2018 Annual Report of the State Reporter

      1. Introduction. The New York State Law Reporting Bureau (LRB) was established under article 14 of the Judiciary Law to officially report New York court decisions. 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 Leslie E. Stein - serving as the Court's liaison to the LRB. All decisions of the Court of Appeals and the Appellate Division and selected decisions of the lower courts are edited and published in print and online versions of 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 online. This is a report of the LRB's activities in 2018.

      2. Publishing activity. The LRB published in print and electronically 49,304 opinions, memoranda, abstracts and appellate motions in 2018. Publication of opinions, memoranda and abstracts increased by approximately 10% from 2017. The number of appellate motions published decreased by approximately 25% from that reported in 2017. The Official Reports are published in print and online pursuant to a five-year commercial publishing contract, currently held by Thomson Reuters West; consequently, Thomson Reuters Westlaw is the sole online commercial source of the complete New York Official Reports through December 31, 2020. A free, public access version of the Official Reports is also available on the Law Reporting Bureau website at http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/.

      A. Print publication. During 2018, 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 11,846 full opinions, memorandum decisions, and abstracts of opinions not published in print; 21,028 pages of opinions, memoranda and abstracts; and 14,183 headnotes, allocated as follows:

Report
# Opinions/
Memoranda
# Opinions/
Memoranda Pages
# Headnotes
NY3d 78 Opinions
61 Mems
1,502 Opinion
582 Mem
151 Opinion
70 Mem
AD3d 254 Opinions
8,897 Mems
2,146 Opinion
12,656 Mem
394 Opinion
10,709 Mem
Misc 3d 454 Opinions
2,102 Abstracts
3,917 Opinion
225 Abstract
757 Opinion
2,102 Abstract

      Compared to the prior year, the number of opinions, memoranda and abstracts increased .32%; pages decreased 2.39%; and headnotes increased 8.33%.

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

      3. Selection of lower court opinions. During 2018, a total of 7,070 Appellate Term and trial court opinions were submitted for publication consideration, an increase of 18.15% compared to 2017. One hundred sixty-seven opinions published on websites or in legal newspapers, or otherwise brought to the LRB's attention, were solicited from the authoring judges for publication.

      Of the opinions submitted, the LRB accepted 453 for publication in the Miscellaneous Reports and 6,137 for online publication, for a total of 6,590 acceptances, an increase of approximately 14.7% compared to 2017.

      4. Website usage. Usage of the LRB website remained strong in 2018. A total of 1,345,807 visitors accessed the site, making 3,504,746 visits. Compared to the prior year, visitors increased by 40.08% and visits increased by 3.03%. The visits resulted in 33,742,045 page views, an increase of approximately 10.22%, from 2017. Repeat visitors declined slightly to 18% of total visitors and there was a 6% increase in the average visit duration.

      Users downloaded a total of 2,778 copies of the LRB's Electronic Resources User Guide (a tutorial in the use of the Official Reports on Westlaw and the legal research and writing tools provided on the LRB website).

      The LRB's Twitter account (@NYOfficialRpts) grew from 395 to 641 Followers.

      5. Style Manual.

      6. Product development. The LRB enhanced its online services and website in 2018.

      7. Personnel. LRB staff numbered 30 at the close of 2018.

      8. Facilities.

      9. Equipment. The LRB acquired the following new equipment to replace obsolete/outdated assets and disposed of unnecessary equipment:

      10. Editorial and office technology. The LRB employed various computer solutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of office and editorial functions. In addition, the LRB developed programs and adapted internal processes to accommodate current and prospective conversion of appellate court documents to Microsoft Word format and the LRB's migration to a full Microsoft environment and Windows 10 operating system.

      11. Continuing Legal Education (CLE). LRB attorneys presented and attended various CLE programs in 2018.

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

      Professional activities:

      Volunteer activities:

      13. Visits and visitors. Among visits made in 2018:

      14. Organization. Of significance in 2018: