In the era of electronic data, the once straightforward task of preparing a privilege log has become extremely burdensome. It is not uncommon for parties in large commercial cases to generate privilege logs with tens of thousands of entries spanning hundreds of pages. Rule 11-b, set to take effect in the New York State Commercial Division on September 2, 2014 (22 NYCRR §202.70(g)), is an attempt to ease this burden.
The New York Rule
Among other significant changes, the new rule encourages logging groups of documents collectively based on categories rather than logging each document individually. This modification has the potential to significantly alter the privilege log process in the commercial division in New York.
