You may have recently read on this blog that “vacating an arbitration award is an uphill battle.” As my colleague Hamutal G. Lieberman discussed, there are only two instances when an arbitration award may be vacated: (1) instances involving fraud, corruption or misconduct of the arbitrators or (2) where an arbitration award exhibits
Keeping Up With the Commercial Division: Statewide “Presumptive ADR” System for all Civil Cases
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
New York, Not Swiss Law Applies to Lawsuit Over “Stolen” $40M Princie Diamond
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
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
Law firm’s “no poaching” agreement escapes judicial review, and heads to arbitration
Neil 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
Back to Basics: Long-Arm Statute 101
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
Don’t Forward Away Your Attorney Client Privilege
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,
Want to File Under Seal? Here’s the Deal
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
Too Little Too Late: An Example of the Failure of CPLR 306(b)’s Safety Net
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 102: Make Sure Your “Money Instrument” Is In Tune With CPLR 3213
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