New York is continuously working to advance the delivery and quality of civil justice in this state. We recently discussed the technological developments in New York State Commercial Division courtrooms and a few months ago we discussed the increasingly-codified perspective of Commercial Division Justices to encourage junior attorneys to play a larger role in the

In a recent decision by the New York County Commercial Division (Borrok, J.), the Court held that New York law, not Swiss law, applies to a dispute involving the ownership of the storied Princie Diamond – an extremely rare and valuable 34.65 carat pink diamond quarried from the legendary Golconda mines of India.  In a

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

Dismissal of Malpractice CaseNeil Sedaka was right.   “Breaking up is hard to do.”   It’s no easier for law firms.  The saga over the departure of key partners from Quinn Emanuel continues, but this time in arbitration, not the courts.

Justice Saliann Scarpulla was faced with a motion by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP to dismiss

Reflecting on your first year of law school, you begrudgingly remember learning about personal jurisdiction and the long-arm statute. As a commercial litigator, one of your first questions in representing a defendant should be: Does this court have jurisdiction over my client? If the answer to that question is no, then of course, you

The attorney-client privilege is intended to protect communications between an attorney and his/her client.  The Supreme Court stated that the privilege exists to “encourage full and frank communication between attorneys and their clients and thereby promote broader public interests in the observance of law and administration of justice.” See Upjohn Co. v. United States,

To the uninitiated litigant, filing documents containing private, potentially embarrassing information under seal might seem like it should be easy and straightforward, especially if the opposing party has agreed to treat the document (or information contained therein) as confidential. In fact, however, New York courts typically will only grant motions to seal in narrow circumstances

A commercial division litigator knows the severity of missing a statutory deadline. We discuss the implications of missing statutory deadlines here. CPLR 306(b) is unique in that it provides a statutory deadline for service of process, yet also provides a bit of a safety net for practitioners. However, in his recent decision in Plank,

Summary judgment plays an important role in litigation.  So important, in fact, that many of our blog posts are devoted to the topic.  Last week, my colleague Matthew Donovan discussed the policy against allowing successive summary judgment motions.  A few weeks prior to that, in Summary Judgment 101, I discussed the basic, yet

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