the administration of the courts

The Administration of the Courts

Chapter 2


Court Administration

Section 28 of Article VI of the StateConstitution provides that the Chief Judge of theCourt of Appeals is the Chief Judge of the Stateand its chief judicial officer. The Chief Judgeappoints a Chief Administrator of the Courts (or ChiefAdministrative Judge of the Courts if the appointeeis a judge) with the advice and consent of theAdministrative Board of the Courts. TheAdministrative Board consists of the Chief Judge aschair and the Presiding Justices of the fourAppellate Divisions of the Supreme Court. TheChief Judge establishes statewide administrativestandards and policies after consultation with theAdministrative Board and approval by the Courtof Appeals.

The Court of Appeals and the Appellate Divisionsare responsible for the administration of theirrespective courts. The Appellate Divisions alsooversee several appellate auxiliary operations:candidate fitness, attorney discipline, assignedcounsel, law guardians, and the Mental HygieneLegal Service.

The Chief Administrator, on behalf of the ChiefJudge, is responsible for supervising theadministration and operation of the trial courtsand for establishing and directing anadministrative office for the courts – the Office ofCourt Administration (OCA). In this task, the ChiefAdministrator is assisted by two Deputy ChiefAdministrative Judges who supervise theday-to-day operations of the courts – one for NewYork City and one for the courts outside of NewYork City; a Deputy Chief Administrator, who isresponsible for the operations of the divisions andoffices that comprise the Office of ManagementSupport; a Statewide Administrative Judge forMatrimonial Matters; and a Counsel, who directs

the legal and legislative work of the Counsel’sOffice.

In addition to the overall supervisory dutiesof the two Deputy Chief Administrative Judges,responsibility for on-site management of the trialcourts and agencies is vested in localAdministrative Judges. In each judicial districtoutside New York City, there is a DistrictAdministrative Judge who is responsible forsupervising all courts and agencies. In New YorkCity, an Administrative Judge supervises each ofthe major courts. The Administrative Judgesmanage court caseloads and are responsible forgeneral administrative functions, includingpersonnel and budget administration.

The Office of Management Support provides theadministrative services required to support allcourt and auxiliary operations. In 1998, inrecognition of the expansion and increaseddiversification of the tasks being carried out, therewas a major restructuring of the Office designedto increase efficiency and enhance the delivery ofservices to the courts. Five separate Divisionswere established: the Division of CourtOperations, overseeing security, trial courtoperations and alternative dispute resolutionprograms; the Division of Financial Management,responsible for the Judiciary budget; the Divisionof Human Resources, encompassing personneladministration, payroll operations and benefits,employee relations, judicial benefits, educationand training, professional development and theworkforce diversity office; the Division of LegalInformation and Records Management; and theDivision of Technology. Four Offices also werecreated: the Office of Administrative Services; theOffice of Court Research, providing caseloadactivity statistics and related services; the Officeof Internal Affairs, performing internal audits andinvestigations; and the Office of Public Affairs.

21st Annual Report of The Chief Administrator of the Courts

page 28

Appe l la te Aux i l laryO p e r a t i o n s

• Attorney Discipline

• Assigned Counsel

• Candidate Fitness

• Law Guardians

• Mental HygieneLegal Services

Division of Court Operations• Security• Alternative Dispute Resolution• Trial Court Operations

Division of Financial Management• Budget & Finance• Audit Services

Division of Human Resources• Career Services Office• Education & Training Office• Employee Relations Office• Workforce Diversity Office• Judicial Benefits Office• Payroll Office• Personnel Office

Division of Legal Information andRecords Management

Division of Technology• Network Architecture• Systems Development• Technical Services• Technical Training

Office of Public Affairs• Communications

Office of Court ResearchOffice of Administrative Services

Counse l 's Of f ice

Admin is tra t i ve JudgesAdmin is tra t ive Judges

• NYC Criminal Court

• NYC Family Court

• Supreme Courts• NY County Civil Term• NY County Criminal Term• 2nd District

(Kings &R i c h m o n d )

• 11th District( Q u e e n s )

• 12th District( B r o n x )

• Surrogates' Courts

• NYC County Clerks

• Law Libraries

Deputy Ch ie fAdmin is tra t ive Judge

(NYC Courts)


(Outside NYC )


(Management Support)

C o u n s e l Appel la te D iv is ionsa n d

Appel la te Terms

Chie f Admin is tra t i ve Judge

Court o f Appea ls Ch ie f Judge o f the S ta te o f New York

Pres id ing Just ices

Admin is tra t ive Board

Figure 12UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM

Administrative Structure

• Court of Claims

• 3rd District

• 4th District

• 5th District

• 6th District

• 7th District

• 8th District

• 9th District

• 10th District( N a s s a u )

• 10th District( S u f f o l k )

• C o m m i s s i o n e r sof Jurors

• Law Libraries

• City, Town &V i l l a g eResource Center

Statewide Administrative Judge for Matrimonial Matters

• NYC Civi l Court

Office of Internal Affairs • Inspector General

• Special Inspector General for Bias Complaints


Also included under the direction of the Office ofManagement Support are a Facilities Unit, SpecialProjects Unit and the Center for Court Innovation.(The work of a number of these support unitsduring 1998 is highlighted later in this and thefollowing chapters.)

Counsel’s Office prepares and analyzeslegislation, represents the UCS in litigation, andprovides various other forms of legal assistanceto the Chief Administrator. The legislative workof Counsel’s Office during 1998 is reported inChapter 4. (See Figure 12 for a diagram of theadministrative structure of the UCS.)

The Chief Judge and the Chief Administratoralso rely on a number of advisory groups inmeeting their administrative responsibilities.Among these are the Judicial Conference, theAdvisory Committee on Civil Practice, the AdvisoryCommittee on Criminal Law and Procedure, theFamily Court Advisory and Rules Committee, theLocal Courts’ Advisory Committee, and theSurrogate’s Court Advisory Committee. The workof the Advisory Committees during 1998 issummarized in Chapter 4.

Court officials have established othercommittees or commissions, such as: the FranklinH. Williams Judicial Commission on Minorities, thePermanent Judicial Commission on Justice forChildren, the New York Judicial Committee onWomen in the Courts, the Ethics Commission forthe Unified Court System, the Pro-BonoMonitoring Committee, the Criminal Pattern JuryInstructions Committee, and the AdvisoryCommittee on Judicial Ethics. Theaccomplishments of some of these groups during1998 are outlined elsewhere within this Report.

The Division of FinancialManagement

The Division of Financial Management isresponsible for the preparation, review andimplementation of the Judiciary budget. It alsodevelops and promulgates, after approval, fiscalpolicies and procedures and other relatedfunctions. In addition, it supports the UCS’s goalsand objectives by requesting and allocating thenecessary funds to carry them out.

The UCS’s budget is based upon a fiscal yearthat runs from April 1 through March 31 of thefollowing year. Each year, the budget is presentedby the Chief Administrative Judge to the Court ofAppeals for approval and for certification by theChief Judge. After certification, it is transmittedto the Governor for inclusion in the State budget.Although the budget is to be submitted by theGovernor without revision, recommendations maybe included as deemed appropriate by theGovernor.

The budget request prepared by the UCS isdivided into two parts, covering personal services(salaries for judges and nonjudicial personnel) andnonpersonal services (all other expenses,including equipment, supplies, etc.). Over 80% ofthe budget is allocated to the payment of personalservices.

The budget request submitted for the1998-99 fiscal year was approved by theLegislature with only minor adjustments. A totalof $1.1 billion was appropriated for court andagency operations, reflecting a 9.6% increase overthe previous year’s allocation. This budgetprovides funding for 387 new positions for specifictargeted initiatives in areas including familyjustice, domestic violence, Housing Court and civiljustice. These positions support initiativesincluding night Family Court and a satellite FamilyCourt in Queens to provide more convenientaccess for all citizens; an adoption fast track;Family Treatment Courts to address the growingproblem of drug abuse and child neglect;dedicated Domestic Violence Parts; andcomprehensive reforms to be implemented in theNew York City Housing Court. The funding willcontinue, undiminished, to support theoperational capacity of trial courts to processcurrent caseloads and also support thecontinuation of the program commenced by theChief Judge and Chief Administrative Judge toachieve economy and efficiency through reducingthe administrative overhead of the court system.

