Rochester is the center of a diverse legal community, with dozens of venues in which attorneys appear for their clients. We regularly appear in state and federal courts, before state agencies, and in a myriad of other situations in which our clients need legal counsel.
Rochester, NY (population approximately 210,000) is the Monroe County seat. It is the socio-economic center of what residents call the Greater Rochester Area, a six-county region with almost 1.1 million residents. The City of Rochester is where the Monroe County Courthouse (also known as the Hall of Justice), the Public Safety Building, the Monroe County Jail, and the Monroe County Crime Lab are all located. Our office is located on Browncroft Boulevard, in Rochester, just 10 Minutes from downtown.
The Hall of Justice is a massive facility that houses multiple courts. Rochester City Court handles landlord/tenant disputes and misdemeanor crimes on the first floor. There is a mezzanine level where Rochester City Court holds its Small Claims Part. Monroe County Family Court judges and magistrates of the Support Court are located on the second and third floors. Monroe County Court Judges and New York State Supreme Court Justices have courtrooms on the fourth and fifth floors, and a law library is also located on the fifth floor.
We often appear at the Hall of Justice, whether it is a misdemeanor DWI on the first floor, a Family Court case on three, a felony DWI on four, or a matrimonial matter on five. We are at the Hall of Justice virtually every week, and sometimes every day.
Sessions of the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division, Fourth Department are usually held at the M. Dolores Denman Courthouse in downtown Rochester. This is the courthouse at which appeals from State Supreme Court and County Court decisions are heard. It is next door to the Eastman School of Music, and it sits at the very top of East Avenue, which begins as a business district, but after a few blocks becomes a beautiful stretch of robber baron-era mansions. Previously located at the Hall of Justice, the Appellate Division moved to this courthouse in 1999. The Appellate Division will occasionally sit in other locations to commemorate the opening of a courtroom.
Rochester, NY also has a federal courthouse for the Western District of New York, which is located at 100 State Street. It’s a part of the Keating Federal Building that houses offices for United States executive branch agencies, federal legislators, as well as chambers for our four United States District Court Judges, the United States Bankruptcy Judge, and two Magistrate Judges. Mr. Militello most commonly appears at the federal courthouse when litigating employment matters and while representing clients on federal criminal cases.
Rochester also has offices for the New York State Board of Education and the New York State Department of Health. I mention this because as part of our employment law practice, we sometimes make appearances with clients for interviews at either the NYS Board of Education’s Office of Professional Discipline, or the NYS Department of Health Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.
If you are seeking legal counsel in one of these courts, or before a state agency, please call The Militello Law Firm at (585) 485-0025. We offer free consultations on DWI and criminal matters, and we look forward to helping you.
