ADEA national origin discrimination claims based on failure to exhaust 17 administrative remedies. The Motion is GRANTED as follows.”
“Accordingly, the Transfer Motion is DENIED.”
“The Motion to Dismiss is DENIED except as to Plaintiff’s claim for injunctive relief, 3 which is dismissed without prejudice.”
“For the reasons stated above, the Motion is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs’ motion is GRANTED, and the case is 25STAYED pending the outcome of the criminal charges pending against Plaintiffs.”
“The Westminster Defendants’ motion to dismiss is DENIED as moot, without prejudice to 2any argument they might raise in a renewed motion to dismiss after the stay is lifted.”
“the Motion is GRANTED. This case shall be remanded to the 17 Alameda County Superior Court.”
“the Court GRANTS the parties’ request for final approval of 4 the Settlement Agreement and awards $958,681.61 in attorneys’ fees”
“the Motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. The 5Court ORDERS that the United States produce:”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
As an initially assigned San Francisco magistrate judge, Spero handles a broad civil mix that includes disability-access, consumer, copyright, employment and education civil-rights, immigration, public-records, admiralty, cargo, and foreclosure matters. His caseload also reflects substantial settlement and consent-case work. The durations measure filing to termination, not motion-to-ruling time.
Pending matters in the official report
Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.
| Motions pending more than six months | 7 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 7 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 7 | 7 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 4 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2024 | 1 | 3 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 6 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2022 | 1 | 8 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 7 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 13 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 8 |
| Sep 2020 | 4 | 5 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the Northern District of California, not for Judge Spero: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 6,017 | 7.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 2,955 | 5.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,978 | 7.6 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 1,052 | 15 months |
| Closed during trial | 32 | 36.9 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 6,017 | 7.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 9,248 | 20.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 5,452 | 7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 9,464 | 11.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 6,437 | 6.3 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,881 | 11.4 months |
| Sep 2019 | 5,640 | 8.7 months |
The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).
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