electronic Filing & Service for Courts

LexisNexis File & Serve Launches First Integrated Online Destination for Paper and Electronic Filing and Service

New Site Rolled Out in California First

MONTEREY, CA, October 05, 2006 - As adoption of new technology spurs a steady increase in electronic filing and service of legal documents in the American legal system, courts and attorneys still primarily use paper to facilitate their filing and service needs.

To offer litigators more convenience and control within this evolving landscape, LexisNexis U.S., a leading provider of information and litigation support technology and services, today announced it has strategically expanded LexisNexis® File & Serve capabilities to provide attorneys the first and only one-stop online destination enabling attorneys to execute paper filing, paper service, service of process, electronic filing and electronic service. The new site means litigators can manage all their filing, service and service of process needs in one easy-to-use online location and via one vendor regardless of jurisdiction and whether paper or electronic filing is required.

Announced as LexisNexis participates in the California State Bar Association annual meeting in Monterey this week, the new paper-based capabilities complement existing electronic filing and service options that have been available via File & Serve since 1995. The new functionality is initially available in California for filings to any court in the state, service between law firms and service of process upon case parties or witnesses. File & Serve will extend the service to additional states in 2007.

The new File & Serve capabilities will also be offered as part of LexisNexis® Total Litigator – beginning with California courts. Total Litigator is the only single, online destination offering litigators a comprehensive set of tools and services to manage cases at each step the litigation process.

"We believe our new capability is a ‘game changing’ milestone for filing and service because it simultaneously recognizes the prevalence of paper and the increasing use of electronic filing to offer litigators a single, convenient method to more efficiently manage all their filing and service needs regardless of format," said Tobias Hartmann, vice president and managing director for LexisNexis File & Serve. "This new offering exemplifies the LexisNexis Total Practice Solutions strategy of helping attorneys win by providing them with the most complete set of litigation support tools possible – mapped directly to how they work."

"The new File & Serve is intelligible, efficient, economical and far more timely than normal attorney services," said Mary Anne Tay Donaldson, librarian at the LA office of Washington, DC-based law firm Arnold & Porter LLP. As the first client to use the new File & Serve paper filing capability, Donaldson also said, "Lawyers have very high standards and this service is the epitome of quality service with greater control and accountability throughout the entire filing and service process – an ‘intelligent bargain.’"

The broad jurisdictional coverage of the new offering means attorneys with cases in California courts may now upload documents to the File & Serve site and select delivery options such as same day or next-day courier delivery, next-day FedEx, or U.S. Mail. Additionally, File & Serve automatically arranges the appropriate filing or service method – electronic or paper – based on court rules and requirements to ensure attorneys are always in compliance with court orders.

These functions minimize risk of incurring fees or filing or serving past deadlines, while the overall increase in efficiency helps firms grow their business by minimizing time and expense spent on filing and service issues.

For paper filings, File & Serve Litigation Support Centers, located near courts, are staffed with experienced professionals who print and assemble filings in compliance with all applicable court rules and deliver them via LexisNexis courier the same day. In cases where e-filing or e-service is required, File & Serve delivers documents electronically in compliance with court rules. Where electronic delivery is optional, attorneys have the choice of selecting the method they would like to use. As with electronic filing and service, firms charged a standardized transaction fee for each use for paper delivery.

"Law firms no longer need to feel ‘nickeled and dimed’ by disparate attorney services firms who cannot offer the streamlined process, predictable pricing, convenience and geographic coverage that File & Serve now can with unified paper and electronic filing," said Hartmann.

File & Serve is a customized Internet-based service that provides electronic and paper delivery of public and sealed documents filed with the court and exchanged between attorneys. The service is paid for with transaction fees, so there is no charge to courts. File & Serve is used by more than 70,000 court personnel and legal professionals nationwide who file, serve and manage an estimated 21 million documents annually into more than 1 million cases.

"eFile" or "eServe" in California: This is How it Works

CA -- Paper Filing/E-service trans. (5 min)
5 MINUTE TRAINING RECORDING ON "PAPER FILING & E-SERVICE"

(demonstrates paper filing to the Court and eservice upon recipients involved in an e-serve case)

View now >> Click and follow instructions

California: "eFile & eServe" in ALL Courts Introduced

EMAIL ME FOR MORE INFORMATION

Call it the "last mile" before actual electronic filing. LexisNexis File & Serve has introduced a new service in California that allows lawyers to "efile" into any state or federal court in California; and allows lawyers to "eServe" any party in California and place Service of Process orders for California, the rest of the nation or worldwide.

Orders are entered via a web interface; documents are uploaded and LexisNexis File & Serve takes it from there. The filer or server get an electronic acknowledgement or proof of servicce and are able to track it to completion via the web. It also provides access to the 'case file' of sorts.

Get added convenience and increased control over managing and monitoring filing, service, service of process and associated costs. And get the broadest jurisdictional coverage available for California state courts and beyond.

