NY's Civil Practice Law and Rules

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Michael J. Hutter is the senior member of the Albany Law School faculty, having joined the faculty in 1976. Professor Hutter is an honors graduate of Brown University, receiving scholarships during his four years of matriculation, and Boston College Law School. In law school he was the Editor-In-Chief of Boston College’s law review (Annual Survey), and was elected to the Order of the Coif. After graduation, Professor Hutter served as law clerk to Judge Matthew J. Jasen, an Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. After his clerkship, and before he started his teaching career, he was a litigation associate with the Hodgson Russ law firm in Buffalo, New York. Professor Hitter’s teaching areas include Evidence, NY Practice, Federal Jurisdiction and Procedure, Conflict of Laws, Business Torts and Trade Regulation. He is a recipient of teaching awards from Western New England Law School and Albany Law School, New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers, Capital District Trial Lawyers Association, and the Suffolk and Schenectady County Bar Associations. His extensive scholarship, including law review articles, books (Model Jury Charges for Business Tort Actions –Editor-in Chief)b, book chapters, bar journals and monographs on issues of intellectual property (trade secrets), trade regulation (antitrust and covenants not to compete), evidence and torts has been cited by many courts, including the First Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Illinois Appellate Court, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, South Dakota Supreme Court, Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Appellate Division of the State of New York, and New York State trial court judges; and as well by numerous academic commentators. His scholarship has also been cited by New York state legislators in support of legislation proposed and ultimately enacted into law. Professor Hutter is a recognized expert in the area of New York Evidence. He has served as an educator to the New York State Court System, invited by the New York State Office of Court Administration, and its Judicial Institute, to teach evidence and discuss evidence developments at its annual seminars for Justices and Judges throughout the state, as well as seminars for law clerks and court attorneys. He was appointed by the Chief Judge of the State of New York to act as the Reporter to a Special Committee, composed of sitting and retired judges, charged with compiling a Guide to New York’s existing law of evidence which is presently available on the Unified Court System website for judges, lawyers and the public. Professor Hutter is also the Evidence columnist for the New York Law Journal, publishing a bi-monthly article discussing recent New York evidence cases decided by the courts. As of May,2023, seventy-five evidence columns have been published. Professor Hutter has argued appeals on a pro bono, retained and amicus curiae basis in the New York Court of Appeals, all four Appellate Division departments, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. His advocated positions have prevailed in whole or part in numerous significant appeals, including Ambac. Assur. V. County-Wide, 27 NY3d 616 (2016) (common interest attorney-client rule); Portfolio Resources v. King, 13 NY3d 93 (2010) (borrowing statute); Skelos v. Patterson 13 NY3d 141 (2009) (appointment of Lt. Governor); States v. Lourdes Hospital, 100 NY2d 208 (2003) (res ipsa loquitur); Henry v. City of New York, 94 NY2d 275(1998) (infant notice of claim); County of Rensselaer v. Regan, 80 NY2d 908 (1992) (powers of Comptroller);People v. Cooper, 78 NY2d 476 (1991) (prior crime evidence); Hazan v. WCB, 120 AD3d 82 (2015) (9/11 recovery for first responders); Grimditch v. Town of North Elba, 98 AD3d 183 (20140 (ownership of Lake Placid bed). Professor Hutter has also been active in service to the legal profession. He has served as President of the Albany County Bar Association, elected by the Association’s membership. Additionally, Professor Hutter has served by appointments of the Chief Judge of the State of New York, Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Third Department, three governors, legislative leaders, and New York State Bar Association Presidents on statewide public service commissions and study groups. Included in those appointments are Executive Director of the New York State Law Revision Commission and a Commissioner of the Commission, Director and Chair of the of the Office of Capital Defenders, a Commissioner of the Commission on Judicial Nomination (selection of candidates for the Court of Appeals), member of the Third Judicial Department Screening Committee, member of the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board, and the NYSBA Committees on Courts of Appellate Jurisdiction and Civil Practice Law and Rules. Professor Hutter has also been an active presenter as an invited speaker, over 200 presentations, on a wide range of legal topics to various bar groups in New York. Professor Hutter is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Association and New York State Bar Association. In 1999, Professor Hutter was one of seven persons recommended by the State Commission on Judicial Nomination to Governor Pataki for the position of Associate Judge, New York State Court of Appeals. He was rated highly qualified for the position by the New York State Bar Association, New York State Trial Lawyers Association, and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.