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Certificates of Good Standing

Introduction

A certificate of good standing attests to an attorney’s admission to practice and current status of good standing before the bar. The phrase “good standing” means that the attorney has been duly admitted to practice, is not currently suspended or disbarred, is currently registered with the Office of Court Administration, and is not in arrears in the payment of the $375 biennial registration fee required by Judiciary Law § 468-a.

Certificates of good standing can be obtained from the court in which you were admitted. If that court is the Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department, please follow the instructions below.


New Method of Requesting Certificates of Good Standing

We are pleased to announce that the Appellate Division has adopted a new method by which attorneys may request and receive Certificates of Good Standing. Developed by the Office of Court Administration’s Division of Technology for use by all four departments of the Appellate Division, this method provides an efficient way of requesting and receiving Certificates electronically. Simply follow the instructions on the website of the Office of Court Administration and, if all is in order, a Certificate of Good Standing will be delivered to your Attorney Services Account e-mail. Counsel who do not have an Attorney Online Services account are encouraged to establish one. However, if you have not done so you may still request a Certificate of Good Standing by following the instructions, and if you do not have an e-mail address on file with the OCA (you really should!) the certificate will be sent to the counsel’s public registration e-mail address. Please note that it will take one-two business days from the receipt of your request before it can be successfully processed.

You are encouraged to let the Court know about your experience with this new system by e-mailing your comments to ad2clerk@nycourts.gov