Philip Morgan Halpern
How Judge Halpern rules, drawn from 23 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Halpern
Philip Morgan Halpern is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Halpern received a commission on February 21, 2020.
Judge Halpern's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Halpern, 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.
- Civil Case Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order ↗
- Individual Practices in Civil Cases ↗
- Model Confidentiality Stipulation and Proposed Protective Order ↗
Key rules
Filing
Do not send ECF courtesy copies except for the specified pleadings, motions, pretrial submissions, and bankruptcy appeals.
“H. Courtesy Copies. Except as expressly indicated herein concerning marked pleadings, motions, pre-trial submissions, and bankruptcy appeals, do not provide courtesy copies of documents filed via ECF.”
Motions
Most motions require a pre-motion conference, subject to the listed exceptions.
“C. Pre-Motion Conference. A pre-motion conference is required prior to the filing of any motion, except in pro se cases, post-judgment motions, motions for reargument or reconsideration, motions for admission pro hac vice, motions for attorneys’ fees, motions for remand, motions to appoint lead plaintiff and lead defense counsel in class actions, objections to Magistrate Judges’ rulings, motions for sanctions, motions to withdraw as counsel, in forma pauperis motions, petitions to confirm or compel arbitration, or where a delay in filing might result in the loss of a right.”
Conferences
Adjournment and extension requests must be filed as ECF letter-motions and ordinarily at least 48 hours before the deadline.
“C. Requests for Adjournments or Extensions of Time. All requests for adjournments or extensions of time shall be made in writing and filed on ECF as letter-motions in accordance with Rule 1(B) above. The letter-motion shall state: (1) the original date(s);”
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 Halpern decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Lee v. Golaszewski, Judge Halpern granted summary judgment because the record lacked proof of an agreement to form a partnership or joint venture and raised no genuine dispute on the claims' essential elements.
“Dispositive proof of an agreement to form a partnership/joint venture is utterly lacking and the evidence in the record fails to create a genuine dispute of material fact as to the indispensable elements of the claims.”
Procedural preferences
In Yak v. BiggerPockets, L.L.C., Judge Halpern dismissed a trade secret complaint because the plaintiff had not pleaded a prima facie basis for personal jurisdiction under New York's long-arm statute.
“Plaintiff has not pled facts suggesting prima facie personal jurisdiction over Defendants pursuant to N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 302(a)(3)(ii).”
In Doe v. King, Judge Halpern denied the plaintiff's reconsideration motion as untimely, although he denied the defendants' underlying motion to dismiss in the same order.
“Accordingly, Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration is denied as untimely.”
Cautions
In one wage case, the judge required evidence linking an inaccurate wage statement to a concrete downstream injury before allowing that claim to proceed. Explain the harm caused by the statement itself.
“Here, Burgard has failed to connect Defendant’s lack of accurate wage statements to her downstream harm—not receiving all the overtime payments for which she was due.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Based upon the foregoing, Defendant's motion to dismiss the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Claims for Relief is GRANTED.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint is GRANTED.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
“the motion to dismiss is DENIED as to the First Amendment claim for relief. The motion is GRANTED as to all other claims for relief.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss is DENIED.”
“Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration is DENIED.”
“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment (Doc. 79) is GRANTED.”
“SYZ Defendants’ motion to dismiss is GRANTED in part”
“IBC Defendant’s motion to dismiss is GRANTED in part and DENIED”
“strike Doc. 100-8 from the docket but retain the summary docket text for the record.”
“Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
“Defendant’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
“Moving Defendants’ motion to dismiss is DENIED.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss is GRANTED in part and”
“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
A case-level sample of 21 dockets, his first-wave (2020) White Plains assignments, now terminated, a representative early-tenure intake, not a grant context. Mix is heavy on commercial/contract, insurance (including COVID-era business-interruption), patent, product liability, consumer-credit/FDCPA, fraud, employment civil rights, and immigration/habeas.
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 | 11 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 11 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 11 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 13 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 13 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 17 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 19 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 23 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 26 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 33 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 42 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 45 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 39 |
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 Halpern: 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 Halpern with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Halpern, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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