The New York Commercial Division continues to be a beacon of innovation with a recent amendment to ComDiv Rule 6, now requiring bookmarking and hyperlinking within briefs and affidavits filed with the court. The amendment is no doubt welcome news to an overburdened (and underbudgeted) court system already well-known for its efficient administration of
Matthew D. Donovan
ComDiv Rule 1 Amended: Request to Appear Remotely, Avoid Infection, and Save Your Clients a Buck
To be sure, much has been reported on here at New York Commercial Division Practice concerning Commercial Division innovation — including in the areas of courtroom technology and, more recently, in adapting to the “new norm” of virtual practice in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we observed a few months back, the…
Bidding Adieu to Another Manhattan Commercial Division Justice
The Manhattan Commercial Division lost a gem of a jurist last month when Governor Cuomo appointed Justice Saliann Scarpulla to a seat on the bench of the Appellate Division, First Department. Good for her, to be sure. But many of us ComDiv practitioners will be sorry to see her go.
Justice Scarpulla, after all,…
The Virtual Practice of Law Is Becoming More Real Than Virtual
At this point, after nearly three months of practicing law virtually from home, I think it’s fair to say that what was once novel and experimental has become a kind of new norm for the future.
Sure, state courts in New York, including the Commercial Division, have been returning slowly-but-surely to in-person operations over the…
How New York Courts Are Navigating the Coronavirus Crisis
A few weeks back, my colleague Chris Clarke reported on the response of the New York court system to the commercial chaos arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, including in the court system generally, the Appellate Division, and of course, the Commercial Division.
Among other developments, Chris’s post highlighted Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks’s…
Note to ComDiv Practitioners: There’s Teeth Behind Them Thar Rules
As readers of this blog know by now, we here at New York Commercial Division Practice frequently post on new, proposed, and/or amended rules of practice in the Commercial Division. Just last month, for example, my colleague Viktoriya Liberchuk posted on the Advisory Council’s recent proposal to amend ComDiv Rule 6 (“Form of Papers”) to…
Upgrading to Commercial Division 2.0 (Part III): ICT Comes to Queens County
*** Attention all Queens County commercial litigators: If you have a case before Judge Grays, be sure to bring an HDMI cable and a USB drive with you to court from now on! ***
One of the themes that we’ve developed on this blog over the years has been the implementation of technology in the…
What the Commercial Division Has Done for Us Lately
As the name and subject matter of this blog would suggest, we here at Farrell Fritz are big fans of the Commercial Division. It’s where we practice. It’s what we know.
After all, we’ve been reporting on decisions coming out the Com Div on this and our other blogs for more than a decade –…
Upgrading to Commercial Division 2.0 (Part II)
Luddites beware! If you’ve been reluctant to introduce technology into the way you practice law, the Commercial Division may soon leave you behind.
Here at New York Commercial Division Practice we regularly report on technological developments in the Commercial Division. Earlier this year, for example, we reported on the technological proclivities of newly-appointed Manhattan Commercial…
When Summary Doesn’t Mean Summary: Getting a Second Bite at Summary Judgment
There is a general policy in New York against allowing multiple or successive motions for summary judgment. And it stands to reason. After all, the word “summary,” from the Latin summa (as in Thomas Aquinas), refers to the essence, epitome, or totality of a thing; to a comprehensive statement that captures the whole, often…