Nina Hospedales
Professor Coughlin
Law 1103

On March 27th I woke up extra early to go to the courts for my observation assignment. I choose to go to Family Court, Kings County (330 Jay St. Brooklyn New York). To begin with, the moment I introduced myself as a student, security and staff went out there way to direct me to different cases and cases that would be interesting.
Sitting in the court room was another great experience. I was told to turn of my phone before entering the court room, and sat in a bench with other attorneys, while other cases proceeded. The attorneys I sat next to were on instagram and chattering the about how they want there case to be called next. They were also really friendly.
There were two cases that caught my attention that I will later write about in my memorandum, but just watching the courts delicate family matters was quite interesting. Many of the children were not present, but along with the lawyers ACS had, the children as well, had there own attorneys.

Today I went to the Civil Court in Queens County. The address is 89-17 Sutphin Blvd , Jamaica NY 11435.  The commute to the court was smooth and nothing happened in front of the court house. The case I went to was about an elderly woman looking to sue ford and a local mechanical shop. The case started when the car shop in queens refused to repair the plaintiffs car after it was wrecked. They told her to wait a week for the car to be repaired in early June but she didn’t get a response until late August . They told her screw you drive it the condition its in. Ford said they didn’t have the parts to repair the car. Geico was also involved in the case. she was emotionally stressed in court and started crying while giving her part of the case. the attorney had to give the rest of the story because of that. the plaintiff could barely stand or walk so they had to give her a chair instead standing to give her statement.I left after the two hours in court.

On Tuesday, March 18^th, 2019 the Law and Paralegals club here at New York City College of Technology organized a field trip to the New York State Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals is located at 20 Eagle Street, Albany, N.Y. 12207. This court is located at our state’s capital.

I traveled with about 25 upcoming paralegal students on U.S. Coachways bus to Albany. Our mission is to visit the NYS Court of Appeals and sit in on an appeal. We are looking to grasp a better understanding of how laws passed in our country and gain insight while we are observing oral arguments.

I arrived at the court house around 1:30 pm. We went through security check in and it was pretty customary. Then I had the opportunity to meet Deputy Chief of Security Ron Gadson who then walked Nicole, Abigail and I to the entrance of the court room. He then handed us a souvenir and allowed us into the court room to observe and take pictures. The court room was very elegant with bright red carpeting. It had a powerful feel to it along with the very elaborate chandeliers dangling. There were portraits of the court of appeals judges around the room. The judges’ pictures go up on the wall when they leave their term.

Next, they opened the court room up for the lawyers to enter the room. There were two attorneys for each side. First, the lawyers entered and took their seats upfront in front of the panel judges. Then the seven judges walked out through a door directly behind their bench and sat down. The court officers then asked us all to rise and seven judges took the stand. All of the judges were eye level even the Chief Judge Janet DiFiore who sat directly in the middle. The court officer shouted “Hear ye, hear ye”. It felt like it was out of a movie. Then they introduced the cases to the court room.

I was very impressed at the court room and how the proceeding was organized. What surprised me was the Chief Judge of NYS Court of Appeals, the highest appellate court in New York State, acknowledged New York City College of Technology and welcomed Professor Espinoza and the upcoming paralegal students to her court room. It felt like an honor to be part of it and to be addressed as a paralegal felt even better. I was proud to be there. I chose the court of appeals to view a proceeding because it’s the highest court in NYS and was very interested in experiencing an appeal in my state’s capital were the magic happens.

Finally, it was time to start the appeals. There were three appeals being argued. The first two appeals were a matter of National Energy Markets Association v. N.Y.S Public Service Commission. And then the second appeal was a matter of Retail Energy Supply Association vs. Public Service Commission of NYS. And thirdly, the appeal was about People v. Boris Brown. The first two cases were about their findings in 2016, after finding that the Energy Service Companies, (ESCO’s) were generally charging their customers higher rates than the regulated utilities were charging. The Public Service Commission of NYS (PSC) issued a Reset Order governing gas and electric service for residential and small commercial customers to guarantee that customers will pay no more than a full service customer would. The last appeal was about a murder of a 17-year-old child named Cheyenne Baez. This case is about the potential conflict of interest regarding Browns attorney. The police quickly focused on three suspects Boris Brown, Devon Coughman and Ahmed Salaam who had been at the scene together. Salaam hired a lawyer Jeffrey Chabrowe to defend Brown in the murder case and paid his fees. Then Salaam was arrested in an unrelated fraud case, Salaam hired Chabrowe to defend him against criminal charges. The court told Brown, “There would be a problem that your lawyer would have to cross-examine someone else that he represents on an unrelated matter.” This was definitely a conflict.

I highly suggest to go ahead and experience your state capital viewing an appeal at the NYS Court of appeals. It left me with a professional view on how the court does business and how the appeals court operates regarding applying the law and expressing legal arguments. I enjoyed every minute. Good luck on your observation!

On Friday, March 22, I went to New York Supreme Court of Kings County. I got there around 9:30 am and told the guard at the information desk who I was and what I was looking for. She told me to go to room 285, which handled Guardianship. Again, I told the man in there who I was and what I was looking for. He was kind enough to make some phone calls and found a case about a contract gone wrong. He told me where to go and I thanked him. I met with Ana and we both headed up to see this observation. From my understanding, this was a contract over a construction job that was not completed. There were a lot of specific details given, especially from the defendant’s attorney, and the contract was being read over and over again and questioned by both sides. Overall, it was very interesting, this was the first time I was in a court room with jurors and the whole scene, like on Law and Order. The plaintiff was all for us watching the case and he even told us that he hoped they gave us “a good show.” I asked questions and introduced myself every time I went up to someone to ask them their name. Don’t be afraid to do that. They were all nice, except one guard on the floor who was very serious and barely responded to us. We were there until about 12:35, when the judge ended it for the day and gave the next date. We were very hungry! So I suggest you eat a heavy breakfast if you are going to go in the morning but other than that I enjoyed it.