Division of Technology

The creation and management of informationis one of the principal activities performed in thetrial courts of the Unified Court System in sup-port of administration and the case disposition


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Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau participating in ademonstration of the new Magstar Automatic Tape Library

Bob

Spra

ttprocess. Ad-m i n i s t r a t i v eoversight of in-formation pro-cessing in thetrial courts isthe function ofthe Division ofTechnology. Insupport of thisresponsibility,the Division de-velops andimplements in-novative tech-nology to en-hance court op-erations and ad-ministration. Many of the new programs devel-oped by the Division operate through CourtNet,the statewide judicial network that allows courtsthroughout the state to communicate informationand data.

To support the operation of high-volumecourts and district and central administrativeoffices, the UCS maintains centralized on-lineapplications backed up by a mainframe processorand minicomputers, including those for: theCriminal Records and Information ManagementSystem (CRIMS); the Jury Management System(JMS); the Civil Case Information System (CCIS);the New York City Family Court System (AFCRIS);the Housing Court Information System (HCIS); theNew York City County Clerk Judgment Docket andLien book system (JDLS); the Caseload ActivityReporting System (CARS); and various on-line andbatch administrative systems. In addition,centralized application data is downloaded tolocal microcomputers for local applications andused to generate special reports.

During 1998, the work of the Divisionincluded the following:

• A system-wide intranet was introduced todeliver information to the large court audience andto quickly meet the changing needs of the courts’technology users. The application will be ex-panded to include court and administrative forms,fiduciary reports, lists of judges and staff, title stan-dards, civil service test announcements, press re-leases and hundreds of other written materials thatpreviously had required reproduction and mailing.

• Internet ac-cess for ap-proved CourtNetusers was imple-mented and isbeing expandeddaily to provideusers with ameans of re-searching infor-mation essentialto improving thejudicial process.Access to courtinformation bythe public,completion ofjury question-

naires, directions to courthouses, court calendarsand related information should also become avail-able on the internet in the near future.

• Through CourtNet, data communicationswith police, district attorneys, probation, sheriffsand other agencies have been enhanced toimprove the exchange of criminal case history dataand case disposition data, thereby eliminating theneed for each agency to duplicate this informationby hand.

• Implementation began of the new IBM 3490EMagstar Automatic Tape Library. This additionto the court system’s mainframe configurationstores and retrieves tape cartridges which containbackups of all the data files processed andmaintained on the system. The unit is a virtualtape server with a robotics cartridge accessorwhich recognizes the stored tape cartridge via alaser beam cartridge recognition system. Thesystem carries out unattended operations andhas resulted in significant time savings in carryingout the nightly backup of online disk storage.

• A customized summons system to assist theNew York City Criminal Court in processing theheavy volume of cases handled there on a dailybasis was implemented. This system producesscanned images, initializes cases for processingand schedules cases. It also provides caseinformation in the courtroom for both the judgeand court personnel, records case dispositionsand prints all necessary forms for disposition.


• Case management software was developedfor Civil Supreme Court Judges and staff. Thispowerful, easy-to-use system, which wasdeveloped in conjunction with judges and courtstaff, provides access to case informationincluding motions, appearances, attorneys,calendars/schedules, and history, with variouspersonalized displays. It is used in chambers,courtrooms and back offices via a laptop or PCwith CourtNet. The system is in place in New York,Kings, Suffolk, and Nassau Counties, with furtherexpansion planned for 1999.

• Development began on Court Profiles, whichwill combine many of the mainframe data sourcesin a web- based application allowing any CourtNetuser to query a database that contains allpertinent UCS related information. Theinformation available will include financial,staffing, facilities and caseload activity data.

• Work continued on a project to address theproblems anticipated by the arrival of the year2000. A determination was made to expand tofour digits the date fields in the over 7200programs and 400 databases utilized in supportof administrative and court operations. Thisremediation process was commenced in January,1998, and all systems are scheduled to be incompliance by June, 1999.

• During the year, over 1,230 laptops, 2,680desktops, 550 printers and 75 new servers weredistributed throughout the system and added toCourtNet. By the end of 1998, over 20,000network cables had been wired in courtrooms,chambers, back offices, libraries, and otherworking areas in support of court operations andthe expansion of CourtNet. Internet workequipment and data communication circuits havebeen installed at more than 100 court locationsstatewide.

• The first steps were taken towards thedevelopment of a universal case managementsystem with the start of the initial phase of aStatewide Family Court Automation Project whichwill serve as a model for a courtwide system. Inaddition to family matters, this first phase willincorporate other case types as part of the effortto create a truly universal case managementsystem.

Legal Information and RecordsManagement Division

The Legal Information and RecordsManagement Division provides professionalsupport and services for law libraries, legalresearch, records management and micrographics.During 1998, outreach efforts were focused onthe courts and the communities that they serve.

The UCS web site (ucs.ljx.com), which wasinaugurated in 1997, was redesigned andexpanded. Links are provided to pages fromindividual courts, court libraries and judges.Information available includes employmentpostings, exam schedules, press releases and courtrule revisions, as well as a variety of court forms.During the year, two million visitors accessed thepage.

A joint project with the New York Law Journalled to an Internet page entitled “New York Courtsand Law,” created to provide links to informationthat could be helpful to public understanding ofthe court system and the law in New York. Thesite is accessible through the New York LawJournal and UCS web sites.

In conjunction with the Education andTraining Division and the Division of Technology,a training program was initiated to provide judgesand other court researchers with the necessaryskills to use a variety of computer assisted legalresearch tools and choose the most appropriatemethod for each purpose. Among the resourcesavailable are the court system’s nine CD-ROMtowers. Access to the towers was improved in1998 by adding 800 number phone lines to twoof the towers and upgrading software on thetowers to enhance speed and reliability.

Professional reference librarians continue toanswer the 1-800 COURTNY telephone number.During 1998 over 3,500 calls were received fromall over the country. Questions ranged frominquires about directions to the courthouse andtelephone numbers of courts to referenceinquiries precipitating interviews with callersbefore referral.


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The Rensselaer County Family Court, newly housed in the renovated former county jail

Patr

icia

Bee

ler

Court Facilities Program

The care of existing court facilities and thedevelopment and construction of new ones is amajor ongoing activity for the UCS. Since 1987,the Court Facilities Act (“CFA”) has provided theframework and direction for statewide oversightof the maintenance and construction of court

facilities, which are the responsibilities of thelocalities.

To help local governments provide andmaintain new and improved court facilities, theCFA created the Court Facilities Incentive AidFund, a State Special Revenue Fund supported byvarious court filing fees. The receipt of State aidis explicitly linked to compliance with therequirements of the CFA. The Fund provides aninterest subsidy, ranging from 25 to 33 percent,to reduce the cost of borrowing money to financecourt improvements. The Fund also provides asubsidy for maintenance and operations expenses.

Under the direction of the CFA, new andimproved facilities have been provided for courtsacross the State. Each year, a number of newbuildings are completed, while construction isstarted on other courthouses. In 1998, new CityCourts were opened in the cities of Geneva andNew Rochelle, as well as a new Family Court inRensselaer County. A new courthouse in Herkimer

County began operations, and major renovationsto historic courthouses in Dutchess and FultonCounties were completed. Projects underconstruction in 1998 include major newcourthouses in Orange, Broome and WyomingCounties. In New York City, major projects toprovide improved facilities for Family Courts inBrooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, and for the

Supreme Court, Criminal Term in the Bronx and inBrooklyn, advanced through the programming andearly design stages.

