If you've always wanted to sit in on a real live appeals court, here's your chance. On Friday, Nov. 9, the Third Department of the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division will be in session at Cornell University Law School.

The session, usually held in Albany, N.Y., will take place in the Law School's MacDonald Moot Court Room on the third floor of Myron Taylor Hall on Cornell's campus from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The session is open to the public, as are all Appellate Division hearings.

Hearing cases on appeal will be presiding Justice Anthony V. Cardona and associate justices Thomas E. Mercure, Anthony J. Carpinello, Robert S. Rose and John Cahtinen. At the session, counsel representing clients in both criminal and civil cases will plead before the court. The justices are expected to take the cases under advisement and issue their decisions from Albany at a later date.

The tradition of a traveling Appellate Division grew from the presiding justice's belief that the public should have an opportunity to witness the judicial appeals process. This session marks the third time the justices have held court at Cornell; they met at the Law School for the first time in April 1996 and again in September 1999.

The Supreme Court Appellate Division is the intermediate appeals court of New York state. It hears civil and criminal appeals, reviewing lower court trial records. The Appellate Division is divided geographically into four departments throughout the state. Each department is responsible for hearing most appeals in its area. The Third Department has jurisdiction over Tompkins County as well as 27 other counties stretching as far west as Chemung and Schuyler, north to Franklin, St. Lawrence and Clinton counties on the Canadian border and south to Ulster and Sullivan counties in the Catskills.