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Did You Know?

The Appellate Division Law Library is the largest court library in the state. It's also the only NYS appellate-level law library open to the public.

Records & Briefs

How do I get Records & Briefs?


  • Off-site: Contact our Document Delivery service, or directly via email at ad4ref@nycourts.gov.
    Most off-site requests for Records & Briefs can be fulfilled via email.

  • On-site: Records & Briefs are housed on the second floor of the library. The library owns Records & Briefs for all four Appellate Division Departments and the Court of Appeals. Fourth Department Records & Briefs are available in print and microfiche format, while other courts' Records & Briefs are (mostly) only available in microform. Microforms may be scanned to pdf for free using our scanner.

What are they?


Records & Briefs are papers submitted to an appellate court that contain a chronicle of the case in the lower court (record), and the arguments made to the appellate court (briefs). They are sometimes called "record on appeal" or "cases & points."

What are they used for?


Records & Briefs are useful to attorneys and litigants because they contain the actual arguments made before an appellate court. As such, they are often consulted by subsequent parties in the preparation of their own arguments before a court.

Records & Briefs may also contain all of the pleadings, motions, orders and other documents associated with the original (lower court) case. This "Record" can be useful for a number of reasons, including serving as a template for how to conduct similar cases or appeals.