Trial Practice

(Knock on Wood) — NY Courts Lift Facemask and 3-Foot Physical Distancing Requirements

Effective June 16, 2022, New York courthouse visitors, lawyers, judges, and staff will no longer be required to wear masks, with proof of vaccination, in light of receding COVID rates. Also being lifted in the courthouses is the three-foot physical distancing requirement.  (The policy identifies a vaccination card or a New York State Excelsior Plus Vaccination Pass as proof of vaccination.)...Read More

Call Your Next Witness – Christon Halkiotis

Christon Halkiotis and I have a lot in common, in that we’re both former prosecutors who sought a change after a handful of years representing the government.   Christon’s path took her to criminal defense, where she started her own practice in 2019 in Greensboro, North Carolina after 15 years as a prosecutor. Her practice flourished immediately, which is a testament to...Read More

Call Your Next Witness – Brian & Georgia Discuss the Courts and new Associates Starting their Careers this Fall

No guest this week — instead, Brian Gibbons and Georgia Coats discuss the seemingly ever-changing impact of COVID-19 and the delta variant on court operations. As recently as a few months ago, the pandemic seemed to be on its last legs, but numbers are trending in the wrong direction again. What does that mean for court operations this Fall and Winter, in NYC and elsewhere? Also, with...Read More

Call Your Next Witness – Bob Cosgrove and Matt Care Discuss last week’s Defense Verdict

“Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.”    What does this Ginger Rogers quote have to do with litigation and trial practice? Good question.   Bob Cosgrove and Matt Care just tried a case to a unanimous defense verdict, in front of of a real live jury in Pennsylvania.  You can read up on the details of the case here. Putting aside the odd...Read More

Call Your Next Witness – Shari Belitz on Litigation Consultation

On episode 6 of Call Your Next Witness, the Wade Clark Mulcahy LLP podcast, Brian Gibbons & Georgia Coats interview litigation consultant, author, attorney, Yankee fan (nobody’s perfect!) and absolute force of nature Shari E. Belitz, Esq. As risk managers all know, knowledge is power — Shari and her team offer unique knowledge and foresight to risk managers looking to prepare...Read More

Call Your Next Witness Podcast – Brian Gibbons Interviews Dan Solinsky of Edelman Krasin & Jaye PLLC

Check out the newest episode of the Call Your Next Witness podcast, where Brian Gibbons interviews plaintiff’s attorney extraordinaire, fellow Bronx County District Attorney’s Office & St. John’s University School of Law alum, and all around good guy, Dan Solinsky of Edelman, Krasin & Jaye PLLC. Dan and I discuss our career paths, which began as prosecutors in the...Read More

Kings County Suit Dismissed During Jury Selection Due to Mask Protocols (NY)

Just yesterday in Kings County Supreme Court, a plaintiff’s attorney expressed an inability to proceed with jury selection, while masked, due to inability to breathe.  Counsel asked for an adjournment of trial until June.   Not only did the Court deny the request, but dismissed the lawsuit outright due to counsel’s inability to proceed.   The transcript of the argument which lead...Read More

Jury Trials in the Age of COVID. An Insider’s View of What Courts Will Look Like.

Subject to approval from the City of Philadelphia – the Court is a tenant of the City in Philadelphia City Hall — civil jury trials are set to resume in Philadelphia this week.  On Friday, as a defense lawyer representative, I had the chance to attend a walkthrough hosted by Presiding Civil Judge Anders and get a sense of what the physical setup will be.  Here is a quick overview and...Read More

Suffolk County (NY) Operating Protocols – Effective February 22, 2021

As COVID-19 numbers seem to be at least be trending in the right direction, NY courts are preparing to resume in-person proceedings.  (For the time being, remote appearances will remain the norm, but it makes sense to be prepared for in-person litigation.)   Suffolk County has issued new protocols, which you can review here.  Effective February 22, 2021, the new protocols include the...Read More

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Refuses to Implement Bright Line Rule on Defective Jury Awards

Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Mader v. Duquesne Light Company, refused to implement a bright line rule with respect to mandating a trial court’s options when a jury returns an inconsistent, favorable plaintiff verdict with an inconsistent damages award. Instead, the Court indicated that trial courts largely have broad discretion in terms of requiring new trials for damages. As...Read More