The Commercial and Federal Litigation Section was established in 1988, and Robert L. Haig served as the first chair.  The Section’s Bylaws state:

The purpose of this section is to improve the quality of representation of clients, provide a forum for the improvement of law and procedure and enhance the administration of justice in the areas of commercial and federal litigation.  These purposes are met by:

a) Developing relationships and sharing practice experiences with fellow commercial and federal litigators, state and federal judges, and regulatory and administrative bodies;

b) Establishing committees for the purpose of promoting research, analysis, and discussion on relevant current issues affecting commercial and federal litigation;

c) Influencing and proposing legislation affecting commercial and federal litigation;

d) Developing continuing legal education programs on topics relevant to commercial and federal litigation; and

e) Providing networking opportunities for its members.

Membership in the Section and participation in our events affords litigators a unique opportunity to interact with the judiciary and to keep abreast of developments in our courts.   Judges regularly address our monthly Executive Committee Meetings, and many judges attend our Annual Meeting in January and our destination Spring Meeting in May.  At our Annual Meeting, we confer the Fuld Award on a member of the legal profession who has significantly contributed to the practice of commercial law and litigation in New York.  At our Spring Meeting we confer the Haig Award, named in honor of our first Section Chair, given to a long-standing member of the legal profession who has rendered distinguished public service.  The Section holds Bench and Bar meetings throughout the State to bring our members together with the Judges of the Commercial Divisions and federal District Courts.  Members of the Section typically can meet all of their CLE requirements by attending Section events.

While the Section and its Committees comment on many different issues facing the courts in which we practice, one of our most timely and noted contributions has been the Section’s Social Media Ethics Guidelines.  The Section’s Guidelines have been quoted in opinions by ethical bodies throughout the nation and have been widely followed by other bar associations.

The Section has been integrally involved with the establishment of the Commercial Division in New York Supreme Courts around the state, and with the development of rules of practice in the Commercial Divisions.  Justices assigned to Commercial parts regularly participate in our meetings and events.

The Section is committed to diversity and inclusion.  The Section’s Women’s Initiative Task Force has authored two ground-breaking reports about women attorneys in New York State courtrooms.  In 2017, the Task Force published “If Not Now, When? Achieving Equity in the Courtroom and in ADR,” and in 2020 published “The Time is Now: Achieving Equality for Women Attorneys in the Courtroom and in ADR.”  The leadership of the Section has publicly committed to supporting the recommendations of the Task Force in law firms, in-house legal departments, the judiciary and the public sector.

The Section honors its commitment to diversity and inclusion through awards and scholarships.  Each year, the Section awards the Shira A. Scheindlin Award for Excellence in the Courtroom to a female litigator who has distinguished herself in the courtroom in the Federal or State courts.  The Award is named for our former Section Chair, the Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin (Ret.).  The Section also awards the George Bundy Smith Pioneer Award to recognize legal excellence, community commitment and mentoring. The Section awards the Judith S. Kaye Commercial and Federal Litigation Scholarship to female attorneys who have practiced commercial litigation for between two and ten years and a Diversity Fellowship to a diverse first year law student to work in a litigation position in the public sector.

The Section is particularly interested in involving more young attorneys.  Membership in the Section provides younger attorneys with the opportunity to network with more senior litigators and to meet members of the judiciary in informal settings.  Membership on Section Committees offers younger attorneys the opportunity to work with some of the most noted attorneys in our profession on issues facing litigators in the Commercial and Federal courts of New York.

 

Contact the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Liaison

To learn more about this Section, please contact Simone Smith
ssmith@nysba.org
(518) 487-5593

Please do not contact the Section liaison with a request for legal advice or an attorney referral. You can instead visit our ‘Public Resources’ or ‘Lawyer Referral Service’ page for this type of request.

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Ignatius Grande

Ignatius Grande, Chair

Ignatius A. Grande is Chair of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association.

Ignatius is a Director at Berkeley Research Group, where he advises law firm and corporate clients on issues relating to electronic discovery, computer forensics, and information management for more than 15 years.

He graduated from Yale University, with distinction in Political Science, in 1996, and he graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. After graduating from law school, Ignatius clerked for the Honorable James M. Munley of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He practiced law with both Clifford Chance US LLP and Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, and he served as in-house counsel for Louis Dreyfus Corporation prior to joining Berkeley Research Group (“BRG”).