Education and Training Programs

The Education and Training Division (“E&T”)is responsible for providing continuing educationfor judges and nonjudicial employees. Thisincludes local town and village justices, a grouplargely composed of nonlawyers. In 1998, morethan 3,000 judges and town and village justices,and approximately 14,000 nonjudicial personnel,attended education programs facilitated orfinanced by the UCS. Some of the major programsthat were offered are described below.

At the end of 1998, E&T applied to therecently-established NYS Continuing LegalEducation Board for formal certification as aprovider of programming eligible for CLE credit.Once approved, the judges and attorneys who


attend E&T ’s programs will be eligible to receiveCLE credit.

Programs For State-Paid Judges

Judicial SeminarsJuly 7-10; 14-17, 1998

Over 1,000 judges attended one of the twothree-day annual judicial seminars. They wereoffered over 40 sessions of classes each week insubject areas covering civil, criminal, family, andtrusts and estates law, as well as evidence andjudicial skills. Sessions also covered substantiveannual updates, including capital punishment, UCSinitiatives, evaluations of new legislation andprofessional rules, new developments in trialtechniques, programs of personal interest tojudges, and programs for special courts. A widevariety of computer workshops were available andjudges were able to participate in an interactivevideo training program in evidence. The facultyincluded judges, academics, hard science andbehavioral science experts, and practicingattorneys.

Orientation Program for newly-elected andnewly-appointed JudgesDecember 7-11, 1998

Approximately 80 judges participated in afive-day seminar designed for those recentlyelected or appointed to the bench. The newjudges attended lectures and workshops on a widevariety of substantive legal subjects and oncourtroom case management, with particularemphasis on the knowledge and skills needed tostart their judicial careers. Each new judge wasassigned a more seasoned mentor judge for adviceand consultation.

Judicial Automation ForumJanuary 27-29, 1998February 3-5, 1998July 9 and 13, 1998

This program was designed to acquaintjudges with laptop computers. Judgesparticipated in hands-on workshops in WindowsNT, WordPerfect 8, GroupWise, and legal researchutilizing CD-ROM. Judges also participated ingroup demonstrations focusing on CourtNet and

Public Access. In all, over 500 judges participatedin the training.

Administrative Judges Program

Meetings were held several times during theyear as part of an on-going program designedspecifically to enhance the knowledge andawareness of Administrative Judges about recentmanagement trends and to serve as a forum fordiscussion of specific issues that affectAdministrative Judges in their role as courtmanagers.

Programs for Nonjudicial Employees

Family Court Hearing ExaminersJune 5, 1998

This one-day program, presented to 95employees, updated Family Court HearingExaminers on the new Uniform Interstate FamilySupport Act. In addition, participants attendedlectures on paternity, ethics, computer resources,and recent developments in case law andlegislation.

Legal update for Court AttorneysNovember 17-18; 19-20; 29-30, 1998

This two-day program provided updates oncivil law and procedure, criminal law andprocedure, family law and evidence, among othertopics. Special programs also were available oncomputer usage and on-line research. Over 1200attorneys employed by the court system attended,many encouraged to do so by the announcementof the new CLE requirement in NYS for allattorneys.

Annual Nonjudicial Association Seminars

Annual meetings of the nonjudicialassociations bring together court employees whowork in similar courts or job titles to exchangeideas and attend workshops and lectures on thesubstantive and technical areas affecting theircourts. During 1998, two combined annualseminars were held. The City and District CourtClerks Association joined with the Commissionersof Jurors Association and the Supreme and CountyCourt Clerks Association. Similarly, the FamilyCourt Clerks Association, the Law LibrariansAssociation, the Surrogate’s Court Chief Clerks


page 34

Association, and the Surrogate’s Court LawAssistants Association held a joint meeting.

Town and Village Justice Training Program

There are approximately 2,230 town andvillage justices in the State, of whom close to 75%are not lawyers. New justices who are not lawyersare required to complete a six-day basiccertification course covering the fundamentals oflaw and their responsibilities as justices. Thesebasic courses were offered five times during 1998and attended by approximately 150 justices. Inaddition, a training program for Town and VillageCourt clerks was presented 13 times around theState.

Each year, Town and Village justices arerequired to attend an advanced continuing judicialeducation program. In addition to the attendancerequirement, all non-lawyer Town and Villagejustices must pass a written examination that isadministered at each program. The advancedcourse consists of two days of instruction coveringselected legal topics. Participants in 1998attended lectures covering subjects such asdomestic violence, judicial ethics and juryselection as well as an update on new legislation.

A separate City, Town and Village CourtsResource Center (“Center”), operatingindependently of E&T, offers advice and guidanceto the justices of City, Town and Village Courtsand their court clerks throughout the State. It isstaffed by attorneys who provide assistance onlegal questions, and by non-attorneys who serveas advocates in dealing with the localities inconnection with a variety of issues includingfacilities and personnel. During the year, theCenter handled approximately 13,000 inquiries.

Workforce Diversity Office

The Workforce Diversity Office (formerly theEqual Employment Opportunity Division)oversees the implementation of the court system’sWorkforce Diversity Program, which wasinstituted in 1989. The purpose of the programis to increase the diversity of the courts’workforce, with major focus on specific job groupswhere underrepresentation of minorities andwomen has been identified. In 1998, the office

expanded its outreach efforts to encourage thesegroups to seek work in the courts by broadeninginternship programs and providing greatertechnical support to the courts. It also developeda sexual harassment training program which wasoffered to 1500 court clerks and court managers.

The other responsibilities of the Office includeoverseeing anti-discrimination training programsand the Handicapped Set-Aside Program. TheOffice also coordinates the work of EEO liaisonsas well as anti-discrimination panels and identifiesreasonable accommodations for court systemapplicants and employees.

Office of Special Inspector Generalfor Bias Matters

In October 1998, the position of SpecialInspector General for Bias Matters wasestablished. The Special Inspector General hasresponsibility for conducting audits, evaluationsand investigations in connection with allegationsof work-related bias involving any judge ornonjudicial employee of the court system. TheSpecial Inspector General also participates inestablishing and maintaining standards of conductfor bias-free behavior.

The Special Inspector General investigatesallegations of bias based upon race, sex (includingsexual harassment), sexual orientation, age,marital status, disability, national origin or religionthat affect the workplace or the terms andconditions of employment, including acts thatrelate to services provided by court personnel tothe public. In addition, the Special InspectorGeneral makes recommendations for resolutionof these allegations, including retraining,mediation and disciplinary action, as appropriate.

Attorney Registration andStatement Filings

The Office of Court Administration isresponsible for maintaining a variety of recordsand data concerning the status of attorneys andcase processing. An explanation of that informationand the filings for 1998 are as follows.


Attorney Registration

All attorneys admitted and licensed topractice law in the State of New York, whetherresident or not, are required biennially to file aregistration statement, and, unless they areretired from the practice of law, to pay a $300registration fee. During 1998, approximately98,000 registrations were processed and$29,448,100 in registration fees recorded. As ofthe end of calendar year 1998, approximately177,207 attorneys were registered with OCA.Table 16 reflects the number of attorneysregistered by county and Judicial Department asof the end of 1998.

Retainer and Closing Statements

Pursuant to 22 NYCRR Parts 603.7, 691.20and 1022.2, every attorney who enters into acontingent-fee agreement in any case involvingpersonal injury, property damage, wrongfuldeath, or claims in connection with condemnationor change-of-grade proceedings in the First,Second, or Fourth Judicial Departments must filea statement of retainer with OCA, containing theterms of compensation.

In addition, in any case or proceeding inwhich a retainer statement is required, a closingstatement must be filed with OCA within 15 daysafter the attorney receives or shares any sumreceived in connection with the claim. Thisstatement must include information indicatingthe gross amount of the settlement or award (ifany), the net distribution between client andattorney, and a breakdown of other expensesand disbursements.

