Hyperlinking Now Mandatory in the Commercial Division

On September 29, 2020, Chief Administrative Judge Marks issued AO/133/20, which makes hyperlinking to previously-filed NYSEF documents mandatory and requires that "[u]nless otherwise directed by the Court or provided in the Court's individual rules, all text in briefs and affidavits, including footnotes, shall use proportionally spaced 12-point serif typeface."

The implementation of mandatory hyperlinking will be a significant change in practice for many practitioners. I suggest you start learning how to do it now so you are ready when it is time to do a filing. It is not technically difficult, but it can be time consuming. Here is the text of the rule. Note the distinction between mandatory hyperlinking for documents filed on NYSECF and citations to court decisions.

Rule 6. Form of Papers.
. . .
(b) For purposes of this Rule, a hyperlink means an electronic link between one document and another, and a bookmark means an electronic link permitting navigation among different parts of a single document. Material made accessible by hyperlinking does not thereby become part of the record, and citations to authorities shall appear in standard citation form, even if also hyperlinked.

(c) Each electronically submitted memorandum of law or other document that cites to another document previously filed with NYSCEF shall include a hyperlink to the NYSCEF docket entry for the cited document enabling access to the cited document through the hyperlink. Hyperlinks may not provide access to documents filed under seal or otherwise not in the public record. Cited documents filed with NYSCEF that are accessible through bookmarks in the electronically submitted document need not also be hyperlinked.

(1) The Court may require that electronically submitted memoranda of law include hyperlinks to cited court decisions, statutes, rules, regulations, treatises, and other legal authorities in either legal research databases to which the Court has access or in state or federal government websites. If the Court does not require such hyperlinking, parties are nonetheless encouraged to hyperlink such citations unless otherwise directed by the Court.

(2) If a party certifies in good faith that it cannot include hyperlinks as required by this Rule or the Court without undue burden due to limitations in its office technology or other showing of good cause, the Court may excuse the party from any otherwise applicable hyperlinking requirement.