In his role at BRG, Ignatius works with both law firms and companies to guide them through the eDiscovery and the forensic investigation process. He regularly serves as a neutral forensic examiner in litigation disputes. He serves as an eDiscovery advisor for clients and has represented parties in numerous eDiscovery disputes. He also serves on matters in the role of expert witness, as a mediator, and he serves as a special master in discovery disputes. Ignatius also works with companies on their data privacy practices and advises companies on how they can comply with data privacy laws in the U.S. and abroad. He also performs compliance risk assessments for a variety of clients that address cybersecurity readiness, records retention, and data remediation compliance issues.

In addition to serving as the Chair of the Commercial & Federal Litigation Section, Ignatius is the founding co-chair of the Section’s Social Media Committee. During his term as co-chair of the Section’s Social Media Committee, the committee issued Social Media Ethics Guidelines, which have been quoted and referenced by ethical bodies and bar associations throughout the nation. He is a past president of the New York Metro Association of eDiscovery Specialists (“ACEDS”) chapter, and he teaches a course at St. John’s University School of Law.

In 2004, Ignatius married ToniAnn Ferretti Grande, who is a matrimonial attorney at ToniAnn Grande, PC. Ignatius & ToniAnn live in Forest Hills, and have two children, Peter and Anthony. Ignatius enjoys outdoor activities including skiing, hiking, and running.

Online Community

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Section Publications

NYLitigator – Vol. 28 No. 1

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NYLitigator Archive

The NYLitigator features peer-written substantive articles relating to the practice of commercial and federal litigation on various topics, including discovery; mediation; settlements; corporate liability; and due process. Section Reports, written by various Commercial and Federal Litigation Committees, are often featured in each issue. Edited by Moshe Boroosan of Helbraun Levey, the NYLitigator is published by the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and distributed to Section Members free of charge.

The NYLitigator is published as a benefit for members of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and is copyrighted by the New York State Bar Association.

The NYLitigator encourages article submissions on topics of interest to members of the Section. Writing an article for a NYSBA Section publication is a great way to get your name out in the legal community and advertise your knowledge. Our authors are respected state-wide for their legal expertise in such areas as ADR; settlements; depositions; discovery; and corporate liability.

Submit an article for future publication
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Section Publications

Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Newsletter – Vol. 29 No. 1

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Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Newsletter Archive

The Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Newsletter features updates on Section activities, programs and events; recent legislation; and information about current issues. Edited by Prof. Mark L. Davies, the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Newsletter is published three times per year by the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and distributed to Section members free of charge.

The Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Newsletter is published as a benefit for members of the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and is copyrighted by the New York State Bar Association.

Commercial & Federal Litigation Newsletter Submission Details

  1. Must be submitted in Word.
  2. Must be submitted to the Publications Committee chairs (see below).
  3. Must include a two sentence bio (no longer) at the end.
  4. May include a headshot (JPG or other similar format; usually those downloaded from a website lack sufficient resolution).
  5. Should be about 4 double spaced pages, unless the Committee chair has approved a longer article (typically, either a more substantive article (for example, on new CD rules) or one covering a larger event, like the annual meeting).
  6. Remembering this is a newsletter and not a journal, try to keep footnotes to a minimum, except in a substantive article, and even then probably no more than a dozen.
  7. Pictures must have captions, unless it is a photo spread, e.g., of the annual or spring meeting. Probably the easiest way to give captions is to include in the cover email the number of the picture and the caption, e.g.: “Img21345 – l to r, Justice XX, Section Chair JJ, Program Chairs ABC and XYZ.” That makes it easy to match up the caption with the picture and minimizes the chance of errors.

Newsletter submissions should be sent to the Publications Committee Chairs: Marcella Jayne (mjayne@foley.com) and Katharine Santos (ksantos@almarealty.com)

Author Guidelines

NYSBA has created comprehensive author guidelines, with information regarding our reprint policy, style guidelines, and obtaining MCLE Author Credits.