In 1998, a total of 316,450 retainer andclosing statements were processed. Of those,133,787 were filed in the First Department;162,124 in the Second; and 20,539 in the FourthDepartment. Financial data concerning closingstatements filed in calendar year 1998 isavailable upon request from OCA.

Appointment of Fiduciaries

Part 36 of the Rules of the Chief Judge (22NYCRR Part 36) requires that all appointments ofguardians, court evaluators, attorneys for allegedincapacitated persons, referees, guardians adlitem, receivers and persons designated to performservices for receivers be made by the appointingjudge from a list of applicants established by theChief Administrator of the Courts, unless the courtfinds that there is good reason to appointsomeone who is not on the list and places astatement to that effect on the record.

During the period from April 1, 1986 (whenPart 36 was promulgated) through December31,1998, approximately 16,500 applications werefiled with OCA from individuals and institutionsthat had indicated their availability to serve insome capacity under this Rule. Table 17 shows thedistribution by county of the applications in 1998.It also shows the distribution by county of the 695applications filed from January 1, 1998 throughDecember 31, 1998. From January I, 1998 throughDecember 31, 1998, there were 8,260 statementsof appointment filed with the Chief Administrator.Table 18 reflects the number of those appointmentsby county.

Statements of Approval of Compensation

Section 35-a of the Judiciary Law requiresjudges who approve the payment of a fee for morethan $200 for services performed by any personappointed by the court in any capacity to file astatement of approval of compensation with OCA.In 1998, OCA received a total of 5,043 statementsof approval of compensation.

Adoption Affidavits

In accordance with the rules of the respectiveAppellate Divisions, 22 NYCRR Parts 603.23 (1stDept.), 691.23 (2nd Dept.) 806.14 (3rd Dept.) and1022.33 (4th Dept.), all attorneys in adoptionproceedings must file an affidavit with OCAconcerning the adoption prior to the entry of theadoption decree. The objective of this filing is tomaintain a record of attorneys and agenciesinvolved in adoptions and to record the fees, if any,charged for their services. During 1998, 7,394adoption affidavits were filed with OCA.


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Table 16 ATTORNEY REGISTRATION BY LOCATION

County of Business 1998

Location Total Location Total

Albany 3,513 Otsego 83Allegany 47 Putnam 224Bronx 1,923 Queens 3,970Broome 570 Rensselaer 356Cattaraugus 97 Richmond 953Cayuga 100 Rockland 1,110Chautauqua 212 St. Lawrence 119Chemung 162 Saratoga 358Chenango 67 Schenectady 382Clinton 109 Schoharie 45Columbia 151 Schuyler 23Cortland 64 Seneca 36Delaware 80 Steuben 128Dutchess 690 Suffolk 4,526Erie 3,947 Sullivan 189Essex 86 Tioga 51Franklin 68 Tompkins 276Fulton 69 Ulster 370Genesee 80 Warren 187Greene 79 Washington 64Hamilton 6 Wayne 84Herkimer 80 Westchester 6,489Jefferson 154 Wyoming 40Kings 5,278 Yates 22Lewis 20 Outside N.Y.Livingston 67 State 42,263Madison 96 Missing County 17,711Monroe 2,750Montgomery 83 First Department 62,746Nassau 10,210 Second Department 34,203New York 60,823 Third Department 7,706Niagara 332 Fourth Department 11,062Oneida 518Onondaga 2,068Ontario 148Orange 753 Total 175,691Orleans 25Oswego 107


TABLE 17APPOINTMENT OF FIDUCIARIES

APPLICATIONS BY COUNTYAS OF 12/31/98

LOCATION INDIVIDUALS INSTITUTIONS TOTAL LOCATION INDIVIDUALS INSTITUTIONS TOTAL * Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed 01/01/98- 04/01/86- 01/01/98- 04/01/86- 01/01/98- 4/01/86- O1/01/98- 04/01/86- 01/01/98- 04/01/86 01/01/98- 04/01/86 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98

Albany 24 656 ... 2 24 658 Niagara 75 1054 ... ... 75 1054Allegany 5 152 ... 1 5 153 Oneida 5 251 ... 1 5 252Bronx 153 3536 ... 7 153 3536 Onondaga 15 306 3 3 18 309Broome 3 384 ... 3 3 387 Ontario 26 402 ... 1 26 403Cattaraugus 11 323 ... 1 11 324 Orange 24 723 ... ... 24 723Cayuga 3 164 ... 1 3 165 Orleans 15 266 ... ... 15 266Chautauqua 12 357 ... ... 12 357 Oswego 4 141 ... ... 4 141Chemung 3 79 3 5 6 84 Otsego 4 122 ... 1 4 123Chenango 1 134 ... 3 1 137 Putnam 40 896 ... 1 40 897Clinton 3 73 ... 1 3 74 Queens 195 4906 ... 9 195 4915Columbia 8 226 ... 1 8 227 Rensselaer 17 485 ... 1 17 486Cortland 3 121 ... 2 3 123 Richmond 62 1771 ... 5 62 1776Delaware 0 115 ... 3 0 118 Rockland 41 1352 ... 2 41 1354Dutchess 26 807 ... 1 26 808 St. Lawrence 2 74 ... ... 3 74Erie 115 1704 3 5 118 1709 Saratoga 23 574 ... 1 23 575Essex 6 108 ... ... 6 108 Schenectady 19 531 ... 1 18 532Franklin 3 72 ... ... 3 72 Schoharie 3 113 ... 1 3 114Fulton 5 129 ... ... 5 129 Schuyler 2 58 ... ... 2 58Genesee 25 411 ... ... 25 411 Seneca 1 113 ... 1 1 114Greene 5 185 ... 2 5 187 Steuben 6 154 ... 3 5 157Hamilton 1 57 ... ... 1 57 Suffolk 116 2955 ... 5 116 2960Herkimer 2 137 ... ... 2 137 Sullivan 6 198 ... 1 6 199Jefferson 6 81 ... 1 6 82 Tioga 4 159 ... 2 4 161Kings 199 5130 ... 9 199 5139 Tompkins 5 101 ... 1 5 102Lewis 0 64 ... ... 0 64 Ulster 10 373 3 3 13 376Livingston 20 304 3 5 23 309 Warren 12 219 ... ... 12 219Madison 3 229 ... 1 3 230 Washington 11 185 ... ... 11 185Monroe 60 889 3 6 63 895 Wayne 19 342 ... 1 19 343Montgomery 6 158 ... 1 6 159 Westchester 130 3267 ... 4 130 3271Nassau 168 4757 ... 8 168 4765 Wyoming 15 260 ... ... 13 260New York 278 5272 ... 9 278 5281 Yates 8 112 3 4 10 116

Totals 2072 49,229 21 130 2093 49,359

* Applicants may list more than one county. The total for January 1, 1998 through December 31, 1998 represents the distribution of 695 applications. The total for April 1, 1986 through December 31, 1998 represents 17,891 applications.


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Table 18 APPOINTMENTS OF FIDUCIARIES

Appointments Reported by County January 1, 1998 through December 31, 1998


Albany 155 Otsego 17Allegany 9 Putnam 35Bronx 527 Queens 886Broome 78 Rensselaer 86Cattaraugus 32 Richmond 72Cayuga 47 Rockland 103Chautauqua 66 St. Lawrence 57Chemung 47 Saratoga 75Chenango 6 Schenectady 95Clinton 36 Schoharie 16Columbia 24 Schuyler 8Cortland 8 Seneca 10Delaware 29 Steuben 25Dutchess 104 Suffolk 671Erie 716 Sullivan 38Essex 27 Tioga 16Franklin 29 Tompkins 25Fulton 21 Ulster 91Genesee 24 Warren 31Greene 6 Washington 19Hamilton 1 Wayne 47Herkimer 31 Westchester 365Jefferson 75 Wyoming 19Kings 769 Yates 12Lewis 17Livingston 26Madison 29Monroe 397Montgomery 21Nassau 551New York 766Niagara 126Oneida 121Onondaga 341Ontario 55Orange 96Orleans 7Oswego 21

Total New York State 8,260


Chapter 2


Court Administration

Section 28 of Article VI of the StateConstitution provides that the Chief Judge of theCourt of Appeals is the Chief Judge of the Stateand its chief judicial officer. The Chief Judgeappoints a Chief Administrator of the Courts (or ChiefAdministrative Judge of the Courts if the appointeeis a judge) with the advice and consent of theAdministrative Board of the Courts. TheAdministrative Board consists of the Chief Judge aschair and the Presiding Justices of the fourAppellate Divisions of the Supreme Court. TheChief Judge establishes statewide administrativestandards and policies after consultation with theAdministrative Board and approval by the Courtof Appeals.

