Will Coronavirus Push New York’s Courts Out of the Colonial Era? (Updated!)
Tweet Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks of the Courts of New York State delivers testimony during a joint legislative budget hearing on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. (Photo/Hans Pennink) [Huge update at the end as NY suspends new jury trials, both civil and criminal] New York’s Chief Administrative Judge, Lawrence K. Marks, issued a memo late Thursday to the judicial system about procedures to deal with COVID-19. Short story, the courts are still open and there is no suspension of jury trials. Yet. But there’s a tantalizing morsel I want to discuss. There are the six paragraphs, of which I will deal only with the 5th. Because it deals with procedures to reduce attorney traffic inside the courts: (1) Intro; (2…
A Lawyers’ Listserv Gets SCOTUS Recognition
Sign inside the Supreme Court on Tuesday. It came as a shock to everyone in our informal listserv group that was sworn in on Tuesday to the Supreme Court bar. When we entered the building, we were asked what group we were from. Ummm, each of us stuttered, a group of trial lawyers from New York organized by Jay Breakstone? “You guys the Rogues?” Holy shit! The SCOTUS marshals and clerks knew the jokey name of our informal listserv!? No way! We were at first startled and flabbergasted, then astounded and amazed. Our little group of 28 New York personal injury lawyers, plaintiffs-side only, walked up the interior stairs of the Court, following those clerks and marshals, who all knew we were “the Rogues,…