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Judge Victor Marrero's Challenge to the Legal JUDGE VICTOR MARRERO’S CHALLENGE TO THE LEGAL PROFESSION: A “LITTLE REBELLION NOW AND THEN” John D. Feerick† TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................148 I. OVERVIEW: THE COST OF RULES, THE RULE OF COSTS ...........................................150 A. Introduction ...................................................................................................150 B. The Legal Market and Law Firm Culture: Why Vexatious Litigation Exists .............................................................................................150 C. How and Where Over-Litigation Exists: Practice Style and Motion Practice ...........................................................................................................152 1. Excessive and Deficient Pleadings ..................................................153 2. Motions to Dismiss...........................................................................154 3. Discovery ...........................................................................................154 4. Summary Judgment..........................................................................155 5. Disproportionate Litigation ............................................................156 D. Fee Shifting ....................................................................................................156 II. COMMENTARIES AND RESPONSES .............................................................................157 A. Individual Judicial Practices ........................................................................157 1. Initial Discovery Protocols ..............................................................159 2. My Limited Survey ...........................................................................160 B. An Overview ..................................................................................................164 C. ADR as a Remedy and Solution ..................................................................165 † I acknowledge with great gratitude the considerable assistance I have received in preparing these remarks from Catherine Tremble of the Fordham Law School class of 2018. I express to Fordham Professor Daniel Capra my debt for his sharing with me his enormous learning and experience in all the areas commented on by Judge Marrero. I also wish to give special thanks to Professor Martin Gelter of Fordham Law School for his comments on fee sharing. I thank Thomas A. Moore, Esq. and former judge Barbara S. Jones for their invaluable assistance, as well as other colleagues in the practicing and academic bars, with whom I conversed concerning Judge Marrero’s provocative Article. I also thank Professor Linda Gerstel for her support and assistance, as well as Olga Tomasello for her copy-editing and other assistance on this Article. 147 148 CARDOZO LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:147 1. Federal Court Mediation Programs ...............................................166 2. New York State Courts ....................................................................168 D. Collaborations and Education .....................................................................171 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................174 INTRODUCTION This is in response to the invitation from U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero and the Cardozo Law Review to offer perspectives on Judge Marrero’s Article, The Costs of Rules, the Rule of Costs.1 Judge Marrero’s Article is no ordinary Law Review Article. To begin with, it is ninety pages in length, written with passion and intensity. Its title targets practicing lawyers, but its content, upon close examination, challenges all parts of the legal profession. The problems involve rising costs and resulting abuses caused by expansive discovery and expensive motion practice, supported by and embedded in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and modern-day law practice. The problems discussed, however, are not simply those of practicing lawyers engaged in civil justice litigation. Courts have their responsibilities, too, since judges can make significant differences in dealing with the problems raised, and many do, through the exercise of their case management authority and judicial powers. In a very real sense, the challenges presented by the civil litigation costs and abuses identified by Judge Marrero need to be addressed by the entire legal profession. Judge Marrero, a recent recipient of the Federal Bar Council’s Emory Buckner Award for Outstanding Public Service, has given much of his life to public service in a variety of roles.2 Through the lens of a thoughtful and able jurist, The Cost of Rules, the Rule of Costs takes a hard look at the civil justice system. Thankfully, Judge Marrero’s concerns and alarms are being taken seriously by his colleagues on the bench and by the organized bar of New York. This special issue of the 1 Victor Marrero, The Cost of Rules, the Rule of Costs, 37 CARDOZO L. REV. 1599 (2016) 2 Judge Marrero served in many government positions before joining the bench of the Southern District in 1999. Some of these roles include serving as Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; as U.S. Ambassador on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations; as Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission; as Commissioner and Vice Chairman of the New York State Housing Finance Agency; as Chair of the New York State Chief Judge’s Committee to Improve the Availability of Legal Services; and as Counsel to the Governor of New York State and Comptroller of New York City. While in private law practice, he co-founded the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and served on boards and committees of the New York Public Library, the State University of New York, and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. See Marrero, Victor, FED. JUDICIAL CTR., https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/marrero-victor [https://perma.cc/55JK-AX7W] (last visited Sept. 5, 2018); Hon. Victor Marrero, PRACTISING L. INST., https://www.pli.edu/Content/Faculty/Hon_Victor_Marrero/_/N-4oZ1z136ui?ID= PE464456 [https://perma.cc/Q562-X8FR] (last visited Sept. 5, 2018). 2018] CHALLENGES TO THE LEGAL PROFESSION 149 Cardozo Law Review, as well as the 2016 Issue where the Article appeared, speaks well of current law students wanting to see the challenges addressed. Thomas Jefferson once noted, “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. It is a med[icine] necessary for the sound health of government.”3 Judge Marrero, who a long time ago stirred such a revolution by calling for mandatory pro bono lawyers in New York State, may well have ignited another such revolution. The recommendations of that earlier Committee stirred the legal profession and law schools to lift their commitment to helping those in need of legal services who were unable to afford counsel.4 Upon receiving Judge Marrero’s request, I asked how I qualified to comment on his study’s treatment of pleadings, discovery, and motions in modern day law practice and the remedies he proposed. My initial hesitation was due to the fact that, for the last thirty-six years, I have been in academia as a law school dean and then a professor in the classroom, preceded a long time ago by the active practice of law as an associate and partner in a New York firm. Throughout all these years, however, I have been active in the work of the organized bar and have responded to requests to serve as a neutral in the resolution of conflicts in alternative dispute resolution (ADR). I have formed a view from my total life experiences that judges can make a major difference in addressing the problems described by Judge Marrero and that the world of ADR, especially that of mediation, offers models and remedies worthy of consideration. I set forth in Part I a summary of Judge Marrero’s Article. Part II contains commentaries and responses by me concerning individual practices of judges under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, comments of others I surveyed, possible ADR remedies that are available, and the potential that inheres in collaborations by courts with the organized bar and the many law schools with experienced teachers, scholars, and educated and trained students in the field of ADR. I conclude with gratitude to Judge Marrero for sharing his insights on modern day civil justice and inspiring me and others to reflect on the civil justice system. 3 Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison (Jan. 30, 1787), https:// founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-11-02-0095 [https://perma.cc/VB7N-4YA4]. 4 VICTOR MARRERO, COMMITTEE TO IMPROVE THE AVAILABILITY OF LEGAL SERVICES: FINAL REPORT TO THE CHIEF JUDGE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK (Apr. 1990), reprinted in 19 HOFSTRA L. REV. 755, 756 (1991). 150 CARDOZO LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:147 I. OVERVIEW: THE COST OF RULES, THE RULE OF COSTS A. Introduction Judge Marrero begins his Article with reference to 1938, when the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (the Federal Rules) became effective. He points to Rule 1 as the mantra for a newly organized federal judicial system intended to “secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding”5 and juxtaposes those aims with the reality of the previous unworkable system. He notes that the Federal Rules were intended to promote efficiency
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