NYCLA Appellate Courts Committee responds to the OCA with Comments on NYSCEF

February 10, 2026

Christopher Gibson
Director, OCA Division of E-Filing
Office of Court Administration
25 Beaver Street, Room 926
New York, NY 1004

VIA EMAIL

RE : The Appellate Courts Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association’s Response to the Office of Court Administration’s Public Notice Seeking Commentary on NYSCEF.

Dear Mr. Gibson,

The Appellate Courts Committee (the “Committee”) of the New York County Lawyers Association (“NYCLA”) supports robust expansion of the NYSCEF filing system throughout all of New York State’s courts. In response to the Office of Court Administration’s recent request for public comment on NYSCEF, we write to express the Committee’s hope that NYSCEF will be expanded to the Appellate Terms in the First and Second Departments.¹

The Appellate Term courts hear appeals addressing issues at the heart of access to justice that are important to the public, such as those arising in landlord-tenant and criminal cases. The Committee is dedicated to the efficient and efficacious administration of New York State’s appellate courts, and our membership includes appellate practitioners and jurists. And our members, as well as judges who have spoken before our committee, have highlighted the challenges raised by the lack of E-Filing in the Appellate Term courts.

With E-Filing implemented in the Appellate Divisions, there is no sound reason to exclude the Appellate Term courts from E-Filing. Expansion of NYSCEF to the Appellate Term courts will only enhance those courts’ agility and precision, greatly benefiting those who practice and appear before them. Online access to briefs and records in the Appellate Term courts would provide clear benefits, including the following:

1. It would give hardworking appellate jurists and their staff, and attorneys and their clients who appear before the court, as well as members of the public interested in these courts’ important work, greater ability to review records and filings; and

2. It would increase the conformity of record-access and filing procedures across New York State courts, mending an otherwise fractured system that would require knowing one set of procedures for Appellate Division practice and another, distinct set for the Appellate Term courts.

It is time to expand NYSCEF to the Appellate Term courts.²

Respectfully,

Steven Benathen, Scott Henney, and Cynthia Carlson
Co-Chairs and Vice-Chair (respectively) of the NYCLA Appellate Courts Committee

¹ This letter was approved for dissemination by NYCLA’s President as a Committee statement. This statement has not been approved by the NYCLA Board of Directors and does not necessarily represent the views of the Board.

² While not addressed in this letter, we recognize that E-Filing must be implemented thoughtfully in the Appellate Term so that individuals who do not have ready access to computers or the internet continue to have robust access to case filings and records.

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This statement was approved for dissemination by NYCLA’s President as a Committee statement. This statement has not been approved by the NYCLA Board of Directors and does not necessarily represent the views of the Board.