William E. Fitzpatrick
How Judge Fitzpatrick rules, drawn from 2 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Fitzpatrick
William E. Fitzpatrick has served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Alexandria Division of the Eastern District of Virginia since May 9, 2022. He graduated from Saint Joseph’s University in 1990 and the Catholic University Columbus School of Law in 1993. Before joining the bench, he served as a federal prosecutor in Virginia and New Jersey.
Judge Fitzpatrick's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Fitzpatrick's own (checked October 29, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
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 9, 2026).
How Judge Fitzpatrick decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Microsoft’s cloud-service abuse suit, Fitzpatrick recommended a permanent injunction after default judgment to preserve relief previously granted through a preliminary injunction.
“Courts in this District routinely grant permanent injunctive relief upon entry of default judgment in order to preserve relief granted in prior preliminary injunction orders.”
Procedural preferences
In Boyne v. Kincaid, Fitzpatrick recommended denying a fee-waiver request with prejudice after finding that the plaintiff repeatedly refused to provide financial information the court had requested.
“For these reasons, the undersigned finds that Plaintiff’s refusal to provide necessary financial information after being given repeated opportunities and clear instructions by the Court was willful”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Accordingly, the undersigned recommends the Court deny Plaintiff’s Third IFP Motion (Dkt. 10) with prejudice.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the undersigned recommends: 1) GRANTING Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgment (Dkt. No. 64);”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Six selected civil cases produced signed outcomes; seventeen of the twenty-nine docket motions came from one commercial case.
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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 3 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
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 Eastern District of Virginia, not for Judge Fitzpatrick: 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 | 3,011 | 5.6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,204 | 5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,299 | 4.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 493 | 8.9 months |
| Closed during trial | 15 | 19.3 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 3,011 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,613 | 5.3 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,194 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,134 | 6.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,152 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,860 | 6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,267 | 5.9 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 Fitzpatrick with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Fitzpatrick, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Grounded in Judge Fitzpatrick's own signed orders
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace