Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, First Judicial Department

Jurisdiction

The First Department of the Appellate Division holds jurisdiction over the Counties of New York and the Bronx. Appeals are taken to the Appellate Division, as a matter of right, in civil and criminal cases, from the Supreme Court, Surrogate’s Court, Family Court, and Court of Claims.

Along with the state's other three Appellate Departments, it shares responsibility for all admissions to the New York bar. Under the state's bar admission rules, all bar applicants must be interviewed in person by one of the Appellate Departments. The First Department admits only residents of Manhattan and the Bronx, with all other applicants being admitted by other Departments. However, once admitted by one Department, a new attorney may practice in any New York state court.

Case load

Over 3,000 appeals, 6,000 motions, and 1,000 interim applications are determined each year.

Former members

George C. Barrett (1896-1900)

Charles H. Van Brunt (1896-1905, P.J. 1896-1905)

William Rumsey (1896-1901)

Pardon C. Williams (1896-1898)

Morgan J. O’Brien (1896-1906, P.J. 1905-1906)

Edward Patterson (1896-1910, P.J. 1906-1910)

George L. Ingraham (1896-1915, P.J. 1910-1915)

Alton B. Parker (1897)

Chester B. McLaughlin (1898-1917)

Edward W. Hatch (1900-1905)

Frank C. Laughlin (1901-1922)

James W. Houghton (1905-1910)

John P. Clarke (1905-1926, P.J. 1916-1926)

John S. Lambert (1906-1908)

Francis M. Scott (1906-1918)

Nathan L. Miller (1910-1913)

Victor J. Dowling (1911-1931, P.J. 1927-1931)

Henry D. Hotchkiss (1913-1915)

Walter L. Smith (1915-1924)

Alfred R. Page (1916-1923)

Vernon M. Davis (1916-1918)

Clarence J. Shearn (1916-1919)

Edgar S.K. Merrell (1918-1935)

Eugene A. Philbin (1920)

Samuel Greenbaum (1920-1922)

Edward R. Finch (1922-1935, P.J. 1931-1935)

John V. McAvoy (1923-1937)

Francis Martin (1923-1947, P.J. 1935-1947)

William P. Burr (1924-1926)

Robert F. Wagner (1926)

James O’Malley (1927-1942)

Joseph M. Proskauer (1927-1930)

Henry L. Sherman (1930-1933)

Alfred H. Townley (1931-1946)

Edward J. Glennon (1933-1954)

Irwin Untermyer (1933-1945)

Edward S. Dore (1936-1954)

Albert Cohn (1936-1955)

Joseph M. Callahan (1937-1955)

David W. Peck (1945-1957, P.J. 1947-1957)

Isidor Wasservogel (1945)

John Van Voorhis (1947-1953)

Bernard L. Shientag (1947-1952)

Francis D. McCurn (1951)

Christopher J. Heffernan (1951-1952)

Charles D. Breitel (1952-1966)

Francis Bergan (1952-1963)

Sydney F. Foster (1952-1953)

Earle C. Bastow (1953-1970)

Bernard Botein (1953-1968, P.J. 1958-1968)

Benjamin J. Rabin (1955-1968)

Joseph A. Cox (1955-1956)

Martin M. Frank (1956-1960)

Francis L. Valente (1956-1966)

James B.M. McNally (1957-1972)

Harold A. Stevens (1958-1974, 1975-1977, P.J. 1969–1974, 1975-1977)

Robert E. Noonan (1960-1964)

Samuel W. Eager (1960-1972)

Aron Steuer (1961-1974)

G. Robert Witmer (1963-1971)

Ellis J. Staley, Jr. (1964-1968)

Louis J. Capozzoli (1966-1977)

George Tilzer (1967-1975)

Owen McGivern (1967-1975, P.J. 1974-1975)

Daniel E. Macken (1968-1974)

Arthur Markewich (1969-1982)

Emilio Nunez (1969-1977)

Francis T. Murphy (1971-1997, P.J. 1977-1997)

Theodore R. Kupferman (1971-1996)

Myles J. Lane (1973-1979)

Vincent A. Lupiano (1974-1982)

J. Robert Lynch (1974-1987)

Paul J. Yesawich, Jr. (1974-1981)

Harold Birns (1975-1982)

Samuel J. Silverman (1975-1984)

Herbert B. Evans (1977-1979)

Arnold L. Fein (1977-1986)

Leonard H. Sandler (1977-1988)

Joseph P. Sullivan (1978-2007, P.J. 2000-2001)

Max Bloom (1979-1986)

David Ross (1979-1997)

John Carro (1979-1994)

Sidney H. Asch (1982-1995)

E. Leo Milonas (1982-1993, 1996-1998)

Bentley Kassal (1982-1993)

Fritz W. Alexander II (1982-1985)

Ernst H. Rosenberger (1985-2003)

Betty Weinberg Ellerin (1985-2005, P.J. 1999)

Richard W. Wallach (1986-2003)

George Bundy Smith (1987-1992)

Israel Rubin (1989-2002)

Eugene L. Nardelli (1993-2010)

Milton L. Williams (1993-2008, P.J. 2002)

Nicholas Colabella (1997-1998)

Alfred D. Lerner (1998-2004, P.J. 1998)

John T. Buckley (1999-2010, P.J. 2003-2006)

George D. Marlow (2001-2008)

Luis A. Gonzalez (2002-2015)

James M. McGuire (2005-2011)

Bernard J. Malone, Jr. (2005-2008)

E. Michael Kavanagh (2006-2008)

Jonathan Lippman (2007-2009, P.J. 2007-2009)

James M. Catterson (2004-2012)

Helen E. Freedman (2008-2014)

Leland G. DeGrasse (2008-2015)

Sheila Abdus-Salaam (2009-2013)

Nelson S. Roman (2009-2013)

Darcel D. Clark (2012-2015)

Notable cases

Pando v. Fernandez

People v. Jovanovic

Stambovsky v. Ackley