As you are probably aware, the upcoming September Term is the first Appellate Division, First Department filing deadline since the June Term. Essentially, the significance of the September Term lies simply in the fact that since there are no appeals heard or submitted (Terms) during July or August, the September Term tends to quickly become overloaded with appellate filings. The reason for the filing crunch is that those who missed filing for the June Term, as well as those appeals which were bounced by the Appellate Division, First Department from the June Term, are all vying for a spot on the September Term calendar. In other words, every Record and Brief which is filed between March 18 and July 7, 2018 (the “Break Period”) are all (in theory) calendared for the September Term.
Of course, in reality, the September Term, as is true in every other Term, has a finite amount of space on the calendar for appeals to be heard. Thus, it is inevitable that a number of appeals filed for the September Term may in fact ultimately be bounced by the Appellate Division, First Department to the October Term. This in turn will mean that you might not have your appeal decided until the end of the year (or perhaps even the beginning of 2019). It is prudent, therefore, to file sooner rather than later in the September Term and not necessarily wait until the July 7, 2018 deadline. You may in fact be providing more time for the Respondent to put in an opposing brief (the Respondent’s Brief deadline is August 6, 2018), but you’re reducing the likelihood that your appeal will be bounced to the October Term.
It should be noted, of course, that there is no guarantee that the appeal will not be bounced even if you do, in fact, file prior to July 7, 2018. But some feel that it is worth a shot.