The New York State court system, known as the Unified Court System (UCS), is a complicated amalgam of various state, county, and city courts serving justice in criminal and civil cases.
The UCS is comprised of trial and appellate courts that handle civil, criminal, and family matters related to New York State law. The UCS spans New York’s 62 counties and includes several different types of trial courts including, among others, Supreme Court, Surrogate’s Court, and Family Court (which operates in all 62 counties of the State); County Court (which exists in the 57 counties outside New York City); and City Court (which operates in 61 cities throughout New York State). The UCS’s appellate courts hear appeals from cases originating in the UCS trial courts.
The Office of Court Administration serves as the administrative arm of the courts, providing a broad range of services to support day-to-day court operations and carry out the UCS mission.
Within New York, there are four federal district courts, covering the northern, southern, eastern, and western parts of the state. These districts have jurisdiction over civil, criminal, and bankruptcy cases that involve federal law.
It is not easy to explain why the court system is set up the way it is, and most people don’t care unless they get into the system as an employee or a defendant, which is why people hire lawyers who understand the system better than the average person. The court system does not include the employees at the state attorney general’s office or the governor’s office, where hundreds of additional lawyers work, some of whom file lawsuits on behalf of the state.
The Office of Court Administration, the governing body over the myriad courts in the state, had a budget of more than $836 million last year. The head of the court system wanted people to know how this money is being spent and how the court system works, so the state’s top judge took the message to the people using the New York State Fair last month as a backdrop for those wanting to know more about their government.
“My understanding is that many years ago the Unified Court System had a booth regularly at the state fair and then for more than a decade hadn’t had one,” New York State Chief Judge Rowan Wilson told The Jewish Press at the state fair. “When I heard we used to have a booth here and the Senate has one, the Assembly has one, the Attorney General and Comptroller each have one, I figured we ought to have one too. The court system is for the people of the state and the fair is for the people of the state. It’s just a great way to quickly explain to people what we do and explain the system of justice. [I’m hoping we could possibly] get some of [the fairgoers] to participate either as jurors, to seek employment with us, or just to say they met a court officer or a judge, court attorney, court reporter, or translator and have an understanding and an appreciation of what we do.”
Wilson was born in Pomona, California, and grew up in Berkeley. He graduated from Harvard College in 1981 and from Harvard Law School in 1984, where he was an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights – Civil Liberties Law Review. He only worked for one law firm prior to being chosen for New York’s high court – the New York-based Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Wilson eventually headed the firm’s pro bono practice and represented the law firm as a trustee at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. While in private practice, Wilson served on the boards of several charitable and not-for-profit organizations. He was also the chair of the Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem, providing legal representation to indigent residents of New York.
Selected by Governor Kathy Hochul, Wilson, 64, has been New York’s top judge since April 18, 2023. As chief judge, he is responsible for overseeing every aspect of the entire court system. He earns an annual salary of $240,800. He was originally selected an associate judge on the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, in 2017 by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“There are almost 16,000 people who work for the [New York State] court system. By and large, they really care about what they do. They really care about trying to provide justice to the people of the state,” Wilson said. “Many of the employees work in conditions that are far from ideal. We don’t own any of the courthouses. That’s actually something I would like the public to know.”
“You walk into a court building and something doesn’t work, such as the bathrooms, or the building is falling apart, the paint is peeling or whatever,” Wilson explained. “We are actually just tenants. We don’t own any of those buildings. We don’t have any ability to repair them, to build new buildings. Those are all county- or city-owned buildings.
“We beg and plead, take pictures, cajole and threaten just as you would if you were a tenant in a building where something was falling apart and not working. Sometimes it takes years and years and years to get what seems like minor things fixed. That is one of our principal difficulties.” He says he’s always wondered why the courts don’t sue like any other tenant. “I suppose you won’t be able to find an impartial judge,” he joked.
Wilson visited the maximum-security prison known as Sing-Sing with Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado and said he came away with a hopeful impression. Sing-Sing Correctional Facility, formerly known as Ossining Correctional Facility, is operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining in Westchester County. It is about 30 miles north of midtown Manhattan on the east bank of the Hudson River. It holds about 1,700 inmates and housed the execution chamber, known as Old Sparky, for the State of New York until the abolition of capital punishment in New York in 2007.
“We talked with a group of incarcerated individuals. We were there a very long time, and it looked like they were going to be there still for a very long time but in the meantime, while they were incarcerated, they had earned undergraduate degrees, master’s degrees, and it really sort of turned their lives around,” Wilson said. “They clearly had done some pretty terrible things a long time ago but it was interesting to talk to them, hear their stories and understand, for some people, there is a path to make themselves better.”
Wilson also spoke to us about jury duty – including his own experience. In New York State, everyone has to be called for jury duty, no exceptions. Whether you get chosen to serve on a jury is something else.
“I served on a jury twice and I got called a third time while I was a judge,” Wilson explained. “I got recorded and I got put in the box and questioned just as the other jurors. The attorneys asked what I did and I explained. The judge [presiding over the case] ended up asking the prosecutor and defense counselor if they wouldn’t mind excusing me. I sort of regretted that. I would have loved to stay. I think neither party wanted to have a judge on the Court of Appeals sitting on their jury.
“The judge also used me as an example for the other jurors because one of the questions was ‘Well, you’re a judge, you’re a lawyer and you went to law school. If you think the judge’s instruction is legally wrong, why aren’t you going to tell the other jurors it’s wrong and going to correct that?’ I said ,‘Because I have to follow your instructions. Otherwise, there isn’t a reviewable record on appeal. No one would know that I gave different instructions than the one you gave. I have to follow what you do so the record reflects what actually happened.’ I said he can use that to explain to the jurors who remained the importance of following his instructions. I didn’t get to serve that way but I got to serve as an example,” Wilson concluded.
