To reduce delays in perfecting criminal appeals and to ensure efficient access to complete criminal trial court records in electronic form, the following protocol shall be effective August 3, 2026:

(1) All pleadings, motions, letters and documents of any kind must be filed with and date-stamped by the Chief Clerk’s Office of Erie County Court and Supreme Court, Erie County (Chief Clerk’s Office), before the trial court may consider or receive any such items. The Chief Clerk’s Office will then transmit the original papers to the trial court for further handling.

a. Exceptions:

i. All Grand Jury minutes shall be submitted directly to the trial court.

ii. After-hours submissions requiring same-day filing to comply with statutory or court-imposed deadlines may be filed through the Electronic Document Delivery System (FDDS).

iii. Any motion to seal the original disciplinary file of a law enforcement officer shall be filed in accordance with this protocol. With respect to such an application, however, the proponent shall, consistent with the manner in which Grand Jury minutes are treated by this memo, submit directly to the trial court an original disciplinary file containing redactions contemplated by CPL 245.20 (6) and Public Officers Law§ 89 (2-b) and (2-c). The balance of papers tendered in support of such an application shall be filed in accordance with paragraph (1) of this memorandum.

(2) If a document is submitted under seal or is otherwise confidential, then this must be communicated to the Chief Clerk’s Office at the time of filing; the general public will not be given access to such documents.

(3) Except as set forth in paragraph (1) (a) (i) and (iii) of memorandum, judges, law clerks, court clerks, and legal secretaries shall not accept documents unless they have been date-stamped by the Chief Clerk’s Office Of filed in EDDS.