
As recently highlighted by my colleagues, the Commercial Division Advisory Council (“Advisory Council”) has been hard at work striving to implement and amend certain rules and regulations to enhance practice in the Commercial Division. One recent proposal that may catch practitioners’ eyes is the potential addition of Commercial Division Rule 23: a rule designed to govern the filing of amicus curiae briefs.
Amicus curiae or “friend of the court” briefs are used by non-parties, usually in federal appellate cases, who want to assist a court on issues in which they may have an interest. Typically, amicus curiae briefs are allowed if they assist a court in analyzing an issue or argument that a party to the action is not able to fully and adequately present (see 22 NYCRR § 500.23 [a] [4]).
But amicus curiae brief filings in a state trial court, you say? Yes, you read that right. Despite the scarcity of such filings, the Advisory Council’s proposal attempts to introduce Rule 23 “given [the ComDiv’s] docket of sophisticated and often far-reaching commercial and business litigation.”Continue Reading You Got a Friend in Me: Commercial Division Seeks to Adopt New Rule Governing the Filing of Amicus Curiae Briefs