Tour of Appellate Division!

Today, members of the Appellate Practice Committee were given a tour of the Appellate Division at the Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton. Led by the Appellate Division Clerk, Joseph Orlando, the tour was illuminating and fun. We walked through the Appellate Division offices, courtroom, and judges' chambers that occupy the 4th and 5th Floors, and saw first hand the inner workings of this remarkable court.

Mr. Orlando arranged the tour "chronologically," first showing us the office handling the initial filings. He then guided us through the warren of offices that manage electronic filing, reviewing appeals for deficiencies, research and memo writing, emergent applications, and calendaring, finally ending up at records management. We also walked through the judges' chambers and library (where we saw books!). In the oral argument courtroom, Mr. Orlando informed us that the podium for oral argument represents the precise center point architecturally of the Hughes Justice Complex.

Among other things, we learned the following:

1. The Appellate Division employs 250 persons, 130 of which work at the Hughes Justice Complex.

2. The Appellate Division has nine chambers, one of which sits at the Hughes Justice Complex.

3. The Appellate Division is divided into eight "parts" (designated "A" through "H") of four or five judges each. In an effort to achieve balance, each part is assigned a mix of cases, so that no part carries a larger burden than another. Thus, each part decides a combination of large complex matters, smaller cases, agency appeals, and TPR (termination of parental rights) filings.

4. Motion practice has increased significantly over the past year, with 10,000 motions filed this year, as opposed to 6,000 the previous year.

5. Approximately 20 emergent applications are filed each week. We met Jenna Kennett, who handles these filings.

6. After disposition, ALL briefs and appendices are retained permanently by the Appellate Division in digital form. In criminal matters, the transcripts are also permanently retained.

7. Teams 1 through 4 handle the the more complex appeals and Team 5 handles sentencing.

8. There is one attorney for each of the 8 teams in the Appellate Division.

9. One employee is charged with correcting the inaccurate citations contained on the LEXIS database. Corrections are performed by consulting the hardbound New Jersey official reports.

10. Approximately 200 cases per year are summarily disposed of sua sponte by the Appellate Division by Order. These cases are those so lacking in merit as to not require an opinion.

11. Prior to disposition, parties have the ability to request that their case be published, either because of the novelty of the issue or other reasons. Only three-Judge panels can issue a published opinion.

All in all, the tour of the inner sanctum of our intermediate appellate court was fascinating, and well worth the trip!