Hon. Jed S. Rakoff.
Southern District of New York.

Who Is Judge Rakoff?

Jed S. Rakoff is a senior United States district judge in the Southern District of New York, one of the busiest and most closely watched federal trial courts in the country. He has sat in the Southern District since 1996 and took senior status at the end of 2010, continuing to hear a full docket at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse at 500 Pearl Street in lower Manhattan.

Before taking the bench he practiced for many years as a litigator and served as a federal prosecutor in the same district. On the bench he has become widely known in the civil bar for his written opinions in complex commercial, securities, and business litigation, and for a willingness to scrutinize matters closely rather than defer automatically to the parties. He also writes and lectures extensively and has taught at Columbia Law School.

For an out-of-state attorney with a civil matter assigned to Judge Rakoff, the practical point is simple: this is a demanding federal part with detailed individual practices, and appearing here effectively requires New York federal admission or local counsel who has one.

The Civil Docket Before This Judge

Like every district judge in the Southern District of New York, Judge Rakoff presides over a mixed federal docket. For civil litigators, that docket is the heart of the matter: breach of contract and commercial disputes, securities and shareholder litigation, business torts, and the full range of federal civil claims that come through the Southern District. (Federal district judges also carry criminal matters as part of the same mixed docket; those are outside the scope of this guide, which is written for civil practitioners.)

Judge Rakoff is perhaps best known in the civil bar for his securities and enforcement rulings. In SEC v. Citigroup Global Markets, he declined in 2011 to approve a proposed $285 million consent settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and a major bank, questioning whether a court should rubber-stamp a settlement without an adequate factual basis. The Second Circuit ultimately disagreed with that approach and reversed in 2014, but the episode is a fair illustration of how this part operates: the court reads the papers, asks hard questions, and does not treat an agreed disposition as automatically final.

The takeaway for counsel is preparation. A civil appearance in this part should assume substantive questioning on the merits and strict adherence to the judge's individual rules, not a routine calendar call.

Out-of-State Attorney with a Matter Before Judge Rakoff?

If you are admitted in another state and have a civil case assigned to Judge Rakoff, you will generally need to be admitted pro hac vice and to associate local counsel who is a member of the bar of the Southern District of New York. The Law Office of Frederic R. Abramson serves as pro hac vice sponsoring and local counsel for out-of-state attorneys in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Fred Abramson has been admitted to the SDNY and EDNY since 1997 and has practiced in New York's courts for 28 years.

Browse the full Southern District of New York judges directory and the Eastern District of New York judges directory, or return to our civil litigation overview.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This page is an independent reference guide and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York or Judge Rakoff. The Law Office of Frederic R. Abramson, 160 Broadway, Suite 500, New York, NY 10038. 212-233-0666.

Court rules and procedures change frequently. Information on this page is for general reference only and may not reflect the most current rules. Verify all information against the judge's Individual Rules of Practice and with the Clerk of Court before your appearance.