New York Official Reports: About the Official Reports

The New York Official Reports constitute the official and permanent record of the decisions and proceedings of the New York State Unified Court System. By statute—CPLR 5529 (e)—attorneys are required to cite all New York court decisions from the Official Reports in briefs, memoranda and papers submitted to the New York courts.

The Official Reports are professionally edited and prepared for publication by the New York State Law Reporting Bureau, which is the largest official reporter of court decisions in the United States, serving the largest court system in the Nation. The Law Reporting Bureau is established by article 14 of the Judiciary Law.

Relevant Statutes, Regulations, and Court Decisions

To view relevant statues and regulations pertaining to the creation and operations of the Law Reporting Bureau, please see our Statutes and Regulations page. Court decisions which discuss the importance of citing the Official Reports can be found on our In the Courts page.

The day-to-day operations of the Law Reporting Bureau are managed by the State Reporter and the Deputy State Reporter. The current State Reporter is the 28th in a line of succession dating back to 1804. The State Reporter selects the staff of the Law Reporting Bureau subject to approval of the Court of Appeals.

The New York Official Reports constitute the largest official case law database in the United States, consisting of 803 volumes in the First Series and 605 volumes in the Second Series. A Third Series was introduced in 2004.

The Official Reports are published in three separate series of bound volumes which correspond to the various levels of New York's courts:

The decisions of the Court of Appeals are published in the New York Reports. The New York Reports were begun in 1847, the year that the Court of Appeals first convened. Prior to that time, the Official Reports of predecessor courts of last resort were named after their Reporters, such as Johnson, Wendell and Hill.
The decisions of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court are published in the Appellate Division Reports. The Appellate Division Reports were begun in 1896, which is the date that the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court was created.
Appellate Term and trial court opinions are selectively published in the Miscellaneous Reports. The Miscellaneous Reports were begun in 1893. The Appellate Terms are the lower appellate courts in the First and Second Departments, and decide civil appeals and criminal appeals from the Civil Court and Criminal Court of the City of New York, District Courts of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, City Courts and Town and Village Justice Courts. The trial courts include the Supreme Court, Court of Claims, Family Court, Surrogate's Court, County Courts, City Courts, Civil Court of the City of New York, Criminal Court of the City of New York, District Courts of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and Town and Village Justice Courts.

Decisions from all levels of courts are combined in weekly paperback Advance Sheets, issued 52 weeks a year. The Official Reports also are published online.

History of the Law Reporting Bureau

The Office of the State Reporter was created in 1804 by the appointment of George Caines as New York's first State Reporter. During the ensuing 200+ years, the office has evolved into the New York State Law Reporting Bureau, now headed by the 28th State Reporter.

The history of the Law Reporting Bureau and State Reporter was compiled on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of New York State law reporting in a 2004 publication entitled "But how are their decisions to be known?" This publication recounts the history of New York State law reporting for the two centuries since its inception in 1804.

A significant contributor to the Law Reporting Bureau's historical record was James M. Flavin, the 21st State Reporter. Mr. Flavin was a pioneer in computer-assisted legal research and publishing, inspiring technological advances in his agency, in the New York State Bar Association and in the private sector. On May 30, 2008, a celebration of Mr. Flavin's contributions to electronic legal publishing was held at the New York State Court of Appeals. The comments and photo gallery from the Flavin celebration are available online.

Annual Reports

These documents contain the activities of the Law Reporting Bureau issued by the State Reporter.

Former State Reporters

William J. Hooks

William J. Hooks was appointed the 26th State Reporter by the Court of Appeals, effective June 25, 2009. A native of Brooklyn, Mr. Hooks is a graduate of Le Moyne College and Albany Law School and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1980. He joined the Law Reporting Bureau in 1981 as a legal editor under State Reporter John T. Fitzpatrick, was appointed Assistant State Reporter in 1990 by State Reporter Frederick A. Muller, and was appointed Deputy State Reporter in 2008 by State Reporter Gary D. Spivey. Mr. Hooks succeeds Mr. Spivey, who retired on June 24, 2009.

Mr. Hooks is a member of the New York State Bar Association's Intellectual Property Section, a past-president of the Association of Reporters of Judicial Decisions, and has served on the Board of Regents of Le Moyne College. He and his wife, Nancy, have three children and live in Latham.

Cara J. Brousseau

Cara J. Brousseau was appointed the 27th State Reporter by the Court of Appeals effective April 4, 2019. Ms. Brousseau joined the Law Reporting Bureau in 2015 as Assistant State Reporter, and was appointed Deputy State Reporter in 2017. Ms. Brousseau is a graduate of Allegheny College and Albany Law School. She also earned a Master of Public Administration from Rockefeller College at the University of Albany. Prior to working at the Law Reporting Bureau, Ms. Brousseau served as Deputy Executive Director & Counsel to the New York State Board of Law Examiners, and was a personal law clerk to the Hon. Susan P. Read at the Court of Appeals. Ms. Brousseau also worked in private practice focusing primarily on civil litigation and health care law.

Ms. Brousseau is a past-president of the Capital District Women's Bar Association, and the 2014 recipient of the organization's Hon. Judith S. Kaye Distinguished Attorney Member Award.