NYS+Reporters,+Records+and+Briefs

__**INTRODUCTION**__

NYS Court Structure NYS Law Reporting Bureau: began in 1804.
 * Statutory authority for Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law article 14.
 * Most decisionsfrom NYS courts sent to Law Reporting Bureau for editing.
 * CPLR 5529(e): New York decisions shall be cited from the official reports, if any.

__**COURT OF APPEALS**

Background:__
 * Court of Appeal succeeded Court of Errors as highest court under Constitution of 1846.
 * Court of Errors decisions published in Caines Reports (decisions from 1803-1805).

__Where to Find Decisions:__
 * **New York Reports**: began publication in 1847 and considered the official reports for cases decided by the Court of Appeals. Bound volumes updated by weekly pamphlet advance sheets.
 * **New York Supplement**: currently reproduces Court of Appeals, Appellate Division, and lower court decisions. This publication began in 1888 and, at that time, only reported intermediate appellate and lower court decisions. Court of Appeals decisions were eventually added to this set but not on a consistent basis until 1956. Prior to 1956, these decisions were included in a separately paginated appendix. Unofficial reporter.
 * **Northeastern Reporter**: reproduces Court of Appeals decisions. Began publication in 1885 with 99 N.Y.Unofficial reporter.
 * **Westlaw**: search database NY Official Reports. Contains decisions from the NY Reports from 1847 to the present. Also contains database for Court of Appeals new filings. Coverage began in 1995.
 * **Lexis**: search database NY Court of Appeals cases from 1794. Includes decisions from 1794 (nominative reporters included).
 * **Court of Appeals website**: contains the most recent decisions from the Court. Need to know case/party names to find decisions.
 * **Law Reporting Bureau**: see search screen below. Can search opinions and motions by decision date, court, judge, slip opinion number, official reports citation and full text.
 * **Cornell’s Legal Information Institute**: includes decisions from 1990 to the present. Can search by decision date or topical index.

__Where to Find Records and Briefs__
 * **Westlaw**: in database NY Court of Appeals Briefs. Selected coverage began in 1993.
 * **Lexis**: in database New York State Briefs and Motions. Includes decisions from all court levels. Coverage begins in 2000.
 * **HeinOnline**: coverage is 98 NY2D - 100 NY2D, 1 NY3D - 11 NY3D. Easiest to search by party name or official reporter citation.
 * **Microform**: Library has V.265-v.309 (1955/56); 2d ser., v.1 (1956)-v.84 (1995).

__**SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISIONS**__ Background
 * Intermediate appellate courts established by Constitution of 1846.
 * Called General Term of the Supreme Court.
 * Reporters included Barbour’s, Lansing’s and Hun’s.
 * General Term abolished by Constitution of 1894.

__Where to Find Decisions:__
 * **Appellate Division Reports**: began in 1894 and is in its 3rd series. Bound volumes updated by weekly pamphlet advance sheets. Organized by department and decision date. Official reporter.
 * **New York Supplement**: began reporting decisions in 1888. Unofficial reporter.
 * **Westlaw**: in database NY Official Reports. Coverage began in 1896.
 * **Lexis**: can search each department individually or search Court of Appeals and Appellate Division cases together. Cases coverage depends on the department selected.
 * **NYS Unified Court System**: each department has their own website that includes links to decisions. Decision coverage varies.
 * **Law Reporting Bureau**: see description and screen shot above.

__Where to Find Records and Briefs:__
 * **Westlaw**: in database NY Supreme Court, Appellate Division Briefs. Coverage began in 1995 for all departments.
 * **Lexis**: in database NYS Briefs and Motions. Includes briefs from all court levels. Coverage begins in 2000.
 * **Microform**: the library has from approximately mid-1970’s to the present. You will need a microform numberin order to find the record and briefs.


 * SUPREME COURTS/APPELLATE TERMS**

__Where to Find Decisions__:
 * **Miscellaneous Reports**: began in 1893. Includes some Appellate Term and Supreme court opinions. Not all opinions are published. Trial court and appellate term judges send opinions to State Reporter that they deem worthy of publication. State Reporter reviews opinion and decides to publish based upon criteria in Judiciary Law § 431.
 * **Westlaw**: in database NY Official Reports. Coverage began in 1892.
 * **Lexis**: can search Supreme Court opinions (1828-present), Appellate Term opinions (1896-present), and Lower Court opinions (1851-present).
 * **Law Reporting Bureau**: see screen shot and description above. Bureau also includes links to decisions from Appellate Term, First Department, Appellate Term, Second Department and Other Courts (mostly Supreme Court).
 * **NYS Unified Court System**: can search civil and criminal Supreme Court decisions from 2001-present. Can also search e-Courts pagefor Supreme Court civil and criminal decisions, Family Court decisions by Judge, Index Number, Party Name and so on.

__Where to Find Motions and Orders__
 * **Lexis**: in database NYS Briefs and Motions. Includes briefs from all court levels. Coverage begins in 2000.
 * **Westlaw**: Can search trial court orders in database NY-TRIALORDERS. Can also look in database NY-FILINGS which will search NY Civil Trial Court filings.
 * **e-Courts**from the Unified Court System will include some motion papers and judgments/decisions depending upon the case searched.

__OTHER COURTS/RESOURCES__
 * **New York Law Journal**: published since 1888 and is the official legal newspaper for the First and Second Departments. Prints and digests notable cases from the Court of Appeals, First and Second Departments and selected downstate trial court opinions. On Westlaw
 * **Westlaw**: look in Court Docs. Great all-in-one resource to find briefs, motions, orders, oral argument transcripts. Also look in database NY-CSUNR which includes unreported decisions from NYS lower courts.
 * **Lexis**: Includes databases to search for decisions in the following courts: Family, Surrogates, Town and Village, County, City Court and Court of Claims.