The Commercial Division Advisory Council (“Advisory Council”) is consistently looking to implement and amend new rules to enhance practice in the Commercial Division. On June 11, 2025, the Advisory Council proposed adding a new Rule 6(e) to the Rules of the Commercial Division. The proposed Rule 6(e) governs the use of generative artificial intelligence (“GenAI”) in preparing court documents filed with the Commercial Division. The proposed rule provides:
Rule 6(e). Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools. The Court recognizes that counsel (or a self-represented party) may determine that the use of generative artificial intelligence tools in preparing to file briefs, letters, or memoranda of law with the Court is in its client’s (or its) best interests. However, any person who files material with this Court remains responsible for providing the Court with complete and accurate representations in any such submission consistent with Part 130 of the Rules of the Chief Administrator any other applicable legal or ethical guidance. Accordingly, any person who files any such material with this Court is certifying the accuracy and reliability of such material and any statements made therein.
This proposed rule basically extends the obligations under Part 130 of the Rules of the Chief Administrator to certify that documents filed in the Commercial Division are accurate and reliable.
Advisory Council’s Measured Approach to GenAI
In drafting this proposed rule, the Advisory Council acknowledged that while GenAI has the “potential to increase efficiency and yield more cost-effective legal representation,” it also can lead to “mishaps related to erroneous content” being filed in courts. By surveying how other jurisdictions have dealt with GenAI, the Advisory Council took a “measured approach” that “acknowledged the inevitability of GenAI becoming part of the practice of law but simultaneously recognized that GenAI (like any other technology) can be misused.”
In doing so, the Advisory Council sought to draft a rule that did not “impose any new obligations on attorneys or self-represented parties,” but rather “relie[d] upon existing obligations that apply to those who file briefs, letters, or memoranda of law with the court.” The Advisory Council also sought to limit the rule to the Commercial Division by intentionally not “addressing the many other issues which may be raised by the use of GenAI in and by other courts.” By limiting the reach and scope of the proposed rule, the Advisory Committee believes that this will “limit confusion about its application.”
Advisory Council Seeks to Continue to Elevate the Commercial Division
The Advisory Council believes that that adoption of this rule will “powerfully demonstrate to the business community the Commercial Division’s commitment to innovation, cost-effectiveness, and avoidance of unnecessary regulation and bureaucracy,” and will promote business throughout New York State. The Advisory Committee sees the Commercial Division as the perfect forum for such a rule, as it believes this rule is “appropriate for a sophisticated business court like the Commercial Division, where parties and their counsel may already be making extensive use of GenAI and would respond negatively to obstacles to achieving GenAI’s potential efficiencies such as unnecessary disclosure or certification requirements.”
You can check out the proposed rule here. Public comments to the proposal are due by Friday, August 8, 2025 – by email to rulecomments@nycourts.gov or by a written submission to David Nocenti, Esq., Counsel, Office of Court Administration, 25 Beaver Street, 10th FL, New York, New York, 10004.
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