Proposed Adoption of New Rule Relating to Staggered Appearances in the Commercial Division

Pamela L. Gallagher
Co-Chair
Brian D. Graifman
Co-Chair
Supreme Court Committee

May 28, 2014

 

Proposed adoption of new rule relating to Staggered Appearances in the Commercial Division

 

The Supreme Court Committee reviewed the Office of Court Administration (“OCA”) proposal regarding the adoption of a new rule that would assign a time slot to each appearance in the Commercial Division.

 

A majority of members of the Supreme Court Committee at our meeting on May 20, 2014 voted in favor of the proposal following a presentation by members of the Commercial Division Advisory Council.

 

The new rule would assign a specific time slot for oral argument to take place before a Commercial Division Justice, rather than require all cases to appear at a single calendar call.

 

Those who have appeared before Commercial Division Justices who already stagger their appearances spoke favorably of the increased efficiency of those calendars. A concern noted was that the requirement that each attorney in a case notify all others of the assigned time slot could result in a significant duplication of effort, particularly in multi-party cases in which all attorneys have in fact received notification from the court.