1. Introduction. The New York State Law Reporting Bureau (LRB), established under article 14 of the Judiciary Law, edits and publishes all of the decisions of the Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division, as well as selected decisions of the lower courts. These decisions are published in the New York Official Reports, which include the New York Reports, the Appellate Division Reports and the Miscellaneous Reports. Motion decisions of the Appellate Division and Appellate Term and additional lower court opinions are published only on line. The LRB operates under the direction of a State Reporter appointed by the Court of Appeals, with a designated Judge of the Court - currently Judge Eugene F. Pigott, Jr. - serving as the Court's liaison to the LRB. This is a report of the LRB's activities in 2011.

      2. Publishing Activity. The LRB published in print and electronically 54,750 opinions, memoranda, abstracts and appellate motions in 2011, all of which are publicly accessible on the LRB's Web site.

      A. Print publications. During 2011, the LRB prepared for publication two volumes of the New York Reports, 3d Series; 11 volumes of the Appellate Division Reports, 3d Series; and four volumes of the Miscellaneous Reports, 3d Series, for a total of 17 bound volumes, as planned. Two soft-cover interim volumes of the New York Reports, 3d Series, also were published.

      In addition, 52 weekly advance sheets and six bi-monthly Cumulative Tables and Index pamphlets were issued. These advance sheets contained 12,707 full opinions, memorandum decisions, and abstracts of opinions not published in print; 21,093 pages of opinions, memoranda and abstracts; and 14,108 headnotes, allocated as follows:

Report	# Opinions/ Memoranda	# Opinions/ Memoranda Pages	# Headnotes
NY3d	126 Opinions 81 Mems	1,535 Opinion 516 Mem	255 Opinion 89 Mem
AD3d	334 Opinions 9,141 Mems	2,807 Opinion 12,207 Mem	677 Opinion 9,643 Mem
Misc 3d	504 Opinions 2,521 Abstracts	3,767 Opinion 261 Abstract	923 Opinion 2,521 Abstract

      Compared to the prior year, the number of opinions, memoranda and abstracts decreased 12.1%; pages decreased 2.1%; and the number of headnotes increased 1.8%. Decreases from the prior year were attributable primarily to submission of fewer Appellate Division memoranda for publication.

      B. Electronic publication. All decisions published in print also are published electronically. In addition, the LRB publishes the following decisions only electronically:

• Appellate term and trial court opinions not published in the printed Miscellaneous Reports. A total of 6,482 Appellate Term and trial court opinions were published only in electronic format in 2011, an increase of 4.8% from the prior year.
• Motion decisions of the Appellate Division and Appellate Term. A total of 35,561 motion decisions were published electronically in 2011, an increase of 3.8% from the prior year.

      3. Selection of lower court opinions. During 2011, a total of 7,451 Appellate Term and trial court opinions were submitted for publication consideration, an increase of 3.4% compared to 2010. This number includes 609 opinions published on Web sites, in legal newspapers or otherwise brought to our attention and solicited from the authoring judges, or solicited for on-line publication to provide "opinion below" information for published Appellate Division decisions.

      Of the opinions submitted, the LRB accepted 489 for publication in the Miscellaneous Reports and 6,482 for on-line publication, for a total of 6,971 acceptances, an increase of approximately 3.5% compared to 2010. The overall acceptance rate is 94%, an increase of 1% from the prior year.

      Section 7300.2 of the Rules Concerning Publication of Opinions in the Miscellaneous Reports (22 NYCRR) was amended to specify new addresses for the submission of opinions.

      4. Web site usage. Usage of the LRB Web site grew again in 2011. A total of 736,666 separate visitors accessed the site, making 2,322,029 visits and 71,765,020 requests for information. Compared to the prior year, visitors increased by 11.6%; visits by 27%; and requests by 16.7%.

      5. Style Manual distribution. A total of 381 copies of the printed 2007 Official Reports Style Manual were distributed to judges, court staff and others in 2011. An additional 11,204 copies were downloaded from the LRB Web site.

      6. Committee on Opinions. Appellate Division Justice Nancy E. Smith was named the Fourth Department's representative on the Committee on Opinions, replacing Justice Elizabeth W. Pine, who retired in 2010. The Committee is established pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431, as implemented by the Rules Concerning Publication of Opinions in the Miscellaneous Reports (22 NYCRR part 7300), to hear appeals from judges who disagree with the State Reporter's determination not to publish an opinion in the Miscellaneous Reports. The other members of the Committee are Justice David B. Saxe (First Department), Justice Mark C. Dillon (Second Department) and Justice William E. McCarthy (Third Department).

