Professor Patterson

Law Business & Society

Extra Credit Opportunity Court Visit
Due Tuesday, Dec. 15, by 11:55 pm on NYU Classes through Turnitin.
You must visit a court and sit through at least 90 minutes of courtroom activity or watch
Webcasts of full arguments in at least six cases in the New York Court of Appeals. You
may go with one or more LBS classmates from this section or another LBS section.
However, your written assignment must be prepared, written, and submitted on an
individual basis. This is not a group extra credit assignment.
If you do not live in Manhattan (N.Y. County), you may pick a local court to visit
convenient to where you live. Talk to me if you need help finding one. A list of courts in
Manhattan with links to directions and other information is attached to this memorandum.
With the exception of the Second Circuit, Bankruptcy Court and the Appellate Division
for the First Department, the daily calendar of cases is not posted online for any of the
courts. Be aware that cases on the calendar may be adjourned at the last minute. For
those courts where the calendar is not online, you must go to the courthouse and ask a
security guard or a clerk what is going on in the various courtrooms. (This may test your
marketing and presentation skills.)
Watching state court calendar calls or motion return days, while somewhat instructive as
to the practicalities of litigation (and generally a subject of horrified fascination to
lawyers who have never seen them), is probably not the best use of your time. You want
arguments, hearings or trials. You should not go during the lunch time hours (usually 12
- 2pm) because there is a lunch adjournment. I suggest arriving at the courthouse soon
after 9am or soon after 2pm. The court proceedings typically adjourn by 4:30 5pm.
Fridays are usually not a good day to go to Federal District Court or Supreme Court, N.Y.
County, as the judges may be conducting routine hearings or swearing in ceremonies in
naturalization cases, bar admissions and the like.
On alternate Thursday nights, you can attend Small Claims part in NYC Civil Court. But
before you go, check the web site to make sure the day has not changed.
http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/housing/courtservicechanges.shtml
The security guards at all the courts will take your phones and laptops and return them to
you when you leave. You will also go through a metal detector.
You have a right to attend court, except in certain family disputes where the courts protect
the privacy of children, occasionally in commercial cases where trade secrets are
discussed, or, rarely, where national security is involved. However, especially in Civil

Court, which can be less formal and has less space and infrequent visitors, a judge, clerk
or lawyer may ask who you are. Explain that you are a Stern business student studying
our legal system and this is one way you are learning about it. Some judges may be
thrilled to hear that. Some lawyers and litigants, not so much.
Please remember that this is serious business and remain quiet at all times. Minimize
going in and out of the courtroom. You will sit behind the bar, which is the short
partition or railing that separates the judge, witnesses, jurors and counsel from observers.
In the Appellate Division, First Department, you will sit on the side, in the benches
perpendicular to the judges bench; the seats facing the bench are reserved for lawyers
who are arguing that session.
As noted above, web sites for the various courts in Manhattan are listed at the end of
these instructions. You can browse them for court locations and other details.
In order to receive possible extra credit on one written assignment (raising a B to a B+,
for example) you must submit your paper by Tuesday, Dec. 15, by 11:55 p.m. Submit
your paper through the Extra Credit Assignment under the Assignments tab. Your paper
should be 2-3 pages (double spaces with 1 inch margins and 12 point font in Times New
Roman) and should provide the following:
Your Name
Name of Court
Date and Time Attended (Names of Cases and Dates of Oral Argument for
Webcasts)
Who was the presiding judge, or who was on the panel of judges? (If you cannot
hear the name(s), you can state that.)
What you watched three oral arguments, a hearing, part of a jury trial, etc.
Your personal impressions of and reflections on what you watched: Anything
you noticed and found interesting or puzzling - no matter how small and
insignificant it may seem can be included. I want to read about your
perceptions and reactions, not just a summary of what happened.
Questions to think about as you observe:

How does the judge behave? How do the litigants/their counsel behave? How
does the jury, if there is a jury, behave?

How do the lawyers move/not move around the courtroom? How do the different
players address each other? Do they make eye contact with the jury members (if
any)? With the judge?

If you heard testimony from witnesses, what was your impression of each witness
and of the lawyers who questioned those individuals?

What was the legal issue, if any? Was it something you learned about in LBS?
Was it an issue of substantive or procedural law?

How was an issue or conflict resolved - if it was resolved during the time that you
observed the proceedings?

If a judge or jury made a decision, how might you have decided?

If you attended with students from one of my sections, note their names. It is interesting
for me to read how your perceptions differed. Sometimes it is clear that you attended the
same proceeding, and sometimes it is not!
Have fun!

NY State Courts
Court of Appeals
https://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/OA-Archives.htm
Unless you want to go to Albany, you can watch Webcasts of arguments. You must watch
at the arguments in at least six cases. Note that No. 82 on March 22, 2012, is the oral
argument in Sullivan v. Harnisch, which we read for Employment Law.
Supreme Court, NY County, Civil Branch
http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/1jd/supctmanh/,
Court of general jurisdiction for civil cases. It includes a special part (or section) for
commercial cases, http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/comdiv/newyork.shtml
Supreme Court, NY County, Criminal Branch
http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/1jd/criminal/ This court hears felony cases.
NY City Civil Court, NY County
http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/civil/adminNewYorkCiv.shtml. This court hears
civil cases and has limited jurisdiction. It includes Landlord/Tenant (both residential and
commercial) and Small Claims Parts.
NYC Criminal Court
http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/criminal/generalinfo.shtml#NEW_YORK_COUNT
Y. It has jurisdiction over misdemeanors and conducts preliminary hearings and
arraignments in felony cases.
Appellate Division, First Department
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/ad1/, and here is the calendar link,
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/ad1/calendar/index.shtml
This court takes appeals from the trial courts. You will hear only oral arguments, not
witnesses, but you will hear something of substance. You should make sure you get there
early, before oral arguments are scheduled to begin, so you can get a seat. It is bad
manners to leave the courtroom while an argument is being heard; wait until the
argument is finished, and the lawyers are returning from counsel table. (I dont know
why fewer students go to this courthouse rather than to the trial courts downtown. It is a
beautiful building, its right next to Madison Square Park, which is lovely, and there are
great places to eat in the area. And there are substantive arguments. But you will not see
evidence being presented, which probably interests many of you.)

Federal Courts:
Second Circuit Court of Appeals
http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/visitor_information.html and
http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/clerk/calendars/calendars.html and
http://ww2.ca2.uscourts.gov/calendar/
NOTE that it only sits in Manhattan on particular dates,
http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/clerk/calendars/term_sittings.html
You will only hear appellate arguments, no witnesses, but they usually will be on
important cases and issues, with very capable counsel and a hot bench that is engaged
and asks lots of questions.
District Court for the Southern District of New York
http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/
Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York
http://www.nysb.uscourts.gov/
Here is the link to the judges calendars, http://www.nysb.uscourts.gov/calendars-0.
(Also a great old building, in a very historic area of the city, and the same building houses
the National Museum of the American Indian N.Y. I grant you that the bankruptcy
business isnt booming these days, but business failures will never cease.)