electronic Filing & Service for Courts

Federal Courts Status/Update

CASE MANAGEMENT/ELECTRONIC CASE FILES (CM/ECF)
February 2005

Implementation of the federal judiciary's Case Management and Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system continues in district and bankruptcy courts across the country. CM/ECF not only replaces the courts' aging electronic docketing and case management systems, but also provides courts the option to have case file documents in electronic format, and to accept filings over the Internet.

CM/ECF systems are now in use in 64 district courts, 80 bankruptcy courts, the Court of International Trade and the Court of Federal Claims. Most of these courts are accepting electronic filings. Almost 18 million cases are on CM/ECF systems. And over 150,000 attorneys and others have filed documents over the Internet. Under current plans, the number of CM/ECF courts will increase steadily each month into 2005. Each court goes through an implementation process that takes about 10 months.

Attorneys practicing in courts offering the electronic filing capability are able to file documents directly with the court over the Internet. The CM/ECF system uses standard computer hardware, an Internet connection and a browser, and accepts documents in Portable Document Format (PDF). The system is easy to use – filers prepare a document using conventional word processing software, then save it as a PDF file. After logging onto the court's web site with a court-issued password, the filer enters basic information relating to the case and document being filed, attaches the document, and submits it to the court. A notice verifying court receipt of the filing is generated automatically. Other parties in the case then automatically receive e-mail notification of the filing.

A complete list of Federal Courts currently operational or implementing CM (Case Management) EF (electronic filing) follows:

The Gradual Digitalization of Our Courtrooms

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy posted this about efiling in October 2004:

Over the past couple of decades, computer technology has progressed from being the playthings of geeks to the necessities of neophytes. Despite this rapid-fire growth, our judiciary system has remained somewhat sheltered from the effects of the digital age. Courts around the country -- and indeed, around the world -- are slowly incorporating the technology into courtroom proceedings.

Use of the Internet to electronically file motions, pleadings and complaints is lauded for its increase in efficiency, particularly by those who promote the "quest for a paperless court." Federal district and bankruptcy courts are slowly implementing the Case Management/Electronic Case Files system, with the implementation process taking approximately 10 months for each court. In a particularly ambitious move, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California now requires a unique electronic filing process for all complaints and pleadings in securities class actions. Such litigation materials must be filed with the Securities Class Action Clearinghouse , a database created and maintained by Stanford University Law School . The database provides summaries and analyses of securities lawsuits, as well as updates on trends in securites litigation.

Google Results on eFiling in Courts

Here are the results today for a Google search on: electronic filing courts 2005

Results 1 - 10 of about 437,000 for electronic filing courts 2005

Will rerun this search each month to show that the interest is growing (at least as evidenced by a "Google" search)

West Virginia: Supreme Court Clerk Rory Perry

A weblog about information issues in the courts, with occassional diversions, authored by the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, Rory Perry.

This weblog and its various categories primarily examine the interplay between law, technology, and the courts. Which also sometimes means delving into knowledge management, methods for troubleshooting these micropublishing tools, and other bits of arcana.

"In my capacity as Clerk of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, I deal with the connections between law, technology and the courts on a daily basis. Because a central function of a court clerk is to preserve court records and disseminate public information about the courts and court proceedings, I use this site to pass along relevant news and information about court technology efforts with a wider community. I've been involved in a variety of technology initiatives since joining the court, including: selecting, installing, configuring, and administering a new case management system for the Court; creating an innovative inter-agency electronic document exchange program, which was featured at the 2001 CTC7; creating and maintaining a free listserv that distributes topical summaries of all opinions, rules, and significant case developments; and participating in electronic filing standards development through observing the progress of LegalXML workgroups" - Rory Perry

Pennsylvania: County court system reports increase in e-filings

From the INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL (LANCASTER, PA.), February 15, 2005

Lancaster County civil court accepted its 100th e-file in January, exactly six months after the service first was offered. The prothonotary's office has collected 113 e-filings as of Monday.

"This milestone is significant because our system for electronic filing is completely voluntary," Prothonotary Randall O. Wenger said.

"Those attorneys who are utilizing the system recognize the convenience it provides. They save on postage or running a staff member into the office to file. They also gain the convenience of being able to file from anywhere at any time of the day."

Wenger said the office receives a "decent" amount of repeat business and is now collecting one or two e-filings a day.

The prothonotary's office offers electronic filing through an agreement with LexisNexis.

Electronic filing is provided free to the county and the costs to use the system are paid to LexisNexis by attorneys who opt to use the system.

Attorneys wishing to use the system, or those interested in learning more about the system, can visit www.lexisnexis.com/fileandserve, or contact the prothonotary at 299-8282.

Illinois: Electronic filing puts St. Clair County in vanguard

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 14, 2005

Mountains of paperwork in the St. Clair County courts have been swept away.

The system has switched gradually over the past two years to electronic record keeping for all traffic and misdemeanor cases.

Chief Circuit Judge Jan V. Fiss said St. Clair was the first county in Illinois to make the switch under a pilot project approved by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Included as well are all ordinance violations, drunken driving cases and conservation cases such as hunting and fishing violations.

Electronic imaging is also used for felony cases, but it is not yet the official record for that division. Nor has it spread to civil cases.

Fiss said the change had already helped everyone from circuit judges down to police officers on the street. But the biggest fans seem to be the court clerks.

No longer do they spend hours each day searching for documents, filing documents and refiling documents. In the past, courtrooms sometimes came to a standstill while a search was conducted.

