As the name and subject matter of this blog would suggest, we here at Farrell Fritz are big fans of the Commercial Division. It’s where we practice. It’s what we know.
After all, we’ve been reporting on decisions coming out the Com Div on this and our other blogs for more than a decade – including in a post from way back in 2008, which urged New York commercial litigators to Get Thee to the Commercial Division!, in large part because of “the business-law expertise of its judges,” and because “the ability to tap such expertise, and to achieve a relatively fast resolution, is particularly useful to business owners.”
Last month, the Commercial Division Advisory Council issued a report entitled The Benefits of the Commercial Division to the State of New York, which, according to the Com Div’s What’s New news feed, explains how “the Commercial Division has made the business litigation process in New York more cost effective, predictable and expeditious, and has thereby provided a more hospitable and attractive environment for business litigation in New York State.”
The Advisory Council’s report, itself, highlights a number of benefits of the Com Div to New York and its business community, including but not limited to attracting and retaining businesses to the state; generating tax revenues; providing jobs; and … wait for it … generating revenue for the NY legal community and its supporting vendors and suppliers.
The report notes how the Com Div promotes efficiency and productivity by reducing the amount of time and resources NY businesses spend on resolving disputes, and – apropos of the case-reporting we do here at New York Commercial Division Practice – how the Com Div benefits the NY business community by “developing a body of New York commercial law which enables businesses to predict the legal consequences of their business decisions and to thereby avoid having to go to court in the first place.”
Business-court benefits such as these have led to widespread expansion of such courts across the United States, Europe, and beyond. The Advisory Council’s report notes that since the inception of such courts in only three U.S. states in the mid-1990’s, more than 25 states now boast specialized business tribunals. Countries like Canada, England, Ireland, France, and the Netherlands have followed suit, generating robust competition at both the national and international level to attract complex commercial litigation and, in turn, revenue-generating businesses to one’s own locale.
According to the Advisory Council, this courtroom competitiveness “confirms the need, importance, and urgency of a thriving Commercial Division within the New York State Court system.” Put another way, “New York needs to compete with these other governmental entities if it is to continue to attract and retain businesses in New York.”
To be sure, we here at Farrell Fritz and New York Commercial Division Practice will continue to do our part in singing the praises and promoting the bona fides of the Commercial Division. We urge our fellow commercial practitioners to do the same.
And so we say again: Get thee to the Commercial Division!