The Court of Appeals and the Appellate Divisionsare responsible for the administration of theirrespective courts. The Appellate Divisions alsooversee several appellate auxiliary operations:candidate fitness, attorney discipline, assignedcounsel, law guardians, and the Mental HygieneLegal Service.

The Chief Administrator, on behalf of the ChiefJudge, is responsible for supervising theadministration and operation of the trial courtsand for establishing and directing anadministrative office for the courts – the Office ofCourt Administration (OCA). In this task, the ChiefAdministrator is assisted by two Deputy ChiefAdministrative Judges who supervise theday-to-day operations of the courts – one for NewYork City and one for the courts outside of NewYork City; a Deputy Chief Administrator, who isresponsible for the operations of the divisions andoffices that comprise the Office of ManagementSupport; a Statewide Administrative Judge forMatrimonial Matters; and a Counsel, who directs

the legal and legislative work of the Counsel’sOffice.

In addition to the overall supervisory dutiesof the two Deputy Chief Administrative Judges,responsibility for on-site management of the trialcourts and agencies is vested in localAdministrative Judges. In each judicial districtoutside New York City, there is a DistrictAdministrative Judge who is responsible forsupervising all courts and agencies. In New YorkCity, an Administrative Judge supervises each ofthe major courts. The Administrative Judgesmanage court caseloads and are responsible forgeneral administrative functions, includingpersonnel and budget administration.

The Office of Management Support provides theadministrative services required to support allcourt and auxiliary operations. In 1998, inrecognition of the expansion and increaseddiversification of the tasks being carried out, therewas a major restructuring of the Office designedto increase efficiency and enhance the delivery ofservices to the courts. Five separate Divisionswere established: the Division of CourtOperations, overseeing security, trial courtoperations and alternative dispute resolutionprograms; the Division of Financial Management,responsible for the Judiciary budget; the Divisionof Human Resources, encompassing personneladministration, payroll operations and benefits,employee relations, judicial benefits, educationand training, professional development and theworkforce diversity office; the Division of LegalInformation and Records Management; and theDivision of Technology. Four Offices also werecreated: the Office of Administrative Services; theOffice of Court Research, providing caseloadactivity statistics and related services; the Officeof Internal Affairs, performing internal audits andinvestigations; and the Office of Public Affairs.


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Appe l la te Aux i l laryO p e r a t i o n s

• Attorney Discipline

• Assigned Counsel

• Candidate Fitness

• Law Guardians

• Mental HygieneLegal Services

Division of Court Operations• Security• Alternative Dispute Resolution• Trial Court Operations

Division of Financial Management• Budget & Finance• Audit Services

Division of Human Resources• Career Services Office• Education & Training Office• Employee Relations Office• Workforce Diversity Office• Judicial Benefits Office• Payroll Office• Personnel Office

Division of Legal Information andRecords Management

Division of Technology• Network Architecture• Systems Development• Technical Services• Technical Training

Office of Public Affairs• Communications

Office of Court ResearchOffice of Administrative Services

Counse l 's Of f ice

Admin is tra t i ve JudgesAdmin is tra t ive Judges

• NYC Criminal Court

• NYC Family Court

• Supreme Courts• NY County Civil Term• NY County Criminal Term• 2nd District

(Kings &R i c h m o n d )

• 11th District( Q u e e n s )

• 12th District( B r o n x )

• Surrogates' Courts

• NYC County Clerks

• Law Libraries


(NYC Courts)


(Outside NYC )


(Management Support)

C o u n s e l Appel la te D iv is ionsa n d

Appel la te Terms

Chie f Admin is tra t i ve Judge

Court o f Appea ls Ch ie f Judge o f the S ta te o f New York

Pres id ing Just ices

Admin is tra t ive Board

Figure 12UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM

Administrative Structure

• Court of Claims

• 3rd District

• 4th District

• 5th District

• 6th District

• 7th District

• 8th District

• 9th District

• 10th District( N a s s a u )

• 10th District( S u f f o l k )

• C o m m i s s i o n e r sof Jurors

• Law Libraries

• City, Town &V i l l a g eResource Center

Statewide Administrative Judge for Matrimonial Matters

• NYC Civi l Court

Office of Internal Affairs • Inspector General

• Special Inspector General for Bias Complaints


Also included under the direction of the Office ofManagement Support are a Facilities Unit, SpecialProjects Unit and the Center for Court Innovation.(The work of a number of these support unitsduring 1998 is highlighted later in this and thefollowing chapters.)

Counsel’s Office prepares and analyzeslegislation, represents the UCS in litigation, andprovides various other forms of legal assistanceto the Chief Administrator. The legislative workof Counsel’s Office during 1998 is reported inChapter 4. (See Figure 12 for a diagram of theadministrative structure of the UCS.)

The Chief Judge and the Chief Administratoralso rely on a number of advisory groups inmeeting their administrative responsibilities.Among these are the Judicial Conference, theAdvisory Committee on Civil Practice, the AdvisoryCommittee on Criminal Law and Procedure, theFamily Court Advisory and Rules Committee, theLocal Courts’ Advisory Committee, and theSurrogate’s Court Advisory Committee. The workof the Advisory Committees during 1998 issummarized in Chapter 4.

Court officials have established othercommittees or commissions, such as: the FranklinH. Williams Judicial Commission on Minorities, thePermanent Judicial Commission on Justice forChildren, the New York Judicial Committee onWomen in the Courts, the Ethics Commission forthe Unified Court System, the Pro-BonoMonitoring Committee, the Criminal Pattern JuryInstructions Committee, and the AdvisoryCommittee on Judicial Ethics. Theaccomplishments of some of these groups during1998 are outlined elsewhere within this Report.

The Division of FinancialManagement

The Division of Financial Management isresponsible for the preparation, review andimplementation of the Judiciary budget. It alsodevelops and promulgates, after approval, fiscalpolicies and procedures and other relatedfunctions. In addition, it supports the UCS’s goalsand objectives by requesting and allocating thenecessary funds to carry them out.

The UCS’s budget is based upon a fiscal yearthat runs from April 1 through March 31 of thefollowing year. Each year, the budget is presentedby the Chief Administrative Judge to the Court ofAppeals for approval and for certification by theChief Judge. After certification, it is transmittedto the Governor for inclusion in the State budget.Although the budget is to be submitted by theGovernor without revision, recommendations maybe included as deemed appropriate by theGovernor.

The budget request prepared by the UCS isdivided into two parts, covering personal services(salaries for judges and nonjudicial personnel) andnonpersonal services (all other expenses,including equipment, supplies, etc.). Over 80% ofthe budget is allocated to the payment of personalservices.

The budget request submitted for the1998-99 fiscal year was approved by theLegislature with only minor adjustments. A totalof $1.1 billion was appropriated for court andagency operations, reflecting a 9.6% increase overthe previous year’s allocation. This budgetprovides funding for 387 new positions for specifictargeted initiatives in areas including familyjustice, domestic violence, Housing Court and civiljustice. These positions support initiativesincluding night Family Court and a satellite FamilyCourt in Queens to provide more convenientaccess for all citizens; an adoption fast track;Family Treatment Courts to address the growingproblem of drug abuse and child neglect;dedicated Domestic Violence Parts; andcomprehensive reforms to be implemented in theNew York City Housing Court. The funding willcontinue, undiminished, to support theoperational capacity of trial courts to processcurrent caseloads and also support thecontinuation of the program commenced by theChief Judge and Chief Administrative Judge toachieve economy and efficiency through reducingthe administrative overhead of the court system.

