Justice Joel M. Cohen
NY Supreme Court · Commercial Division
How he questions
Measured from 209 of his hearings, February 2022 to April 2026. Each figure below is counted from the transcripts, and each quotation is his own words from the record.
1. He gets in early
The lawyer who opens gets a median of about 80 words before his first substantive question; the responding side gets about 100. In a typical hearing he cuts counsel off about 12 times—18% of counsel’s turns end in an interruption.
2. He has read the papers
Do not recite the brief. In 34 hearings he tells counsel in so many words that he has read the papers: “I have read the papers so I don’t need a full soup to nuts oral argument, and I have some thoughts on them.”
3. He drills down
Once he engages a lawyer he often stays with them: 31% of his exchanges run to five or more questions to the same lawyer before the floor moves. He speaks about 43% of the words in a typical hearing.
4. Why he cuts in
Across roughly 3,000 interruptions, the most common reasons are to clarify (19%), to challenge a premise (18%), to pin down an evasive answer (16%), to cut to the point (14%), and to correct a mischaracterization (11%). A demand for the record is rarer (6%), and pointed when it comes: “Where is that in the complaint?”
5. Documentary evidence, in the standard’s own words
On CPLR 3211(a)(1) motions he holds the movant to the standard as written—documentary evidence “must utterly refute plaintiff’s factual allegations”—and the phrase recurs in 13 of his hearings.
6. From the lectern
In 65 hearings he asks counsel to argue from the lectern: “If you wouldn’t mind arguing from the lectern, that would be easier for me and the court reporter.”
What the record covers
- Motions argued: motions to dismiss (80 hearings), TROs (34), summary judgment (30), discovery motions (16), preliminary injunctions (10), motions to compel arbitration (7).
- Issues most often in play: breach of contract (107 hearings), injunctive relief (92), contract interpretation (91), standing (74), fiduciary duty (69). A hearing can raise more than one.
- How hearings close: most end on next steps—transcript, letters, schedule (69%). He offers counsel a last word in 8%, so make the point the first time.