Court Procedures and Judicial System Knowledge
What this domain tests
This domain tests the structure of New York’s courts and the sequence of a case, so that captions, headers, and colloquy make sense when you transcribe them.
New York court structure
- Court of Appeals: the state’s highest court.
- Appellate Division: four departments, the intermediate appellate court.
- Supreme Court: general original jurisdiction - it is NOT the highest court in New York, a frequent trap.
- County Court, Surrogate’s Court, Family Court, Court of Claims, and the New York City Civil and Criminal Courts.
- The Court of Claims hears claims against the State of New York.
Case flow
- Criminal: arrest, arraignment, discovery, motions and hearings (Mapp, Huntley, Wade), trial, verdict, sentencing.
- Civil: summons with notice or complaint, answer, discovery, note of issue, trial, judgment, appeal.
Worked example
A felony in New York City is arraigned in Criminal Court and, after indictment, is heard in Supreme Court, Criminal Term. The reasoning: Supreme Court holds felony jurisdiction statewide, while the local criminal court handles arraignment and preliminary matters. Knowing this helps you label the caption and the part correctly on the first pass.
Traps
- Calling Supreme Court the highest court in New York.
- Mixing up the four Appellate Division departments.
- Confusing the Court of Claims with a federal court.
- Writing “plaintiff” in a Family Court matter, where the parties are petitioner and respondent.