Report on the proposed adoption of a new Rule of the Commercial Division (22 NYCRR § 202.70(g)) which relates to privilege log practice in the Commercial Division of the NYS Supreme Court

SUMMARY

The Council on Judicial Administration provided comments on the proposed adoption of a new Rule of the Commercial Division (22 NYCRR § 202.70(g)) relating to privilege log practice in the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court. Though the report expresses general support for the new rule, which would allow litigants to streamline privilege log practice by establishing a preference in the Commercial Division for use of categorical designations rather than document-by-document logging, it does offer two suggested modifications. The first modification would make clear that a certification signed by any attorney acting on behalf of the producing party’s law firm binds both the attorney and the firm. The second would add the requirement that if the requesting party refuses to permit a categorical approach, it must provide the producing party with its reason in writing within five days after the refusal.