Naomi Reice Buchwald
How Judge Buchwald rules, drawn from 27 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Buchwald
Naomi Reice Buchwald is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Buchwald received a commission on September 22, 1999. Judge Buchwald assumed senior status on March 21, 2012.
Judge Buchwald's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Buchwald, 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
Contacting chambers
Email chambers a courtesy copy when filing a letter on ECF.
“Simultaneously with the ECF filing of a letter a courtesy copy must be emailed to [email protected]. Failure to promptly furnish a courtesy copy to”
Filing
Submit two collated courtesy copies of motion papers promptly after ECF filing.
“6. Courtesy Copies. Two courtesy copies of all motion papers, marked as such, shall be submitted to Chambers promptly after filing via ECF. Courtesy copies shall be bound or otherwise collated.”
Motions
Most civil motions require a pre-motion conference, subject to the practices’ listed exceptions.
“B. Pre-Motion Conferences in Civil Cases. A pre-motion conference is required before making any motion, except for motions to be brought on by an order to show cause, motions by incarcerated pro se litigants, motions for reargument, motions to remand, applications to be relieved as counsel, motions for relief from judgment, motions to vacate or confirm an arbitral award, or any other motion required by the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure or the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to be made by a time certain (see list below). The filing of a request for”
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).
- Amended Standing Order on Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- Second Amended Standing Order on Civil Case Opening ↗
- Amended Standing Order on Miscellaneous Civil Case Opening ↗
- Standing Order on Applications to File a Civil Case Under Seal ↗
- Standing Order on Emergency Relief and Section 2255 Filing Procedures ↗
- Notice on Immigration Custody Habeas Petitions and Emergency Relief ↗
How Judge Buchwald decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In In re Complete Management Inc. Securities Litigation, Buchwald denied five motions to dismiss the securities-fraud complaint. She found that the complaint adequately pleaded a strong inference of scienter against the individual defendants and rejected the other pleading challenges addressed in the opinion.
“For the foregoing reasons, defendants' motions to dismiss the complaint are denied.”
In Tsurenko v. WTA Tour, Incorporated, Judge Buchwald enforced liability waivers in the player's membership documents, finding that repeated take-it-or-leave-it execution alone did not make them unconscionable.
“However, that alone does not render the contract unconscionable.”
Procedural preferences
In Messina v. Local 1199 SEIU, Judge Buchwald granted a combined dismissal and summary judgment motion on some claims but deferred fact-dependent contract and retaliation issues where discovery had not yet been taken.
“However, defendants have not made an argument for preemption, and given the absence of any discovery and therefore our limited information with respect to the terms of the contracts at issue, we decline to address the issue of preemption at this time.”
Cautions
In Miller v. Fiverr, Inc., Judge Buchwald dismissed consumer-deception claims after finding the platform itemized the precise service fee and total before the buyers agreed to pay.
“Given the marketplace setting, the ‘From’ and ‘Starting at’ language, the advance disclosure of the fee and its calculation, and, most importantly, the clear itemization of the precise fee and total before the buyer actually agrees to payment, the Court concludes that it is not.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, defendants' motions to dismiss the complaint are denied.”
“For the foregoing reasons, defendant's motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Defendants have moved to dismiss the Amended Complaint for failure to state a claim. For the following reasons, defendants' motion is granted in part and denied in part.”
“For the reasons set forth above, (1) Citi's motion seeking to hold HCM jointly and severally liable for any judgment awarded against CDO Fund is denied; (2) Highland's motion to dismiss HCM is granted; and (3) Citi's motion seeking to hold CDO Fund liable on Citi's counterclaims is granted.”
“For the reasons stated above, TOPS' motion for summary judgment is granted as to Charley's hostile work environment claim brought pursuant to Section 1981, and the remaining claims are dismissed without prejudice.”
“For the reasons stated above, defendants' motion to dismiss is granted as to Counts Two, Five (as to defendant Foster), and Seven and denied as to Counts One and Six.”
“Asia TV's motion is granted in part and denied in part and ZEEL's motion is granted in part and denied in part. The following Counts are dismissed: Seven, Eight, Ten, Fifteen, Eighteen, and Nineteen. Paragraphs 37 through 39 of the complaint are to be stricken. Plaintiff should file an amended complaint consistent with this Memorandum and Order within two weeks.”
“Accordingly, plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part.”
“For the above reasons, defendants' motions to dismiss are granted. This Memorandum and Order resolves Docket Nos. 34 and 37, and the Clerk of the Court is directed to dismiss the action.”
“For the foregoing reasons, defendants' motion to dismiss is granted. This Memorandum and Order resolves Docket No. 31, and the Clerk of the Court is directed to dismiss the action.”
“For the foregoing reasons, plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction is denied.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the defendants' motion is granted in part and denied in part. Plaintiffs' claims for injunctive and declaratory relief related to the prevailing wage charges and funds withheld as a result of those charges are dismissed. The remainder of the claims are stayed pending the conclusion of the Article 78 proceeding and any subsequent appeal.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- As a senior judge (since 2012) she carries a reduced but varied docket.
- The visible terminated/recent slice spans securities and commodities suits (several short-lived stockholder actions consolidated under a lead-plaintiff order), bankruptcy appeals, commercial-contract and insurance-coverage disputes, and, in the 2021-2022 COVID era, a cluster of New York City employee vaccine-mandate civil-rights cases.
- Reflects a sampled slice, not a tenure-wide caseload.
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 | 0 |
| 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 | 10 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 10 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 45 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 49 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 50 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 50 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 50 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 56 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 56 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 48 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 19 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 35 |
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 Southern District of New York, not for Judge Buchwald: 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 | 9,565 | 5.6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,749 | 3.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 6,416 | 5.1 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 1,313 | 14.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 87 | 51.7 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 9,565 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 10,695 | 6.4 months |
| Sep 2023 | 10,316 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2022 | 11,818 | 6.1 months |
| Sep 2021 | 10,662 | 5.7 months |
| Sep 2020 | 10,118 | 6.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 11,357 | 6.6 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).
Draft for Judge Buchwald with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Buchwald, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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