OPEN-COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION
TITLE: COURT ASSISTANT (JG-16) EXAM NUMBER: 45-799

EXAMINATION DATE

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF WORK

LOCATION OF POSITIONS

APPLICATION PROCESS

ADMISSION NOTICE

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS TO COMPETE

CITIZENSHIP RESIDENCE

This examination will be administered throughout New York State on October 7, 2017. In New York City, the examination will be administered at St. John’s University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Queens, New York 11439. If applications exceed seating capacity at a test center, applicants may be scheduled for an alternate location and/or date.

Entry level position Grade 16 that currently pays $47,226 with union negotiated annual increases and health benefits. Only people who take the exam are given the opportunity to interview.

Court Assistants serve as part clerks in: Supreme Courts; all County and District level courts; those City Courts with three or more full-time judges; and the Civil Court of the City of New York. As part clerks, they work under the supervision of higher level court clerical personnel, Chief Clerks, Commissioners of Jurors, or County Clerks and perform court clerical tasks directly related to court proceedings. Court Assistants may also work outside of the courtroom in these same courts, in other New York City courts, or in the Court of Claims, where they provide procedural information, supervise units staffed by subordinate personnel engaged in court support activities such as intake of papers or docketing. They may be designated to act in the absence of the Chief Clerk or Commissioner of Jurors, and may perform duties related to arbitration and the disposition of actions by means of arbitration, and perform other related duties.

The eligible list established as a result of this examination will be used to fill positions in the Unified Court System throughout New York State.

A $30.00 non-refundable application fee is required to file for this examination. Applications for this examination must be filed ELECTRONICALLY no later than July 5, 2017. To access the application go to: www.nycourts.gov/careers/. Applicants must have a working e-mail address to complete the application process and to receive Admission and Result Notices. An application is considered successfully filed upon immediate receipt of an Application ID Number. Be sure to add the following e-mail address to your address book to ensure receipt of all correspondence regarding this examination: UnifiedCourtSystemExam@nycourts.gov.

Admission notices will be e-mailed to all applicants on or about September 12, 2017. If you have not received an admission notice, e-mail the Office of Court Administration at CivilServiceAdmin@nycourts.gov no later than September 25, 2017. Late requests for duplicate admission notices may not be honored.

By the close of filing, July 5, 2017, applicants are required to have: High School diploma or the equivalent and two (2) years of clerical experience*; or four (4) years of clerical experience*. Thirty (30) college level credits may be substituted for each year of work experience.

Candidates must be United States Citizens at the time of appointment.

Candidates must be residents of New York State at the time of appointment.

*Clerical experience includes: filing materials; sorting mail; unpacking supplies; operating office machinery; recording and or copying written numerical material; communicating directions and information orally to staff; processing documents; receiving/unpacking goods, supplies and/or materials; reviewing and correcting typed materials to ensure correct spelling, punctuation and proper format; operating office machinery, reviewing documents and forms in accordance with written rules and policies; checking documents and forms to determine whether required information is present and accurate; filing, retrieving, and sorting paper and folders according to an established alphabetical, chronological, numerical or functional filing system; responding to telephone or written questions; taking messages; performing incidental typing; answering telephone, etc.

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SUBJECT OF EXAMINATION

This written examination will be multiple-choice and will assess the following:

1. CLERICAL CHECKING

   These questions assess applicants’ ability to distinguish between different sets of names, numbers, letters and/or codes which are almost exactly alike. Material will be presented in three columns, and applicants will be asked to compare the information in the three sets.

2. UNDERSTANDING AND INTERPRETING WRITTEN MATERIAL

   These questions assess applicants’ ability to understand brief written passages. Applicants will be provided with short written passages from which words or phrases have been removed. Applicants will be required to select, among four alternatives, the word or phrase that best fits in each of the spaces. Applicants will not be required to have any prior knowledge relating to the content areas covered in the selections.

3. APPLYING FACTS AND INFORMATION TO GIVEN SITUATIONS

   These questions assess applicants’ ability to use the information provided and apply it to a specific situation defined by a given set of facts. Applicants are presented with a regulation, policy or procedure similar to what a Court Assistant may encounter on the job. Applicants must use this information to answer questions about specific situations. All of the information required to answer the questions is contained in the passages and in the description of the situation.

4. COURT RECORD KEEPING

   These questions assess applicants’ ability to read, combine, and manipulate written information organized from several sources. Applicants will be presented with different types of tables, which contain names, numbers, codes and other information, and must combine and reorganize the information to answer specific questions.

5. PREPARING WRITTEN MATERIAL
   Format A: These questions assess applicants’ ability to present information accurately and clearly and to organize written information logically and comprehensibly. Applicants will be presented with several sentences and must select the sequence that most effectively organizes them into a coherent and logical paragraph.

   Format B: These questions assess applicants’ ability to apply the rules of English grammar and usage, punctuation, and sentence structure. Applicants will be presented with a series of sentences and must select the sentence that best conforms to standard English grammar and usage, punctuation, and sentence structure.

6. LEGAL TERMINOLOGY

   These questions assess candidates’ knowledge of basic legal terminology that Court Assistants encounter in their daily work.