Division of Technology

The creation and management of informationis one of the principal activities performed in thetrial courts of the Unified Court System in sup-port of administration and the case disposition


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Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau participating in ademonstration of the new Magstar Automatic Tape Library

Bob

Spra

ttprocess. Ad-m i n i s t r a t i v eoversight of in-formation pro-cessing in thetrial courts isthe function ofthe Division ofTechnology. Insupport of thisresponsibility,the Division de-velops andimplements in-novative tech-nology to en-hance court op-erations and ad-ministration. Many of the new programs devel-oped by the Division operate through CourtNet,the statewide judicial network that allows courtsthroughout the state to communicate informationand data.

To support the operation of high-volumecourts and district and central administrativeoffices, the UCS maintains centralized on-lineapplications backed up by a mainframe processorand minicomputers, including those for: theCriminal Records and Information ManagementSystem (CRIMS); the Jury Management System(JMS); the Civil Case Information System (CCIS);the New York City Family Court System (AFCRIS);the Housing Court Information System (HCIS); theNew York City County Clerk Judgment Docket andLien book system (JDLS); the Caseload ActivityReporting System (CARS); and various on-line andbatch administrative systems. In addition,centralized application data is downloaded tolocal microcomputers for local applications andused to generate special reports.

During 1998, the work of the Divisionincluded the following:

• A system-wide intranet was introduced todeliver information to the large court audience andto quickly meet the changing needs of the courts’technology users. The application will be ex-panded to include court and administrative forms,fiduciary reports, lists of judges and staff, title stan-dards, civil service test announcements, press re-leases and hundreds of other written materials thatpreviously had required reproduction and mailing.

• Internet ac-cess for ap-proved CourtNetusers was imple-mented and isbeing expandeddaily to provideusers with ameans of re-searching infor-mation essentialto improving thejudicial process.Access to courtinformation bythe public,completion ofjury question-

naires, directions to courthouses, court calendarsand related information should also become avail-able on the internet in the near future.

• Through CourtNet, data communicationswith police, district attorneys, probation, sheriffsand other agencies have been enhanced toimprove the exchange of criminal case history dataand case disposition data, thereby eliminating theneed for each agency to duplicate this informationby hand.

• Implementation began of the new IBM 3490EMagstar Automatic Tape Library. This additionto the court system’s mainframe configurationstores and retrieves tape cartridges which containbackups of all the data files processed andmaintained on the system. The unit is a virtualtape server with a robotics cartridge accessorwhich recognizes the stored tape cartridge via alaser beam cartridge recognition system. Thesystem carries out unattended operations andhas resulted in significant time savings in carryingout the nightly backup of online disk storage.

• A customized summons system to assist theNew York City Criminal Court in processing theheavy volume of cases handled there on a dailybasis was implemented. This system producesscanned images, initializes cases for processingand schedules cases. It also provides caseinformation in the courtroom for both the judgeand court personnel, records case dispositionsand prints all necessary forms for disposition.


• Case management software was developedfor Civil Supreme Court Judges and staff. Thispowerful, easy-to-use system, which wasdeveloped in conjunction with judges and courtstaff, provides access to case informationincluding motions, appearances, attorneys,calendars/schedules, and history, with variouspersonalized displays. It is used in chambers,courtrooms and back offices via a laptop or PCwith CourtNet. The system is in place in New York,Kings, Suffolk, and Nassau Counties, with furtherexpansion planned for 1999.

• Development began on Court Profiles, whichwill combine many of the mainframe data sourcesin a web- based application allowing any CourtNetuser to query a database that contains allpertinent UCS related information. Theinformation available will include financial,staffing, facilities and caseload activity data.

• Work continued on a project to address theproblems anticipated by the arrival of the year2000. A determination was made to expand tofour digits the date fields in the over 7200programs and 400 databases utilized in supportof administrative and court operations. Thisremediation process was commenced in January,1998, and all systems are scheduled to be incompliance by June, 1999.

• During the year, over 1,230 laptops, 2,680desktops, 550 printers and 75 new servers weredistributed throughout the system and added toCourtNet. By the end of 1998, over 20,000network cables had been wired in courtrooms,chambers, back offices, libraries, and otherworking areas in support of court operations andthe expansion of CourtNet. Internet workequipment and data communication circuits havebeen installed at more than 100 court locationsstatewide.

• The first steps were taken towards thedevelopment of a universal case managementsystem with the start of the initial phase of aStatewide Family Court Automation Project whichwill serve as a model for a courtwide system. Inaddition to family matters, this first phase willincorporate other case types as part of the effortto create a truly universal case managementsystem.

Legal Information and RecordsManagement Division

The Legal Information and RecordsManagement Division provides professionalsupport and services for law libraries, legalresearch, records management and micrographics.During 1998, outreach efforts were focused onthe courts and the communities that they serve.

The UCS web site (ucs.ljx.com), which wasinaugurated in 1997, was redesigned andexpanded. Links are provided to pages fromindividual courts, court libraries and judges.Information available includes employmentpostings, exam schedules, press releases and courtrule revisions, as well as a variety of court forms.During the year, two million visitors accessed thepage.

A joint project with the New York Law Journalled to an Internet page entitled “New York Courtsand Law,” created to provide links to informationthat could be helpful to public understanding ofthe court system and the law in New York. Thesite is accessible through the New York LawJournal and UCS web sites.

In conjunction with the Education andTraining Division and the Division of Technology,a training program was initiated to provide judgesand other court researchers with the necessaryskills to use a variety of computer assisted legalresearch tools and choose the most appropriatemethod for each purpose. Among the resourcesavailable are the court system’s nine CD-ROMtowers. Access to the towers was improved in1998 by adding 800 number phone lines to twoof the towers and upgrading software on thetowers to enhance speed and reliability.

Professional reference librarians continue toanswer the 1-800 COURTNY telephone number.During 1998 over 3,500 calls were received fromall over the country. Questions ranged frominquires about directions to the courthouse andtelephone numbers of courts to referenceinquiries precipitating interviews with callersbefore referral.


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The Rensselaer County Family Court, newly housed in the renovated former county jail

Patr

icia

Bee

ler

Court Facilities Program

The care of existing court facilities and thedevelopment and construction of new ones is amajor ongoing activity for the UCS. Since 1987,the Court Facilities Act (“CFA”) has provided theframework and direction for statewide oversightof the maintenance and construction of court

facilities, which are the responsibilities of thelocalities.

To help local governments provide andmaintain new and improved court facilities, theCFA created the Court Facilities Incentive AidFund, a State Special Revenue Fund supported byvarious court filing fees. The receipt of State aidis explicitly linked to compliance with therequirements of the CFA. The Fund provides aninterest subsidy, ranging from 25 to 33 percent,to reduce the cost of borrowing money to financecourt improvements. The Fund also provides asubsidy for maintenance and operations expenses.

Under the direction of the CFA, new andimproved facilities have been provided for courtsacross the State. Each year, a number of newbuildings are completed, while construction isstarted on other courthouses. In 1998, new CityCourts were opened in the cities of Geneva andNew Rochelle, as well as a new Family Court inRensselaer County. A new courthouse in Herkimer

County began operations, and major renovationsto historic courthouses in Dutchess and FultonCounties were completed. Projects underconstruction in 1998 include major newcourthouses in Orange, Broome and WyomingCounties. In New York City, major projects toprovide improved facilities for Family Courts inBrooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, and for the

Supreme Court, Criminal Term in the Bronx and inBrooklyn, advanced through the programming andearly design stages.