October 19, 2019

It was a pretty temperate day, neither too warm nor too frigid. I took off from my house at almost 5:00am to run 20 minutes for the train to the ferry. I finally arrived at CityTech at about 7:15am. Although, It would be another 5 hours before we would reach Albany at approximately 12:15pm. I spent the bus ride there riding with three other aspiring women. Once we arrived at Albany and had a quick lunch it was time to proceed to court.

We arrived at the courthouse somewhere around 1:40pm. Check-in through security was pretty routine for a government building. I was warned not to open up my gummy bears in the court room. Darn! All I need is to get sanctioned for contempt of gelatin. Inside the building reeked of tradition, order, and formality. From the mural on the central ceiling to the filigree woodwork in the court room. I wish I had not worn my hearing aids all through the ride, as prolonged usage weakens their effectiveness. Something that precluded my participation in the conversations Latasha-Nicole and Marlo would have with Mr. Spencer (court of appeals public information person) and Officer Shevlin before the trial. We had managed to get into the court room early thanks to Latasha-Nicole and Marlo and their effusive nature. They attracted the attention of Gary Spencer. Gary Spencer, the public information officer, after showing us in proceeded to give us a brief historical synopsis concerning the court, followed by a short lived Q&A session. It did not take long before picture taking and historical narrative led to 2:00pm. When the words “Hear ye, hear ye” ascended everyone to their feet and all the justices except Judge Fahey entered for the initial proceedings. He would later creep in as the appeal against PSC was convening. The attorneys from the first contestant, David Burke, were kept anxious by the continual inquisition by the judges. The first two trials were extremely long winded and technical. With a lack of excitement being replaced with legal verbosity.  The last appeal was certainly shorter and less verbose than the early combined appeals against PSC. But People versus Brown was certainly a match to see. Justices progressively leaned on both sides heavily. At one point you could have sworn it was a heavily contested game of tennis. With both sides posturing to get that one last shot over the net to break the tie.

After the court was finally adjourned, we went to tour the state capital building. I believe professor Espinosa’s intent was to have us witness our great state legislature in action. As we walked through the building we began to see more and more anti-choice protesters relaying signs against Cuomo’s late term abortion law. To which my thought was, “I have a bad feeling about this”.  We attempted to access the chamber through the second floor. Only to find the elevators kept bypassing it. I started voicing my thought that it could be intentional, that the protests could be blocking our access and the elevators weren’t stopping on that floor for that reason. We finally found out, through attempting to access the second floor by the stairs,  my assumptions or something relatively close to them, was indeed what was going on. After bopping around the capital building for an hour or so more. Appreciating the architecture and the informative historical displays, it was time to get back to Brooklyn. So we finally made our way back outside where the bus picked us up at around 5:00pm. I arrived back home at about 10:30pm…exhausted and cranky about having to get up again at 4am. Yet, somehow energized and fulfilled from the experience. I took in a lot this day, fostered some friendships, and learned a lot from people and the experience.   I think we all did. Good luck to everyone on the memorandum .

Abigail

NYS Court of Appeals- Court room

New York State Court of Appeals 

I had the opportunity along with a few other students in the class, to attend the court of appeals trip on Tuesday, March 19th. It took us 3 hours to get there, but it was a comfortable ride because our bus (a nicely interior one at that) had tables on it, so we were able to place our books to study,  use or laptops/tablets to get a preview of the cases we were going to hear- you name it. We arrived to Albany around 12pm; we had lunch and went straight to the court, which was nothing close to what I expected. The court personnel were so friendly, welcoming, and willing to answer any question I had for them. I even took a picture with court officer Jenny; I spoke to a retired judge, Judge Pigot,  who was very nice and gave me brief history on the judges, whose pictures surrounded the court room. Now the 7 judges of the court, ( the hot bench)  is a completely different story. They were brutal with the attorneys and I mean brutal; they would ask a question and before the attorney could fully answer, the judge (S) would interject with question after question, ( double, even triple teaming them) hampering  the attorney from  answering  the previous question that was asked. In total, we heard 3  consolidated timed cases, which went fast. I  can tell you so much, but I’ll end up writing my entire paper instead of a post. my main advice, is ASK! Do not be afraid to ask anyone anything. You won’t get the information you need otherwise. Focus more on what you see, and what is going on during the case; don’t just focus on the case. try to write a quickly as possible to get as much information as you can. I would suggest wearing something casual, to give yourself that, “I’m studying law look” (just an opinion but not necessary )  GOOD LUCK CLASS!

-Nicole

On Monday March 13^th, I went to NYS Supreme Court Kings County at about 2:15pm for my court observation. When I approached the revolving doors, a confrontation began between one of the officers standing guard for the employee entrance and a civilian woman. In that moment, it appeared as if the woman was trying to enter through the doors for which she was not  permitted. Hence the reason for the disturbance that concurred. When I saw this, I decided to go to the NYS Family Court, Kings County instead, located next door to avoid the commotion.  When I went to NYS Family Court, I observed a case between a muslim mother and father. The case was about whether the court would  allow the father accessibility to his passport in order to travel, which was ultimately denied. When this ended, I headed back to NYS Supreme Court to observe another case when I realized the initial disturbance had been handled. The civilian woman stood handcuffed with about 3 officers surrounding her.  When I entered the building I asked for directions and was directed to a case about a robbery and attempted murder for which they were doing jury selection.  The jury selection lasted about 45 minutes to an hour when the judge alongside the prosecutor and defense attorney came to a mutual decision for which 6 jurors were chosen.