      7. Product development. The LRB continued to enhance its on-line services and Web site in 2011.

• The New York Official Reports Service was expanded in June to provide coverage of Official Reports decisions from January 1, 1980 through the present. Previously, coverage had extended only to January 1, 1990. The Official Reports Service, hosted by West Publishing pursuant to the 2011-2015 Publishing Contract, contains edited decisions of the Court of Appeals, Appellate Division, and Appellate Term and trial courts. These decisions are posted without copyrighted material such as headnotes, summaries and points of counsel, but include Official Reports pagination and are fully searchable using a variety of fields. There is no charge for accessing the Service.
• In July, Official Reports case names, or cite-as titles, for all three series of the Official Reports were added to the Westlaw KeyCite citator and to the Westlaw headers for Official Reports decisions, facilitating the proper citation of New York cases as prescribed by the Official Style Manual.
• In December, agreement was reached with West to enhance the presence, accessibility and functionality of the Official Reports in West's newest on-line legal research platform, WestlawNext (WLN). The enhanced features include: search results that will display hyperlinked Official Reports citations to provide easier access and eliminate any possible brand confusion; a reengineered main search page that will display Official Reports results in "overall" category searches; and Official Reports decisions hyperlinked to the Official Reports Digest. WestlawNext debuted in January 2010 and is expected eventually to supplant Westlaw.com.

      8. Personnel. The LRB staff numbered 25 at the close of 2011, a decrease of 6 employees from 2010. Retirement, resignations and workforce reduction accounted for the departure of the following personnel:

• Chilton Latham, Principal Legal Editor, in July.
• Sharon Hanson, Assistant Court Analyst, in February.
• Diane Green, Legal Typist, in March.
• Jackie Ballinger, Legal Typist, in March.
• Julie Coreno, Legal Typist, in June.
• Thomas Neale, Legal Editor, in December.

      9. Facilities. The LRB completed the relocation of its offices and related projects in 2011.

• The Law Reporting Bureau took occupancy of offices at 17 Lodge Street, Albany, in April.
• The LRB transferred surplus furniture and equipment and surplus library materials to courts and agencies of the Unified Court System in connection with the move to Lodge Street.
• Security camera software was installed to monitor building entrances and facilitate secure visitor access.

      10. Equipment. The LRB's computer equipment was upgraded and telephone equipment modernized in 2011.

• The LRB rolled out a new computer system in April. All equipment was provided by West Publishing Corporation pursuant to the 2011-2015 Official Reports publishing contract. Each employee received a new personal computer equipped with supporting hardware. In addition, new servers and network printers were placed in service.
• The LRB's analog telephone system was replaced in April with Voice Over Internet Protocol technology.

      11. Editorial and office technology. The LRB continued to employ computer solutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of office and editorial functions. Projects completed or introduced in 2011 include:

• Automated cite-checking programs using West-supplied data that verify the accuracy of citations contained in decisions by comparing them against the citations, case titles and decision dates of all Federal Reporter, Federal Supplement and New York Official Reports decisions through the most recent Advance Sheet.
• A program that automated the process of reviewing New York Law Journal Decisions of Interest by electronically retrieving the decisions and screening them for duplication with opinions previously published in the Official Reports. Significant opinions that the Reporter wishes to publish are solicited from the authoring judge using an e-mail message generated by the program.
• A new automated workflow for processing Appellate Division digest-index and memorandum decisions that merges those separate components for proofreading and publication as a unified document.
• A program which detects decisions that may have been published in duplicate. A daily report generated by the program provides a list of candidates, permitting more efficient review and identification of any duplicates.
• Installation and deployment of Acronis Workstation Backup Management Solution, which provides advanced data backup and system recovery for the LRB's desktop computers.
• Implementation of an OCA-directed initiative to reduce the volume of saved e-mail messages in GroupWise by purging unnecessary files and converting to cache on individual PCs those that must be retained.
• Conversion of the LRB's PCs from Windows XP to the Windows 7 operating system.
• Collaboration with the Court of Appeals Clerk's Office in developing a computer protocol for the transfer of electronic briefs and records via a Web site.

