New York Forms Guide

Are you researching New York forms and would like to have all the resources in one place?  Try the New New York Forms Guide, this guide provides lists of major sets (like Bender's, Carmody and more), area specific forms and online free forms.  This guide only reflects resources available in the Law Library in print and online.  Click here to access the guide.

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New York Statutes and Reporters Research Guide

Are you researching New York state statutes, codes, cases and would like to have all the resources in one place?  Try the New York Statutes and Reporters Research Guide, this guide is designed to give you the basic sources of legal information for New York session laws, statutes, state code, administrative codes and reporters.  This guide only reflects resources available in the Law Library and online.  Click here to access the guide.

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New York State of Mind*

Our next Life-Line Research workshop will focus on how to research New York law efficiently and cost effectively.

When:  Wed, March 12 noon-1pm
Where:  Rm 014
R.S.V.P.:  lawdek@hofstra.edu
Plus:  lunch and surprise gift

* with admiration to Billy Joel




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Effective Research

I usually do not like to repeat myself, but this is definitely worth saying a second time.

Don't miss the Library's workshop on Wednesday - Cost Effective Research for NY.  In today's world you HAVE TO be able to research cost effectively and efficiently.  You will find out about great free resources (what can be bad about free?).  And, you will get tips on using the expensive Lexis and Westlaw in more cost effective ways.

The workshop will be on presented on March 6, 12:10-1pm in Room 206.  

There is still time to sign up.  Please see the  complete schedule of the Research Life Line Workshop Series for details on how to reserve your seat.  

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New York Gun Laws

Governor Cuomo recently signed into law a new gun control measure for New York State.  It was signed on January 15, 2013 after the State Assembly approved it by a 104-to-43 vote and a 43-to-18 vote by the State Senate.  The gun control laws will take effect immediately and has several key provisions.  To learn more about this legislation and its key provisions click here.

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New York and Memorial Day

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this week the opening of a brand new exhibit: New York: Birthplace of Memorial Day.  The exhibit features photos, music, documents, and other artifacts highlighting New York's officially recognized role in the beginnings of what is now an official national holiday. While everyone is welcome to visit the state Capitol in Albany to view the exhibit, you may prefer to take a few relaxing minutes or a short study break to enjoy the online exhibit here.   

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NY State Newspapers Database

For law students trying to find background and public opinion for New York legislation and legislative history, this database is a find. New York State Newspapers contains more than 2 million articles from over 40 newspapers representing regions and communities throughout the state. Spanning a wide range of geography and perspective from the New York Post and Albany Times Union to the Buffalo News and Cornell Daily Sun, this fully browseable and searchable resource includes material from 1980 to the present, along with publication facts for each newspaper.

To access New York State Newspapers, select "Axinn Research Databases by Subject" from the Law Library's alphabetical list of Online Resources. After logging into the Hofstra portal, select "Newspapers," and locate New York State Newspapers in the newspaper database list.

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NY Chief Judge Seeks Mandatory E-Filing

As part of a budget proposal announced last week that includes large cuts for New York's courts, Chief Judge Lippman also announced a proposal to make electronic filing of court documents mandatory throughout New York.

For researchers, this is good news, as electronically filed court documents tend to be made available online.


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Bill Jackets Online

An update to this post from two years ago: bill jackets through 2008 are now available online. (Bill jackets contain the most important legislative history documents for New York statutes.)

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New York Historical Court Records

A number of Law Review members have been asking for help finding New York cases from the 1600's and 1700's--back when there were officials called schouts. Chances are that, in the end, most of these cases will have to be retrieved from clerks offices and archives. But we have been trying to make finding these cases a little easier. Here are a couple of the tips we have gathered so far.

-- If you are not looking for a case, but rather for a complaint or a pleading, don't hold out much hope for finding it published anywhere.

-- Supreme Court Cases, New York County. A number of the cases sought are from the New York City branch of the Supreme Court, which was founded in 1691. These cases are kept by the New York County Clerk's Office (see The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York's Duely and Constantly Kept. The only other source we have found so far that we think may have these cases is Supreme Court of Judicature of the Province of New York, 1691-1704, which is held at Axinn Library's Special Collections Department, but we have not looked for any cases in these volumes yet.

-- Kingston cases. Many of the other cases sought are from Kingston, or elsewhere in Ulster County, which means that they are probably translated Dutch cases full of words like schout. One source gatherer got lucky and found one of these cases in this book. And like the Supreme Court cases, some of these Dutch colonial cases may be in Axinn's Special Collections within volumes of New York Historical Manuscripts, Dutch, however we haven't had the chance to see whether many cases are contained in those volumes yet.

UPDATE: We have checked the books mentioned at Axinn's Special Collections, and the volumes held by Hofstra do not contain full records for the cases sought.



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No Felonies for 3Ls

New York Lawyer reports that Ohio has become the 42nd state to allow third year law students to handle felony cases, but New York has no plans to join that group.



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Bill Jackets in the News

There has been a lot of controversy recently related to bill jackets in the New York State Senate.

Bill jackets are, not surprisingly, jackets--or folders--for bills. As Bill Manz writes in Gibson's New York Legal Research Guide, "Engrossing a bill involves affixing to it the certifications of passage from each house and enclosing the bill in a folder known as a 'bill jacket.' The house of origin transmits the engrossed bill to the governor's office."

Related to the turmoil in the New York State Senate, that body's bill jackets are being kept under lock and key by the Secretary of the Senate, which probably prevents any bills passed by the Senate from really being official. And two Republican Senators are suing to compel the Secretary to release the bill jackets.

Anyone who has made an appellate argument in New York knows that, in addition to keeping bills warm and giving them an imprimatur of 'officialness,' bill jackets are also the main source of legislative history for New York State laws. Some bill jackets from the last decade are available for free on the State Archives website. Others can be a little harder to find.



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The Lighthouse in the Bronx

You know when you asked a librarian to help you find law review articles, and they sent you to some database that's not Lexis or Westlaw? That database was probably the Index to Legal Periodicals. It's owned by H.W. Wilson, which has had offices in the Bronx since 1917. Those offices are topped by a lighthouse, which is not there to direct trucks on the Major Deegan, but was originally put there as an advertisement for Wilson--which is still great at helping guide people through the vast sea of periodicals.

The NY Times' City Room blog had an anecdote last week about visiting Wilson's offices and trying to get into the lighthouse.



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New York Legislative History

The New York State Archives has put Bill Jackets for 2005 and 2006 online. (Those who have dealt with New York legislative history probably remember that bill jackets are about all the legislative history that exists for New York laws.) We can expect more years to follow.

Update: 2002-4 are also available here, but you must search for them individually.


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