Partner Brian Ginsberg of our Appellate Practice Group, a former New York State Assistant Solicitor General, wrote an opinion piece in the New York Law Journal about the value of concurrences and dissents for litigators. Brian was responding to a previous opinion piece in the NYLJ that expressed dismay over a surge in separate opinions from the New York Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.

“In my view,” Brian writes, “the concurrences and dissents issued by the court’s judges, as well as the frequency with which those separate writings are issued, provide substantial assistance to litigators practicing at all levels of the judicial system.” For one, he says, these additional opinions help attorneys argue for a change in the law – or, conversely, to leave the law alone. Brian cites several examples of cases that drew dissents or concurrences that later helped further shape the law. Click here to read Brian’s opinion (subscription may be required.)