The 2022 Annual Report for the New York State Unified Court System includes a section on the Commercial Division. A link to the portion discussing the Commercial Division can be found here. The full report can be found at https://www.nycourts.gov/legacyPDFS/22_UCS-Annual_Report.pdf.
Here are some excerpts from the annual report’s summary of the Commercial Division’s 2022 activities, including a large number of rule changes proposed by the Commercial Division Advisory Council that were adopted by the court:
The Commercial Division features judges with commercial law expertise who are familiar with complex contract concepts, securities (including derivatives and other specialty instruments) and business organizations (including numerous international structures), and who have a sophisticated understanding of globalization, international trade and application of laws of foreign jurisdictions, when required. It embraces advanced courtroom technology for trials, provides for efficient resolution of discovery disputes and offers accelerated adjudication.
Through the work of the Commercial Division Advisory Council—a committee of commercial practitioners, corporate in-house counsel and jurists devoted to the Division’s excellence—the Commercial Division has functioned as an incubator, becoming a recognized leader in court system innovation, and demonstrating an unparalleled creativity and flexibility in development of rules and practices.
In 2022, the Commercial Division adopted new procedural rules proposed by the Advisory Council on mandatory settlement conferences; discovery of electronically stored information; proportionality and reasonableness; early case assessment disclosures and analysis; electronic submission of papers; statements of material facts in connection with summary judgment motions; interlineation of responsive pleadings; use of remote appearance technology to avoid adjournments of conferences; the form of motion papers; information on cases; and settlements and discontinuances.
Thanks to Business Court pioneer Robert L. Haig for bringing the annual report to my attention.
I have previously posted on many changes to the Commercial Division’s rules in 2022, including a post on mandatory settlement conferences (linked here), and posts on the other rule changes and 2022 Commercial Division events, which you can find here.
