Commercial Division Approves a New Model Preliminary Conference Form

Earlier this month, New York’s Chief Administrative Judge signed an Administrative Order approving a new model preliminary conference form for use in the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court. The new form is part of an ongoing effort to make the Commercial Division more efficient and less costly for parties. It was drafted, shaped, and revised with input from the state’s commercial litigation bar. Its primary objectives include clarifying and streamlining the discovery framework and encouraging a greater degree of uniformity within the Commercial Division. In particular, the new form includes:

• A section devoted to the parties’ expected use of alternative dispute resolution.
• A section on the expected use of privilege logs and redactions in e-discovery.
• Greater detail regarding how litigants will implement a confidentiality order, without which commercial cases typically cannot proceed.

Use of the new form, which becomes effective on June 2, 2014, is entirely optional, but it is worthy of close consideration by practitioners and judges alike.