A Notice to the Bar, dated September 1, 2021, was published late yesterday. It is available here. Issued by Judge Messano, the Notice is titled “APPELLATE DIVISION REMINDER TO COUNSEL REGARDING SUBMISSION OF CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS AND OTHER ISSUES CONCERNING CONFIDENTIALITY.” Its purpose is “reminding attorneys about the submission and treatment of confidential material in Appellate Division matters.” The Notice first addresses confidential personal identifiers, noting that Rule 1:38-7, applicable on appeal as well as at the trial level, defines “confidential...

The Appellate Division’s calendar for the week of September 13, the first week of the new court Term, has been published and is available here. While it may be too soon to make any judgments about how the Appellate Division will handle appeals this Term, the calendar for that week reveals differences in how panels are dealing with their appeals in the first week of the Term. As discussed here, there are now seven Parts instead of the eight Parts that have been the norm for a number of years. All seven Parts have matters scheduled for the week of September 13. Six of those Parts will...

Chief Justice Rabner has issued the General Assignment Order for the coming Term. It is available here. At the Appellate Division level, the headline is that the number of Parts has been reduced from eight to seven, encompassing a total of thirty judges. Two of the Parts, Parts C and E, have five judges, while the other Parts have four judges, as in the past. Unlike in several past years, there is no provision for any “Temporary Assignees” on any Part. That is despite the fact that the thirty-judge composition of the Appellate Division for 2021-22 is smaller than the...