Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in New York

Re: ? about memorandum

An appeal? With a county court? Or the appellate term? That doesn't sound right.

First, you should familiarize yourself with the court's rules.

Try starting here for information:

http://www.nycourts.gov/home.htm

If it is truly an appeal, then you must file a brief which is a memorandum of law. You should summarize the relevant facts and cite the law and explain why the local court erred.

You cannot discuss anything that did not happen in the local court. You are confined to the facts that were presented there. If there was a trial, then you can discuss what happened at the trial. You generally will need to also file a "record on appeal" which is a bound booklet containing copies of every paper, and transcript of proceedings, from the local court. I don't know the nature of your appeal, so i can't really be more specific as to what you would need to do.

If there was a trial, and it was recorded on audio tape, you are going to have to ask the local court for the name of an authorized transcription service so they can reproduce the record in written form.

You have to be timely with appeals. if you have to order anything, such as a transcript, you must do it right away. You will have to pay for it.

Go to the court and ask questions. Get some sample briefs and records so you can see what you are supposed to be doing. I am assuming the case is not worth enough to hire an attorney - in that case, you need to make sure you are not opening the door for an appeals court to give you an even worse decision than you already had!