The Third Circuit announced today that it “is open for business and will fulfill its constitutional and statutory obligations and responsibilities.” Oral arguments will continue as scheduled, but merits panels “will determine the manner of argument.” Parties may file a motion requesting to appear by audio conference.” The “majority” of Clerk’s Office personnel will be working remotely. Parties who need to file motions seeking emergent relief should call 267-299-4904, leave a detailed message, and await a return call. Some of the usual...

The Supreme Court Civil Practice Committee just issued its 2020 report about proposed (and rejected) amendments to the New Jersey Court Rules. The full report is available here. Comments on that report are due by March 20, 2020. There are many substantive changes in the proposed rules, which make this report required reading. But there is only one such change proposed in the Part 2 appellate rules, and it affects only criminal matters, and only a limited subset of those. There are also a few “housekeeping amendments” proposed, including changes to Rules 2:2-3, 2:9-3, and 2:9-10....

Today, the Appellate Division published a notice to the bar that was dated August 17, 2016.  That notice can be found here.  The notice advises of several procedural refinements that the Appellate Division is implementing. Any decision that includes a concurring or dissenting opinion will now state that fact “in the attorney appearance section of the opinion.  This addition will notify readers immediately that a concurrence or dissent is attached to the opinion.”  The heading in the Appellate Division’s notice relating to this change is “NOTICE OF CONCURRENCE OR...