ORDER

ANALISA TORRES, District Judge.

To conserve resources, to promote judicial efficiency, and in an effort to achieve a faster disposition of this matter, it is hereby ORDERED that the parties discuss whether they are willing to consent, under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c), to conducting all further proceedings before the assigned Magistrate Judge.

If all parties consent to proceed before the Magistrate Judge, counsel for Defendant shall, by January 15, 2020, email a fully executed Notice, Consent, and Reference of a Civil Action to a Magistrate Judge form, available at http://nysd.uscourts.gov/file/forms/consent-to-proceed-before-us-magistrate-judge and attached to this order, to Orders_and_Judgments@nysd.uscourts.gov. If the Court approves that form, all further proceedings will then be conducted before the assigned Magistrate Judge rather than before me. An information sheet on proceedings before magistrate judges is also attached to this order. Any appeal would be taken directly to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, as it would be if the consent form were not signed and so ordered.

If any party does not consent to conducting all further proceedings before the assigned Magistrate Judge, the parties must file a joint letter, by January 15, 2020, advising the Court that the parties do not consent, but without disclosing the identity of the party or parties who do not consent. The parties are free to withhold consent without negative consequences.

SO ORDERED.