Special Commission on the Future of the New York State Courts

was created, The Wall Street Journal stated, “[w]hile several other
states have been pushing for trial courts devoted exclusively to
business litigation, New York is the first in which a general trial
court has implemented such a program.” 127 The National Law
Journal touted the Commercial Division Justices for their
rigorous management of cases through “rapid disposition of
motion practice, realistic and practical scheduling, and trial dates
set early in the case to promote efficiency.” 128
In short, the Commercial Division has shown what can
be achieved if court administrators are permitted to apply basic
principles of efficient management to a court and body of cases
that need particular attention and support. Again, however, the
Commercial Division has not been brought to a statewide scale.
It is for this reason that we propose to institutionalize, not only
the Commercial Division, but the principles that underlie it, to
all courts throughout the state (see Section Six below).
Integrated Domestic Violence Courts
The defining principle of an Integrated Domestic
Violence (“IDV”) Court is that it handles all related cases
pertaining to a single family where the underlying issue is
domestic violence. 129 In 1996, Domestic Violence Courts were
introduced to handle cases of violence between intimate partners
in an effort to enhance offender accountability, increase victim
“The most troubling example
of the disjointed court system
is found in the experience of
domestic violence victims, who
can have their cases brought
before as many as four different
judges in three different
courts and often even more adjudicators.”
– The Fund for Modern
Courts, January 2007
127
Court for Business Disputes, WALL ST. J., Oct. 11, 1995, at B8.
128
Richard M. Goldstein and Bradley I. Ruskin, A Visit to a New York
Court Need Not Be An Ordeal, NAT’L L. J., Jun. 28, 1999, at C9. The Commercial
Division has also received excellent reviews from business leaders and groups
like the Business Council of New York State. For example, in 1999, Peter J. Bijur,
the Chairman of the Business Council, applauded the work of the Commercial
Division and remarked, “We have now gone in four years’ time from a court system
that often evoked frustration among businesses, to a business court that is the
envy of other states.” The American Corporate Counsel Association has expressed
its appreciation and support for the Commercial Division and urged other states
to follow New York’s lead. The American Bar Association’s Business Law Section
described the Commercial Division in 2000 as “a model of a specialized court
devoted to the resolution of business disputes.” The 87th Annual Dinner of the
New York County Lawyers’Association in December 2001 saluted the Commercial
Division and honored the Division’s justices.
129
N.Y. STATE UNIFIED COURT SYS., INTEGRATED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
COURT, MISSION STATEMENT & KEY PRINCIPLES 2 (2005).
A Court System for the Future, February 2007 63