Home Frequently Asked Questions - Court-Pass - Digital Filing

Answers to these frequently asked questions are general and are not intended to provide legal assistance. Please consult the Court's Rules and applicable statutory provisions in preparing papers and digital format submissions. If you have additional questions after reviewing these FAQs, please call the Clerk’s office for assistance.

Digital Upload - General

Q: I represent an indigent client, am I required to submit documents in digital format?
A: Yes, the Court’s Rules require companion submissions in digital format on appeals, certified questions, judicial conduct matters, motions and criminal leave applications unless the Clerk grants a request to be relieved of the digital format submission requirements (see Rule 500.2[e]).

Q: Am I required to e-mail my companion digital filings to the Clerk's office?
A: No. Companion digital submissions must be transmitted to the Clerk's Office by uploading them to the Court of Appeals Public Access and Search System (Court-PASS) (for appeals, certified questions, and judicial conduct matters) or to the Companion Filing Upload Portal (for motions, Rule 500.10 jurisdictional responses and criminal leave applications). Court-PASS and the Companion Filing Upload Portal are accessible through the Court of Appeals website.

Q: Are companion digital filings available to the public?
A: Companion digital filings for appeals, certified questions and judicial conduct matters pending or filed after January 1, 2013 are available through the Public Access and Search function of Court-PASS.  Companion digital filings for motions and criminal leave applications are not available for public access through the Companion Filing Upload Portal.

Court PASS – Appeals, Certified Questions and Judicial Conduct Matters
Q: Am I required to register as a Court-PASS user in order to upload my brief and record material on appeals, certified questions, and judicial conduct matters?
A: No. To access Court-PASS's Upload System, New York attorneys must have an Attorney Online Service Account with the Unified Court System. There is no separate registration for Court-PASS. Filers who are not New York attorneys will receive "guest" login credentials from the Clerk's Office to use the Court-PASS upload system.

Q: How do I log into Court-PASS to upload documents if I am a registered New York attorney?
A: Registered New York attorneys must have an Attorney Online Service Account with the Unified Court System. If a registered New York attorney does not have an Attorney Online Service Account, there is a link on Court-PASS to create such an account. Once an account is created, the filer will be redirected to Court-PASS and may then use their attorney registration number as their user ID and their password created in their Attorney Online Service Account. Filers will also be required to provide a "Login No." This is the case number assigned by the Clerk's Office and provided to filers in a briefing letter.

Below is an example for a registered New York Attorney:

User ID: 1234567 (attorney registration number)
Password: Password1 (password created in Attorney Online Registration Account)
The registered attorney will then be directed to a new page:
Login No.: APL-2014-00001 (case number, provided in the briefing letter)

Q: How do I log into Court-PASS to upload documents if I am not a registered New York attorney?
A: Filers who are not New York attorneys will receive "guest" login credentials from the Clerk's Office. The login credentials will include a Login Name, Password and Login No. For example:

Login Name: jdoe123 (login name provided by Clerk's Office)
Password: password123 (password provided by Clerk's Office)
Login No.: APL-2014-00001 (case number, provided in briefing letter)

Companion Filing Upload Portal – Motions, Rule 500.10 Responses and Criminal Leave Applications

Q: Am I required to register in order to upload my companion digital filings for motions, Rule 500.10 jurisdictional responses and criminal leave applications?
A: No, filers required to use the Companion Filing Upload Portal to submit companion digital filings for motions and Rule 500.10 jurisdictional responses will receive a letter with instructions from the Clerk’s office. A motion or appeal number and pin number will be required to upload documents.

You will not be able to upload documents through the Portal until you receive a motion number, CLA number, or appeal number (as applicable) and a pin number in a letter from the Court (see Rule 500.2 [d] [companion digital filings for civil motions shall be submitted no later than seven days after the return date of the motion; companion digital filings for CLAs shall be submitted within the time directed by the Clerk of the Court]).

Q: Do I have to pay a fee to use Court-PASS or the Companion Filing Upload Portal?
A: No. There is no fee.

Q: What is the required digital format for companion digital filings?
A: All digital submissions must be in text searchable portable document format (PDF).

Q: I don't know how to convert my documents to PDF format. Will the Clerk's Office convert the documents for me?
A: No. Free software is available to convert word-processed documents to PDF software.

Q: How many documents can I upload on Court-PASS or the Companion Filing Upload Portal at one time? Is there a size limit?
A: Five documents may be uploaded per session. No uploaded document may exceed a file size of 100 megabytes.

Q: How do I serve the required companion digital copies of my documents on my adversary?
A: The Court's Rules do not require service of companion digital filings. However, parties may agree among themselves to provide such documents to each other, in any mutually-agreeable fashion, including by e-mail.

Q: What do I name the digital versions of my documents?
A: Please refer to the technical specifications available on the Court’s website for naming conventions.