Nina Shapirshteyn

Judge Shapirshteyn hears Law & Motion on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. To schedule a hearing date for motions in non-complex cases, please check the Court's web site. Please do not contact Department 11 directly to schedule a hearing date.

Parties must comply with Local Rule 3.700 regarding mandatory Informal Discovery Conference (“IDC”) before filing a discovery motion. All IDCs are conducted by the Case Management Judicial Officer. To schedule an IDC, please check please check the Court's web site. Please do not contact Department 11 to schedule an IDC in a non-complex case. Only the Case Management Judicial Officer can schedule an IDC.

Counsel and parties may appear remotely. Remote hearings are conducted by videoconference using Zoom. (See instructions on Zoom below.)

Continuances or Advances of a law and motion matter. Please see Local Rule 3.404(b).

For all law and motion matters, the court will post tentative rulings and follow the procedures set forth in San Mateo County Superior Court Local Rule 3.403.

For more information on tentative rulings, see Civil Law & Motion Tentative Rulings | Superior Court of California | County of San Mateo.

In accordance with Local Rule 3.801, the Initial Case Management Conference in every non-complex civil case is conducted by the Case Management Judicial Officer, not your assigned Judge.

Judge Shapirshteyn holds her TSC/CMCs on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. Lead trial counsel must attend the Conference.

Judge Shapirshteyn requires that the parties file a Joint Trial Setting/Case Management Conference Statement.

Following the setting of the trial, pretrial conference, and mandatory settlement conference dates, the Court will issue a Pretrial Order. The Pretrial Order will be similar to the standard Pretrial Orders included on this web page for non-complex cases under the heading: "Standard Dept. 11 Orders." The Court strongly advises all parties to review the Pretrial Order issued by the Court in your case carefully and to comply with all of its requirements.

Judge Shapirshteyn will issue an initial case management order with the following provisions in all of her complex civil cases: CMC Order for COMPLEX Cases. Please check the order first before contacting the Court with any questions.

Department 11 strongly prefers to be contacted by email. As noted in the Initial Case Management Order, all emails in complex cases to Department 11 should be sent to both dept11@sanmatecourt.org and complexcivil@sanmateocourt.org.

For all complex cases in Department 11, please include the following information in the "subject line" header of the email: (1) case name; (2) case number; (3) "Shapirshteyn," and (4) a brief description of the purpose of the email. For example: Smith v. Jones, CIV1234, Shapirshteyn, Proposed Order.

Judge Shapirshteyn holds Law & Motion and Case Management Conferences in her complex cases on Thursday mornings. To schedule a hearing on a motion or a case management conference in a complex case, please contact Department 11 directly by email at both dept11@sanmatecourt.org and complexcivil@sanmateocourt.org. Please do NOT contact the Civil Clerk's Office. Judge Shapirshteyn does the scheduling for all of her complex cases herself.

Following each TSC/CMC, Judge Shapirshteyn will typically order one of the parties to prepare a written order consistent with the Court's rulings at the Conference.

When Judge Shapirshteyn orders a party to prepare a written order, that party should e-file the order. The party should also email the order in Word format to Department 11 at Dept11@sanmateocourt.org. That email must include the other parties.

The party preparing the order must comply with Rule 3.1312 of the California Rules of Court. Judge Shapirshteyn will reject proposed orders that do not inform her of the opposing party's response, if any, to the proposed order. The party preparing the written order must make a good faith effort to meet and confer with the other parties about the order before submitting it to the Court.

Under Local Rule 3.500(d), "[e]x parte applicants and opponents must appear IN PERSON, subject to the exceptions set forth in CRC Rule 3.1207."

To obtain ex parte relief, the applicant must bring the application and any supporting papers and any copies to be "endorsed filed" to the courtroom at the time of the hearing. The application may NOT be efiled, and the Clerk's Office will NOT accept ex parte applications for filing.

The Applicant MUST inform Judge Shapirshteyn, preferably by email, if there will be an opposition and when that opposition will be filed.

The applicant MUST provide a proposed order or the application will be denied. (See Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1201.) The parties should email their application or opposition, and any supporting papers, and the proposed order AS SOON AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE to the Court at Dept11@sanmateocourt.org or hand deliver the documents to Department 11 at the Northern Courthouse located at 1050 Mission Road, South San Francisco. The proposed order should be provided in Word format if possible.

Central and Northern Courthouse

Parties may pay their Central or Northern Ex-Parte Fees by phone with a Credit or Debit card. Payments in the form of a check can be submitted directly to the Courtroom Clerk.

To pay by phone please dial 650-261-5100, select Option "0" and enter extension 7243 to be connected to a clerk to process your payment.

Judge Shapirshteyn hears ex partes on Thursdays and Fridays at 1:30 p.m. but the preference is for Friday. ALL PARTIES MUST APPEAR IN PERSON FOR EX PARTES.

If the matter is urgent and requires an immediate hearing, please contact Department 11 preferably by email at Dept11@sanmateocourt.org or by phone.

All MSCs for civil cases singly assigned to Department 11 will be conducted by a different civil direct calendar judge. Please contact your MSC judge to find out whether that judge will be requiring in person appearances.

All parties and their counsel — including insurance carriers’ representatives — must be present either in person or by Zoom unless Judge Shapirshteyn has expressly excused a party, counsel, or representative.

For civil cases in which Judge Shapirshteyn is conducting the MSC, the MSC will be held by Zoom, unless otherwise required by Judge Shapirshteyn.

Judge Shapirshteyn typically schedules a pretrial conference on a Wednesday or Friday at least two (2) weeks before the trial date in her unlimited civil cases that require a jury trial. For court trials, Judge Shapirshteyn may schedule the pretrial conference closer to the trial date. Lead trial counsel for all parties MUST appear at the pretrial conference, and all appearances at the pretrial conference MUST be IN PERSON unless otherwise ordered by Judge Shapirshteyn. If the parties do not believe that a pretrial conference is necessary, they must explain why in their Joint Trial Setting/Case Management Conference Statement.

Any requests for continuance of a trial date made within 90 days of the scheduled trial date may NOT be made through a stipulation and MUST, instead, comply with rule 3.1332 of the California Rules of Court.