      12. Continuing Legal Education (CLE) presentations. The LRB presented three CLE programs in 2011.

• Bill Hooks and Mike Manning presented the LRB's Annual Survey of Attorney Disciplinary Proceedings continuing legal education program at the LRB and the Court of Appeals in February. The survey, the fifth in an ongoing series, is drawn from officially reported disciplinary decisions.
• Bill Hooks presented a CLE program in March at the annual meeting of the Court of Claims Clerks in Saratoga. Among the topics discussed were the process and criteria for the selection of opinions and privacy issues in the publication of decisions.
• The LRB presented the annual CLE program on "Preparation of Opinions for Publication in the Official Reports" to new Judges' Clerks and Central Staff members at Court of Appeals Hall in October. Faculty members were Bill Hooks, Mike Moran, Kelli Flansburg and Maureen Clements.

      13. Professional and Volunteer activities. LRB staff members participated in various professional activities, community events and charitable causes.

      Professional activities:

• Bill Hooks attended the New York State Bar Association annual meeting, including a session of the Intellectual Property Section, in New York City in January.
• Bill Hooks attended a presentation of the "Hellhound of Wall Street," a study of Francis Pecora's investigation of Wall Street and the banking industry following the Great Crash of 1929, part of the Court of Appeals Lecture Series, in March.
• Eric Harrell attended OCA LAN group working committee meetings in June, July and December.
• Bill Hooks attended a ceremony in October at Court of Appeals Hall marking the official unveiling of the portrait of retired Chief Judge Judith Kaye.
• Bill Hooks attended the annual meeting of the Association of Reporters of Judicial Decisions in Boston, Massachusetts in August. He was appointed secretary and member of the Executive Board of the Association for a one-year term commencing August 2, 2011.
• Bill Hooks attended the Hugh R. Jones Memorial Lecture at Albany Law School in October. Hon. Sol Wachtler, former Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, presented "Federalism is Alive and Well and Living in New York."
• Bill Hooks attended a meeting of the Executive Board of the Association of Reporters of Judicial Decisions in November at the Supreme Court of the United States.

      Volunteer activities:

• The LRB received an Award for Excellence based upon per capita giving to the State Employees Federated Appeal campaign.
• An LRB team participated in the 2011 CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge race in Albany in May. Kathleen Hughes, Rocco Padula, Stephen Carroll, Wesley Chest and Michelle Nottke represented the LRB.
• Milagros Figueroa attended the State Employees Federated Appeal campaign kickoff event in September. Milagros chaired the 2011 campaign at the LRB.
• LRB staff made donations in December in support of The Ronald McDonald House at Albany Medical Center. Cindy DeViddio and Maureen Clements coordinated collection and delivery of the donated items.

      14. Visits and visitors. Among visits made in 2011:

• Bill Hooks and Kathy LaBoda attended the State of the Judiciary address by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman in February.
• Judge Eugene Pigott, Jr. visited the LRB in April to welcome staff to the Lodge Street offices.
• Bill Hooks, Michael Moran and Kathy LaBoda attended Law Day ceremonies at the Court of Appeals in May.
• Representatives of Lexis met with Bill Hooks and Mike Moran in May to discuss the bidding process for the 2011-2015 Official Reports publishing contract and methods of data exchange available to expedite Lexis's access to decisions published by the LRB.
• Frances Murray, the Court of Appeals' Chief Legal Reference Attorney, and her assistants Lisa Bohannon and Marissa Mason, visited the LRB in May to review the legal reference collection and finalize arrangements to assist with updating and monitoring portions of the collection.
• Representatives of West Publishing met with LRB management and senior staff in July and teleconferenced in November and December to discuss the status of 2011-2015 publishing contract initiatives and other product development issues.
• Hon. Albert Rosenblatt, retired Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, accompanied by a group of his students from NYU Law School toured Centennial Hall in October.

      15. Organization. Of significance in 2011:

• A meeting of the LRB's management group was held in January to review the LRB's progress in completing its 2010 objectives and to discuss objectives for 2011.
• Staff meetings were held in May with support staff and in June and December with attorneys to discuss LRB operations, including editorial production goals and initiatives to address staff shortages.
• Meetings of the LRB's technology staff were held in June and November to report on progress of pending projects and plan future initiatives.
• Founders Day, April 7, marked the 207th anniversary of the enactment of legislation creating the system of official law reporting in New York.
• Performance evaluations of all represented LRB employees were completed in February and September.