The motivation behind the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit’s proposed rule change to replace an 11:59:59 p.m. electronic filing deadline with 5 p.m. is to improve the work-life balance of attorneys and their staff, who under the current regime may be required to work late into the night when a major Third Circuit filing is due.

As I mentioned in last month’s installment of my column harshly criticizing this proposed rule change, I am not someone who enjoys working late into the evening finalizing an appellate brief on its due date, nor do I find myself in that situation except for when it has proved absolutely unavoidable.