§ 307.Personal service upon the state.

Suing the state itself calls for delivering the summons to an assistant attorney-general at an office of the attorney-general, or to the attorney-general directly, within New York. That's the whole rule for service on the state under subdivision one.

Suing a state officer or agency in an official capacity, where personal jurisdiction over that officer or agency depends on it, takes two steps rather than one. The plaintiff must deliver the summons to the officer, to the agency's chief executive officer, or to someone that chief executive officer designated to accept service, or mail it by certified mail (return receipt requested) to the officer or chief executive officer -- and, either way, also complete service on the state itself under subdivision one. Certified mail service isn't complete until the summons reaches the agency's principal office and the separate service on the state is done, and the envelope has to bear the words "URGENT LEGAL MAIL" in capital letters on the front or the mailing doesn't count. Every agency has to designate at least one person, besides its chief executive officer, who can accept service on its behalf.

The double-service requirement reflects the state's interest in knowing about every suit against its officers and agencies through the attorney-general's office, not just through whoever happens to be named as a defendant. Because this section works alongside the 120-day clock in CPLR 306-b and the proof-of-service rules in CPLR 306, plaintiffs suing the state or its officers need to track both halves of service carefully to avoid a defect that undoes the whole case.