Education and Training Programs

The Education and Training Division (“E&T”)is responsible for providing continuing educationfor judges and nonjudicial employees. Thisincludes local town and village justices, a grouplargely composed of nonlawyers. In 1998, morethan 3,000 judges and town and village justices,and approximately 14,000 nonjudicial personnel,attended education programs facilitated orfinanced by the UCS. Some of the major programsthat were offered are described below.

At the end of 1998, E&T applied to therecently-established NYS Continuing LegalEducation Board for formal certification as aprovider of programming eligible for CLE credit.Once approved, the judges and attorneys who


attend E&T ’s programs will be eligible to receiveCLE credit.

Programs For State-Paid Judges

Judicial SeminarsJuly 7-10; 14-17, 1998

Over 1,000 judges attended one of the twothree-day annual judicial seminars. They wereoffered over 40 sessions of classes each week insubject areas covering civil, criminal, family, andtrusts and estates law, as well as evidence andjudicial skills. Sessions also covered substantiveannual updates, including capital punishment, UCSinitiatives, evaluations of new legislation andprofessional rules, new developments in trialtechniques, programs of personal interest tojudges, and programs for special courts. A widevariety of computer workshops were available andjudges were able to participate in an interactivevideo training program in evidence. The facultyincluded judges, academics, hard science andbehavioral science experts, and practicingattorneys.

Orientation Program for newly-elected andnewly-appointed JudgesDecember 7-11, 1998

Approximately 80 judges participated in afive-day seminar designed for those recentlyelected or appointed to the bench. The newjudges attended lectures and workshops on a widevariety of substantive legal subjects and oncourtroom case management, with particularemphasis on the knowledge and skills needed tostart their judicial careers. Each new judge wasassigned a more seasoned mentor judge for adviceand consultation.

Judicial Automation ForumJanuary 27-29, 1998February 3-5, 1998July 9 and 13, 1998

This program was designed to acquaintjudges with laptop computers. Judgesparticipated in hands-on workshops in WindowsNT, WordPerfect 8, GroupWise, and legal researchutilizing CD-ROM. Judges also participated ingroup demonstrations focusing on CourtNet and

Public Access. In all, over 500 judges participatedin the training.

Administrative Judges Program

Meetings were held several times during theyear as part of an on-going program designedspecifically to enhance the knowledge andawareness of Administrative Judges about recentmanagement trends and to serve as a forum fordiscussion of specific issues that affectAdministrative Judges in their role as courtmanagers.

Programs for Nonjudicial Employees

Family Court Hearing ExaminersJune 5, 1998

This one-day program, presented to 95employees, updated Family Court HearingExaminers on the new Uniform Interstate FamilySupport Act. In addition, participants attendedlectures on paternity, ethics, computer resources,and recent developments in case law andlegislation.

Legal update for Court AttorneysNovember 17-18; 19-20; 29-30, 1998

This two-day program provided updates oncivil law and procedure, criminal law andprocedure, family law and evidence, among othertopics. Special programs also were available oncomputer usage and on-line research. Over 1200attorneys employed by the court system attended,many encouraged to do so by the announcementof the new CLE requirement in NYS for allattorneys.

Annual Nonjudicial Association Seminars

Annual meetings of the nonjudicialassociations bring together court employees whowork in similar courts or job titles to exchangeideas and attend workshops and lectures on thesubstantive and technical areas affecting theircourts. During 1998, two combined annualseminars were held. The City and District CourtClerks Association joined with the Commissionersof Jurors Association and the Supreme and CountyCourt Clerks Association. Similarly, the FamilyCourt Clerks Association, the Law LibrariansAssociation, the Surrogate’s Court Chief Clerks


page 34

Association, and the Surrogate’s Court LawAssistants Association held a joint meeting.

Town and Village Justice Training Program

There are approximately 2,230 town andvillage justices in the State, of whom close to 75%are not lawyers. New justices who are not lawyersare required to complete a six-day basiccertification course covering the fundamentals oflaw and their responsibilities as justices. Thesebasic courses were offered five times during 1998and attended by approximately 150 justices. Inaddition, a training program for Town and VillageCourt clerks was presented 13 times around theState.

Each year, Town and Village justices arerequired to attend an advanced continuing judicialeducation program. In addition to the attendancerequirement, all non-lawyer Town and Villagejustices must pass a written examination that isadministered at each program. The advancedcourse consists of two days of instruction coveringselected legal topics. Participants in 1998attended lectures covering subjects such asdomestic violence, judicial ethics and juryselection as well as an update on new legislation.

A separate City, Town and Village CourtsResource Center (“Center”), operatingindependently of E&T, offers advice and guidanceto the justices of City, Town and Village Courtsand their court clerks throughout the State. It isstaffed by attorneys who provide assistance onlegal questions, and by non-attorneys who serveas advocates in dealing with the localities inconnection with a variety of issues includingfacilities and personnel. During the year, theCenter handled approximately 13,000 inquiries.

Workforce Diversity Office

The Workforce Diversity Office (formerly theEqual Employment Opportunity Division)oversees the implementation of the court system’sWorkforce Diversity Program, which wasinstituted in 1989. The purpose of the programis to increase the diversity of the courts’workforce, with major focus on specific job groupswhere underrepresentation of minorities andwomen has been identified. In 1998, the office

expanded its outreach efforts to encourage thesegroups to seek work in the courts by broadeninginternship programs and providing greatertechnical support to the courts. It also developeda sexual harassment training program which wasoffered to 1500 court clerks and court managers.

The other responsibilities of the Office includeoverseeing anti-discrimination training programsand the Handicapped Set-Aside Program. TheOffice also coordinates the work of EEO liaisonsas well as anti-discrimination panels and identifiesreasonable accommodations for court systemapplicants and employees.

Office of Special Inspector Generalfor Bias Matters

In October 1998, the position of SpecialInspector General for Bias Matters wasestablished. The Special Inspector General hasresponsibility for conducting audits, evaluationsand investigations in connection with allegationsof work-related bias involving any judge ornonjudicial employee of the court system. TheSpecial Inspector General also participates inestablishing and maintaining standards of conductfor bias-free behavior.

The Special Inspector General investigatesallegations of bias based upon race, sex (includingsexual harassment), sexual orientation, age,marital status, disability, national origin or religionthat affect the workplace or the terms andconditions of employment, including acts thatrelate to services provided by court personnel tothe public. In addition, the Special InspectorGeneral makes recommendations for resolutionof these allegations, including retraining,mediation and disciplinary action, as appropriate.

Attorney Registration andStatement Filings

The Office of Court Administration isresponsible for maintaining a variety of recordsand data concerning the status of attorneys andcase processing. An explanation of that informationand the filings for 1998 are as follows.


Attorney Registration

All attorneys admitted and licensed topractice law in the State of New York, whetherresident or not, are required biennially to file aregistration statement, and, unless they areretired from the practice of law, to pay a $300registration fee. During 1998, approximately98,000 registrations were processed and$29,448,100 in registration fees recorded. As ofthe end of calendar year 1998, approximately177,207 attorneys were registered with OCA.Table 16 reflects the number of attorneysregistered by county and Judicial Department asof the end of 1998.

Retainer and Closing Statements

Pursuant to 22 NYCRR Parts 603.7, 691.20and 1022.2, every attorney who enters into acontingent-fee agreement in any case involvingpersonal injury, property damage, wrongfuldeath, or claims in connection with condemnationor change-of-grade proceedings in the First,Second, or Fourth Judicial Departments must filea statement of retainer with OCA, containing theterms of compensation.

In addition, in any case or proceeding inwhich a retainer statement is required, a closingstatement must be filed with OCA within 15 daysafter the attorney receives or shares any sumreceived in connection with the claim. Thisstatement must include information indicatingthe gross amount of the settlement or award (ifany), the net distribution between client andattorney, and a breakdown of other expensesand disbursements.

In 1998, a total of 316,450 retainer andclosing statements were processed. Of those,133,787 were filed in the First Department;162,124 in the Second; and 20,539 in the FourthDepartment. Financial data concerning closingstatements filed in calendar year 1998 isavailable upon request from OCA.

