This is the first of what I hope to be a periodic column on the “arts and crafts of litigation,” inspired by a series of continuing legal education panel programs I chaired. Here, arts and crafts encompasses any non-substantive aspect of litigation, including word-processing formatting, meta-data, scanning, bookmarking, hyperlinking, efiling and hard-copy production—whatever helps make your product pretty, readable, professional, rule-compliant and not foolish.
Statewide court rules implemented earlier this year cover this gamut, imposing a confusing panoply of requirements such as type-size, word length, word-number certifications, bookmarking, hyperlinking, summary judgment statements of material facts and, in lieu of exhibits, allowing reference to prior efiled documents by docket numbers on the efiling system (NYSCEF).
