In certain situations, plaintiffs have the choice between filing their claims in state or federal court. In other situations, defendants may have an option to remove the case to federal court. Many attorneys prefer state court due to the more relaxed nature of proceedings and longer time limits. However, longer time limits also increase the cost of litigation as additional time usually results in additional motion practice, response extensions and many other delays.

While most federal courts proceed faster than the local state court, the Eastern District of Virginia, acquired the nickname of the “rocket docket” for a reason – it is consistently one of the fastest arenas to try a case in the United States. Speed can be a major advantage for plaintiffs, because they have time to prepare their case before they commence the legal action, whereas defendants will be time crunched from the start. For plaintiffs, simply proceeding in the rocket docket can greatly increase the likelihood of a fast settlement because defendants simply run out of time to build a competent defense.