Appointment of Fiduciaries

Part 36 of the Rules of the Chief Judge (22NYCRR Part 36) requires that all appointments ofguardians, court evaluators, attorneys for allegedincapacitated persons, referees, guardians adlitem, receivers and persons designated to performservices for receivers be made by the appointingjudge from a list of applicants established by theChief Administrator of the Courts, unless the courtfinds that there is good reason to appointsomeone who is not on the list and places astatement to that effect on the record.

During the period from April 1, 1986 (whenPart 36 was promulgated) through December31,1998, approximately 16,500 applications werefiled with OCA from individuals and institutionsthat had indicated their availability to serve insome capacity under this Rule. Table 17 shows thedistribution by county of the applications in 1998.It also shows the distribution by county of the 695applications filed from January 1, 1998 throughDecember 31, 1998. From January I, 1998 throughDecember 31, 1998, there were 8,260 statementsof appointment filed with the Chief Administrator.Table 18 reflects the number of those appointmentsby county.

Statements of Approval of Compensation

Section 35-a of the Judiciary Law requiresjudges who approve the payment of a fee for morethan $200 for services performed by any personappointed by the court in any capacity to file astatement of approval of compensation with OCA.In 1998, OCA received a total of 5,043 statementsof approval of compensation.

Adoption Affidavits

In accordance with the rules of the respectiveAppellate Divisions, 22 NYCRR Parts 603.23 (1stDept.), 691.23 (2nd Dept.) 806.14 (3rd Dept.) and1022.33 (4th Dept.), all attorneys in adoptionproceedings must file an affidavit with OCAconcerning the adoption prior to the entry of theadoption decree. The objective of this filing is tomaintain a record of attorneys and agenciesinvolved in adoptions and to record the fees, if any,charged for their services. During 1998, 7,394adoption affidavits were filed with OCA.


page 36

Table 16 ATTORNEY REGISTRATION BY LOCATION

County of Business 1998


Albany 3,513 Otsego 83Allegany 47 Putnam 224Bronx 1,923 Queens 3,970Broome 570 Rensselaer 356Cattaraugus 97 Richmond 953Cayuga 100 Rockland 1,110Chautauqua 212 St. Lawrence 119Chemung 162 Saratoga 358Chenango 67 Schenectady 382Clinton 109 Schoharie 45Columbia 151 Schuyler 23Cortland 64 Seneca 36Delaware 80 Steuben 128Dutchess 690 Suffolk 4,526Erie 3,947 Sullivan 189Essex 86 Tioga 51Franklin 68 Tompkins 276Fulton 69 Ulster 370Genesee 80 Warren 187Greene 79 Washington 64Hamilton 6 Wayne 84Herkimer 80 Westchester 6,489Jefferson 154 Wyoming 40Kings 5,278 Yates 22Lewis 20 Outside N.Y.Livingston 67 State 42,263Madison 96 Missing County 17,711Monroe 2,750Montgomery 83 First Department 62,746Nassau 10,210 Second Department 34,203New York 60,823 Third Department 7,706Niagara 332 Fourth Department 11,062Oneida 518Onondaga 2,068Ontario 148Orange 753 Total 175,691Orleans 25Oswego 107


TABLE 17APPOINTMENT OF FIDUCIARIES

APPLICATIONS BY COUNTYAS OF 12/31/98

LOCATION INDIVIDUALS INSTITUTIONS TOTAL LOCATION INDIVIDUALS INSTITUTIONS TOTAL * Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed Filed 01/01/98- 04/01/86- 01/01/98- 04/01/86- 01/01/98- 4/01/86- O1/01/98- 04/01/86- 01/01/98- 04/01/86 01/01/98- 04/01/86 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98 12/31/98

Albany 24 656 ... 2 24 658 Niagara 75 1054 ... ... 75 1054Allegany 5 152 ... 1 5 153 Oneida 5 251 ... 1 5 252Bronx 153 3536 ... 7 153 3536 Onondaga 15 306 3 3 18 309Broome 3 384 ... 3 3 387 Ontario 26 402 ... 1 26 403Cattaraugus 11 323 ... 1 11 324 Orange 24 723 ... ... 24 723Cayuga 3 164 ... 1 3 165 Orleans 15 266 ... ... 15 266Chautauqua 12 357 ... ... 12 357 Oswego 4 141 ... ... 4 141Chemung 3 79 3 5 6 84 Otsego 4 122 ... 1 4 123Chenango 1 134 ... 3 1 137 Putnam 40 896 ... 1 40 897Clinton 3 73 ... 1 3 74 Queens 195 4906 ... 9 195 4915Columbia 8 226 ... 1 8 227 Rensselaer 17 485 ... 1 17 486Cortland 3 121 ... 2 3 123 Richmond 62 1771 ... 5 62 1776Delaware 0 115 ... 3 0 118 Rockland 41 1352 ... 2 41 1354Dutchess 26 807 ... 1 26 808 St. Lawrence 2 74 ... ... 3 74Erie 115 1704 3 5 118 1709 Saratoga 23 574 ... 1 23 575Essex 6 108 ... ... 6 108 Schenectady 19 531 ... 1 18 532Franklin 3 72 ... ... 3 72 Schoharie 3 113 ... 1 3 114Fulton 5 129 ... ... 5 129 Schuyler 2 58 ... ... 2 58Genesee 25 411 ... ... 25 411 Seneca 1 113 ... 1 1 114Greene 5 185 ... 2 5 187 Steuben 6 154 ... 3 5 157Hamilton 1 57 ... ... 1 57 Suffolk 116 2955 ... 5 116 2960Herkimer 2 137 ... ... 2 137 Sullivan 6 198 ... 1 6 199Jefferson 6 81 ... 1 6 82 Tioga 4 159 ... 2 4 161Kings 199 5130 ... 9 199 5139 Tompkins 5 101 ... 1 5 102Lewis 0 64 ... ... 0 64 Ulster 10 373 3 3 13 376Livingston 20 304 3 5 23 309 Warren 12 219 ... ... 12 219Madison 3 229 ... 1 3 230 Washington 11 185 ... ... 11 185Monroe 60 889 3 6 63 895 Wayne 19 342 ... 1 19 343Montgomery 6 158 ... 1 6 159 Westchester 130 3267 ... 4 130 3271Nassau 168 4757 ... 8 168 4765 Wyoming 15 260 ... ... 13 260New York 278 5272 ... 9 278 5281 Yates 8 112 3 4 10 116

Totals 2072 49,229 21 130 2093 49,359

* Applicants may list more than one county. The total for January 1, 1998 through December 31, 1998 represents the distribution of 695 applications. The total for April 1, 1986 through December 31, 1998 represents 17,891 applications.


page 38

Table 18 APPOINTMENTS OF FIDUCIARIES

Appointments Reported by County January 1, 1998 through December 31, 1998


Albany 155 Otsego 17Allegany 9 Putnam 35Bronx 527 Queens 886Broome 78 Rensselaer 86Cattaraugus 32 Richmond 72Cayuga 47 Rockland 103Chautauqua 66 St. Lawrence 57Chemung 47 Saratoga 75Chenango 6 Schenectady 95Clinton 36 Schoharie 16Columbia 24 Schuyler 8Cortland 8 Seneca 10Delaware 29 Steuben 25Dutchess 104 Suffolk 671Erie 716 Sullivan 38Essex 27 Tioga 16Franklin 29 Tompkins 25Fulton 21 Ulster 91Genesee 24 Warren 31Greene 6 Washington 19Hamilton 1 Wayne 47Herkimer 31 Westchester 365Jefferson 75 Wyoming 19Kings 769 Yates 12Lewis 17Livingston 26Madison 29Monroe 397Montgomery 21Nassau 551New York 766Niagara 126Oneida 121Onondaga 341Ontario 55Orange 96Orleans 7Oswego 21

Total New York State 8,260

the administration of the courts

Documents