View the author guidelines
Section Bylaws

Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

 

2022 REPORTS

2021 REPORTS

 

2020 REPORTS

 

2019 REPORTS

 

2018 REPORTS

 

2017 REPORTS

 

2016 REPORTS

 

2015 REPORTS

 

2014 REPORTS

 

2013 REPORTS

 

2012 REPORTS

 

2011 REPORTS

 

2010 REPORTS

 

2009 REPORTS

 

2008 REPORTS

 

2007 REPORTS

 

2006 REPORTS

Commercial & Federal Litigation Section Committee

Awards

For questions regarding awards and scholarships, please contact Simone Smith at ssmith@nysba.org

Full list of Award Recipients

STANLEY H. FULD AWARD

The Stanley H. Fuld Award was created by the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section in honor of the late Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. The Section presents the award annually at its Annual Meeting luncheon in January to recognize outstanding contributions to the development of commercial law and jurisprudence in New York State.

Award Criteria: Member of the legal profession who has significantly contributed to the practice of commercial law and litigation in New York.
Nomination Deadline: September 1
Date Presented: During the Section’s Annual Meeting Program in January

ROBERT L. HAIG AWARD

Award Criteria: Long-Standing member of the legal profession who has rendered distinguished public service.
Nomination Deadline: February 1
Date Presented: The award is presented at the Section’s Spring Meeting

SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE COURTROOM

The Shira A. Scheindlin Award for Excellence in the Courtroom was created by the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section in honor of the Section’s former Chair, who served as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York from September 1994 through April 2016. Prior to serving as a United States District Judge, Judge Scheindlin served as a Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York, an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the general counsel for the New York City Department of Investigation and a commercial litigator in private practice.

The Section will present the Award annually in November, on or around the date when women received the right to vote in New York State in 1917. The Award will be given to a female litigator who has distinguished herself in the courtroom in either the Federal or State Courts in New York and who has shown a commitment to mentoring young attorneys in the legal community.
Date Presented: November

GEORGE BUNDY SMITH PIONEER

Award Criteria: The award recognizes lawyers who demonstrate commitment to legal excellence, community service and mentoring.
Date Presented: The award is presented at the Section’s Smooth Moves Program

ALCOTT – LEBER – YOUNGER COMMITTEE(S) OF THE YEAR AWARD

Award Criteria: The ComFed Committee(s) that have developed programs or projects that have been innovative, of high quality, and have had or are likely to have an impact on the betterment of the profession, the judicial system, or ComFed/NYSBA itself. Factors in determining the award(s) include, but are not limited to, CLE programming; comments on proposed rules; reports; committee meetings, and social/networking events. The Section may present this award to up to two (2) committees each year.

This award is named after Mark Alcott, Esq., Bernice Leber, Esq., and Stephen Younger, Esq., all of whom served as both Chair of the Commercial & Federal Litigation Section and President of the New York State Bar Association.

Nomination Deadline: April 30

Date Presented: The award is presented at the Section’s Spring Meeting

CHAIR’S AWARD

Award Criteria: The ComFed member or members who, in the discretion of the Chair, has/have demonstrated leadership for, and provided significant contributions to, the Section.  This award is given at the discretion of the Chair.

Date Presented: The award is presented at the Section’s Spring Meeting

Scholarships

THE HONORABLE JUDITH S. KAYE COMMERCIAL AND FEDERAL LITIGATION SCHOLARSHIP

Eligibility:
Female attorneys who have practiced commercial litigation between two and ten years since their admission to the New York State bar, and who remain in good standing.

Learn More

Fellowships

KAY CRAWFORD MURRAY COMMERCIAL DIVISION DIVERSITY FELLOWSHIP

The New York Bar Foundation is pleased to offer the Kay Crawford Murray Commercial Division Diversity Fellowship each spring which has been established by The Foundation through a gift from the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association. The Fellowship will be awarded to a current first year (1L) diversity law student who is enrolled in a law school in the State of New York to work in a litigation position in the public sector in the State of New York during the summer.

Learn More

Mentoring

COMMERCIAL AND FEDERAL LITIGATION SECTION MENTORING COMMITTEE PROGRAM

Looking for a Mentor? NYSBA’s Commercial & Federal Litigation Section is inviting members to participate in our 2022 Mentorship Program.

Program Description: NYSBA’s Commercial & Federal Litigation Section (“ComFed”) is happy to announce the re-launch of its Mentoring Committee Program (the “Program”). The Program, which will run from January 2022 – June 2022, is focused on matching mentors and mentees based not only practice areas but also personal interests in an effort to facilitate lasting and career-long relationships that are personally and professionally compatible. ComFed will sponsor appropriate events for the mentors and mentees during this time to meet the aforementioned objectives.

