The written arguments in your case cannot be prepared until an attorney has the opportunity to review the transcript, which is the word-for-word record of the prior proceedings in your case. The Appellate Division order assigning LABB as your appellate attorney also directs the Court Reporter to prepare this record. But it takes a considerable amount of time to prepare, especially if you had any pretrial hearings or were convicted after trial. Thus, it is not unusual for it to take a year or longer from the date the Appellate Division’s assignment order before your transcripts are available.
The Court Reporter will notify our office when your transcripts are filed with the County Clerk’s Office. Soon thereafter, we will retrieve from the County Clerk’s Office the duplicate copy that is loaned to LABB for the purpose of preparing your appeal.
If you wish to obtain a hard copy of your transcript, our office can provide you with a copy of your transcripts free of cost. Because of copying costs, our office may need to send you voluminous transcripts that are printed double sided with several pages per side.
Pre-divestiture transcripts and documents are not typically part of the record on appeal. The indictment or SCI is the final instrument of prosecution. Because pre-divestiture documents predate the indictment or SCI, we cannot include them in the record on appeal.