Circuit clerk supervisor Debbie DeRousse said the biggest advantage of electronic imaging can be summed up in a single word -- access.

"It's at our fingertips," she said.

The sheer volume of cases in St. Clair County gives some idea how important that is.

Delaware

From the Delaware Law Weekly, February 2, 2005

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner has proposed a 2006 state operating budget that would provide $73.5 million to Delaware's judiciary in the coming fiscal year.

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According to the state Budget Office, the proposed judicial budget represents a 6.6 percent increase over the courts' $68.9 million 2005 budget.

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When he presented the judiciary's desired budget in November, Steele told the Budget Office that the judiciary was seeking funding only for inescapable costs that could not be reduced or eliminated; mission-critical needs; and requests by ancillary, non-judicial agencies such as the child advocate.

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The capital improvement bill also provides $5 million for the judiciary's COTS initiative. Courts Organized to Serve, or COTS, is a commercial, off-the-shelf case and financial management system that will eventually replace the various systems currently used by Delaware's courts.

COTS will ensure that all of Delaware's courts have the necessary tools to manage their caseloads and to efficiently serve the public, according to Minner's budget proposal. Steele has said that 2005 will be a big year for the project.

In October, the Administrative Office of the Courts selected Affiliated Computer Services in Dallas to provide an integrated information system for all of the state courts, according to an ACS press release. When all of the system's components are up and running, the system will coordinate case and financial-management information, integrate case data, and provide electronic filing and Web access to court information.
Court officials began training on the new system late last year, according to Steele.

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Georgia: Fed Courts Prepping for Mandatory E-Filing

From the Fulton County Daily Report, February 1, 2005

Just 15 minutes before the federal clerk s office closed Jan. 24, two runners for law firms found themselves barred by a broken sprinkler from delivering a last-minute court filing. They were absolutely in a panic, U.S. Clerk of Court Luther D. Thomas recalled. The burst sprinkler had set off the building s fire alarms, causing the elevators automatically to descend to the ground floor and remain there. As the runners contemplated how to clear a security barrier on the 15th floor and whether to climb 22 flights of stairs to the clerk s office, Thomas said, we thought we were going to have a little bit of a scene.

I ve got to get up there, one runner told the clerk. My law firm won t understand. That kind of last-minute race to the courthouse to meet filing deadlines before the clerk s office closes at 4:45 p.m. can be avoided now with electronic filing an optional system that becomes mandatory on July 15 for the 12,000 to 15,000 attorneys who are members of the federal bar in Georgia s Northern District. Under the electronic system, attorneys can file documents anytime prior to midnight and meet court deadlines for that day. Electronic filing of court documents became an option for lawyers practicing in the Northern District last July. But court administrators are now requiring members of the federal bar, including attorneys admitted pro hac vice, to obtain a login and password that will permit them, beginning July 15, to file electronically all documents except for initial complaints and criminal indictments. An order last year by U.S. District Judge Orinda D. Evans, the Northern District s chief judge, will require, by July, that the vast majority of court documents be filed electronically. Except for initiating documents in a case, those filed under seal or those filed by pro se litigantsoall of which still will have to be filed on paper filings will have to be made electronically. Unless our procedures allow you to file manually, you can t show up [with a paper filing] without the leave of the court, said Chief Deputy Clerk James N. Hatten. Computerized case filings also will allow attorneys to file 24 hours a day, seven days a week from anywhere in the world, Hatten said.

A halt on federal courthouse construction spurs review

From the The Recorder, February 2, 2005

A two-year freeze on federal courthouse construction has done more than leave judges at 42 aging courthouses around the country out in the cold for a couple of years.

The September construction moratorium initiated a re-examination of some of the most sacred cows held by the nation's judicial Brahmins.

To stave off the ever-worsening annual budget squeeze, a committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the court's policy-making arm, may propose smaller courtrooms and judicial chambers to save money. Even sharing courtrooms is on the table.

In addition, the committee will examine downsizing clerks' offices and court libraries in the age of electronic filing. And senior judges have not been spared. The length of time that senior judges may keep their own courtrooms, which is now set at 10 years, could be curtailed.

"We are taking a hard look to see if we really do need to bring so many construction projects on line given how much we are paying in rent," said Judge Jane Roth of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Wilmington, Del., who is leader of the Security and Facilities Committee.

Future Trends: As boomers retire, courts must adjust

From The National Law Journal, 2/1/2005
Leonard Post

Lawyers Brace for Flood of ElderlyAbout 70 million baby boomers are close to hitting their retirement years, a seismic demographic shift that will dramatically alter the way attorneys and courts do business in the coming decades.

"With increasing age comes dementia, issues of capacity, appointments of guardians -- the courts should expect a significant increase in their caseloads," asserted Sally Hurme, a consumer protection attorney at the Washington headquarters of AARP, the elder advocacy group.

Hurme added that "[e]lder abuse and financial exploitation will appear in increasing numbers on the civil and criminal dockets."

The readiness of courts is "uneven" across the country, she said. Every "court needs to take a close look at their preparedness, because the numbers are coming whether they're prepared or not."

Because people live longer with more disabilities, elder lawyers are already seeing family members fighting over the assets of the living -- as though it were a will contest. These kinds of problems and others will only exacerbate as the clock keeps ticking.

The National Center for State Courts laid out the startling demographic facts in its publication "Future Trends in State Courts-2004."