Please note: In order to be considered for membership in the Program, the applicant must be a member of the New York State Bar Association and Commercial and Federal Litigation Section, so if you’re not already a member…join today.

Deadline: October 30, 2021

Next Steps: Mentees may submit their application below. Space is limited, so not every applicant will necessarily be matched with a mentor. To the extent possible, we will match mentees and mentors located in the same geographical area.

Questions? Contact Program Co-Chair Maryann Stallone: stallone@thsh.com

Submit Mentee Application

Contests

JUDGE ROBERT A. KATZMANN MEMORIAL ESSAY CONTEST

The Judge Robert A. Katzmann Memorial Essay Contest was created jointly by the Justice For All Initiative of the Federal Courts of the Second Circuit (“Justice For All”) and the New York State Bar Association Commercial and Federal Litigation Section (the “Section”) in honor of the late Judge Robert A. Katzmann, who served as a United States Circuit Court Judge on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1999 through 2021, and was that court’s Chief Judge from 2013-2020. Prior to his appointment as a Circuit Judge, Judge Katzmann was a Fellow of the Brookings Institute and a Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center. Judge Katzmann was a great supporter of the Section.

Justice For All will manage the solicitation process for essay submissions by reaching out to New York high school students to provide the Essay Contest criteria, which will focus on civic education, an issue that was near and dear to Judge Katzmann. Justice For All and Section members will review the Essay Contest Submissions and determine the First, Second and Third prize winners. Justice For All and the Section will present the Essay Contest winners with their awards at a reception to be held at the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse. The Section will publish the Essay Contest winners in the Section’s Newsletter.

The Essay Contest Awards will be initially funded through the graciousness and generosity of Judge Shira Scheindlin, the Section’s former Chair, who served as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York from 1994 through 2016

Date Presented: April/May

Learn More

COVID-19 INFORMATION PAGE

Our Section has worked on building a Commercial & Federal Litigation Section COVID-19 Information Page to provide a place to easily access the information which is of interest to our members, including the latest information on accessing the courts and litigating during these challenging times.  While we recognize that NYSBA has its own page, and we can redirect our members to that content where applicable, we developed our own outline of contents and are seeking support form section members to build the best resource possible.

Click Here to View

COMMERCIAL DIVISION  JUDGES CONTACT INFORMATION

View Here

2016 AMENDMENTS TO THE UNIFORM RULES FOR SUPREME AND COUNTY COURTS, RULES GOVERNING APPEALS, AND CERTAIN OTHER RULES OF INTEREST TO CIVIL LITIGATORS

202.5(e)(1)(v): Adds certain documents, testimony, and evidence in matrimonial actions to categories of confidential personal information – Effective Date: 3/1/2016 (Court – Sup)

202.16(m): Adds a provision on omission or redaction of confidential personal information from matrimonial decisions – Effective Date: 3/1/2016 (Court – Sup)

202.70(g), Rule 3: Adds a provision on settlement conferences before a justice other than a justice assigned to the case – Effective Date: 7/1/2016 (Court – Sup)

202.70(g), Rule 11-g: Adds a proposed form of confidentiality order – Effective Date: 7/1/2016 (Court – Sup)

202.70(g), Rule 14-a: Adds a new rule on procedures at disclosure conferences conducted by non-judicial personnel – Effective Date: 7/1/2016 (Court – Sup)

500.1(j), (l): Changes “computer-generated” papers to “papers prepared by a word-processing system” and changes “Times Roman” to “Times New Roman” – Effective Date: 6/22/2016 (Court – Ct. App.)

500.11(m):  Adds word and page limits for submissions in alternative procedure for selected appeals – Effective Date: 6/22/2016 (Court – Ct. App.)

500.13(c): Adds word and page limits for briefs in normal course appeals – Effective Date: 6/22/2016 (Court – Ct. App.)

500.23: Requires that amicus submissions meet word and page limits of 500.11(m) and 500.13(c) – Effective Date: 6/22/2016 (Court – Ct. App.)

800.23(c): Increased fees for admission certificates – Effective Date: 2/1/2016 (Court – 3d Dep’t)

Notes: On May 23, 2016, effective July 1, 2016, the Administrative Judge of the Courts rescinded the Appendix of Official Forms for the CPLR.  See CPLR 107.  AO/119/16.

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