New York County Supreme Court — Attraction in New York

if you live in Manhattan, you likely have to pay a visit to this New York Count Supreme Court location periodically for jury duty, to delay jury duty, etc.

jury selection for civil and criminal cases are done here. your jury summons will tell you where to go to serve. the process is pretty streamlined. go through security, head to the jury selection area which is on the third or fourth floor, follow some instructions, fill out some paperwork, and wait to be selected or dismissed. the toughest part is waiting bc you'll likely be there one to three days to see whether you're picked for a case or not. there is WiFi and outlets in the jury waiting areas. there is a small food vendor from morning to early afternoon who sells coffee, breakfast eats (like croissants, etc), chips, soft drinks, etc.

tip: bring a book--or laptop or tablet. you'll have time to kill.

you get breaks while waiting and like 1 1/2 for lunch. there's plenty of places to eat for lunch etc. from fast food to sit down--within a few blocks.

the exterior of the building has cool classic architecture if you appreciate that sorta thing and there's plenty to snap pics of....the interior of the Supreme Court building is pretty cool--but you can't take pics of the jury duty rooms or courts.

the staff, here, are very friendly and keep things efficient. they have a great sense of humor and try to keep things light bc they know jury duty is not the most fun things to do. overall, if you have to serve or delay your service, the folks here make it pretty straightforward.

drops mic cuz I'm in the...

Now this is what Jury Duty should be like! One day. And in less than 4 hours and we were released. For the next 6 years. Ha!

Unlike most courts, there was next to no line at the security check point. Beautiful.

The woman who runs the jury selection in all the courts was there and gave us extremely detailed information as to what to expect and what to do in any eventuality. Completely welcome but totally unnecessary since we weren't there but for 3 hours.

If you do manage to serve, bring cash. Everything in the vicinity is cash-only, from the coffee cart outside to the cafeteria inside. If you sit along the wall by the windows, there are plenty of electrical plugs so you can do like many did... bring your big 'ol laptop with you. Just don't use earphones because the court personnel need your complete attention, because they will be making important announcements over the PA system and calling names throughout the morning.

It hasn't even been a month and I've already received the $40 check for my day's service. Not too shabby for a couple of hours of civic duty. Not shabby at all.

Oh and you have to sneak photos of the beautiful rotunda. For some reason photography is not allowed and the guard yelled a some people. As you can see, I'm a rule breaker. Breakin' the law!...

Ronniece was such a delight to be helped by! Encountered a few individuals who I had a subpar experience with but God truly saved the best for last! I made several visitations to the courthouse before encountering Ronniece and left bothered due to how unwelcoming and unknowledgeable majority of the staff was. Initially I visited the help center in room 119A, I briefly described the current matter I was dealing with but came to find out four months later I was misinformed and given the wrong paperwork. Due to the negligence of that one staff member I could’ve lost an entire 3 bedroom apartment and end up homeless with my two year old daughter. In addition when I did complete the paperwork (which was the wrong paperwork anyway) I was sent to multiple different rooms attempting to file the paperwork and encountered more staff members who were misinforming me so at this point my head was spinning. I don’t have professional representation so I’ve been figuring it out as I go but gee what a smoother process this all could’ve been if I was given the correct information four months earlier. If not for the staff member Ronniece I’d be a hot mess right now truly so I’m giving her 5 stars for providing the correct paperwork and providing the right information...