Coverage
Single-vendor coverage across all California courts

Convenience
One convenient method for managing all of your California filing, service and service of process:
* One method for managing all California filing & service needs (paper or electronic)
* File a summons & complaint and execute service of process online
* File subsequent documents and serve all counsel in one online transaction
* Place service of process orders for anywhere in California, or worldwide (investigation and translation services available)
* Easy online access to all of your documents, filing receipts and proof of service
* Firms with multiple California locations can use one website to manage document delivery and online access to documents & other case information

Control
More control over document delivery with online submission and status updates
* One secure, easy-to-use website for submitting documents for delivery, regardless of the format the court requires
* Easy monitoring of the status of all document deliveries via update emails and online status details
* Experience and expertise to deliver documents on-time and in compliance with court rules & requirements statewide
* Courier delivery through Litigation Support Centers located nearby courthouses throughout the state

And improved cost management & recovery of costs:
* Predictable, flat-rate pricing—no surprises when you receive your invoice
* Consolidated, client/matter coded monthly invoices

San Francisco Superior Court Expands Electronic Filing

With LexisNexis® File & Serve for Largest Category of Civil Cases

Change Makes Court One of Largest E-Filing Courts is California; Increases Court Efficiency and Public Access

San Francisco, Aug. 31, 2006 - LexisNexis U.S., a leading provider of information and litigation support technology, today announced that the Superior Court of San Francisco has instituted mandatory electronic filing using LexisNexis® File & Serve for all documents related to the Court's largest single body of civil cases, asbestos litigation.

The Court instituted electronic filing for asbestos cases on a limited basis with File & Serve in 1998, and decided to expand its use of the technology based on the success of the project.

As a result of the decision, approximately 20 percent of the Court's 400,000 total annual filings will now be received and processed electronically - representing more than 68,000 filings a year. Starting this month, that annual volume of electronic filings will make the San Francisco Superior Court one of the largest e-filing courts in California.

"Over two and a half years ago we recognized that electronic filing created the potential for dramatic savings in storage, time and money for the Court, attorneys and litigants. Now we have accomplished this major change to our system, which preserves valuable resources for other significant Court needs. At the same time, we have improved access to information for attorneys, litigants and the public. This is definitely the wave of the future." said Asbestos General Order Judge Tomar Mason.

"Clearly, the San Francisco Superior Court is on the leading edge of electronic filing in California and nationally, and we are extremely pleased to work with them to expand e-filing for asbestos cases," said Tobias Hartman, vice president and managing director of LexisNexis File & Serve. "The project is a great example of how LexisNexis File & Serve provides courts and law firms more control over case file management-improving delivery of documents while enhancing access to information and increasing efficiency."

The benefits of the expanded electronic filing will be shared between the Court, attorneys filing with the court and the public. Moreover, the benefits delivered by File & Serve are a concrete example of the LexisNexis® Total Practice Solution strategy of providing a complete set of litigation support services.

Technologies such as File & Serve enable fast, secure filing capabilities for attorneys, increased public availability of court documents and a more cost-effective method for safely receiving legal documents for the Court.

Benefits to the Court.
Electronic filing technology offers the Court better access to filed documents. Clerks, judges, administrators and others gain the ability to receive, review and process a greater number of documents, as well as to act on them in a timelier, more efficient manner. Because the amount of paper is reduced with e-filing, the Court also saves money on document storage space and copying costs, as well as reducing staff time required to physically file and retrieve documents. LexisNexis File & Serve saves the courts it works with nationally millions of dollars annually.

Benefits for Litigators.
Litigants gain more control over their filing and service activities. Along with quicker and more cost efficient filing, electronic filing through File & Serve also offers improved case monitoring capabilities and online case files.

Public benefit.
The public benefits from the Court's ability to more efficiently manage documents and reduced costs for document storage and administration. An additional benefit for the public and those tracking asbestos cases the Court hears is that more case documents will be available for public viewing. Based on current trends, the San Francisco Superior Court estimates than through e-filing more than 5,000 more asbestos case documents will be viewable per month.

File & Serve is a customized Internet-based service that provides online delivery and management of public and sealed documents filed with the court and exchanged between attorneys. The service is paid for with transaction fees, so there is no charge to the court. File & Serve is used by more than 70,000 court personnel and legal professionals nationwide who file and serve an estimated 21 million documents annually into more than 1 million cases.

File & Serve is also a key component of LexisNexis® Total Litigator-the only single online destination offering litigation support tools to help attorneys manage cases through each step of the litigation process.

California: There's no need to fear e-filing- Judge Walker

From The Recorder , January 28, 2005

[Assistant Federal Public Defender Geoffrey Hansen's] remarks, as quoted in The Recorder of Jan. 24, that when electronic filing in criminal cases goes into effect on Feb. 7, "it's going to hit the fan," prompts this letter.

Electronic filing has been in effect in most civil cases since April 2001. While some practitioners have reported difficulties in adapting to the new techniques, literally thousands of practitioners have successfully e-filed in civil cases. Difficulties have been far fewer than the court expected. We know this because the court established an e-filing help desk to aid practitioners who encountered problems and staffed it to deal with the anticipated volume of help requests. The volume of such calls, as well as requests for help at the in-take desks of the court's three clerk's offices, has been substantially less than anticipated.

The help desk is staffed throughout the day by someone skilled in dealing with e-filing questions. Help desk personnel are almost always immediately available. The court offers and has conducted training sessions for practitioners, and those sessions will continue.

The advantages of e-filing are especially important and useful to practitioners in small firms or in solo practice, as are many criminal defense lawyers. E-filing saves time and money; it lessens the cost of service, facilitates retrieval of court documents and files, enhances organization of litigation materials and enables a lawyer in trial to file and receive documents after or before normal court hours.

There is no reason to anticipate that criminal defense lawyers are less adept than civil lawyers at learning the straightforward techniques of e-filing.

I'm confident that [Hansen], too, and [his] colleagues in the federal public defender's office, will after a little practice become fans of e-filing. And, after all, learning new tricks is the way to avoid becoming an old dog.
Vaughn Walker

U.S. district chief judge

California: Save a Tree - eFile

From the The Recorder, January 24, 2005

New e-filing to save trees, copying costs

Very soon, a typical Northern District of California criminal case will no longer mean the deaths of a couple dozen trees.

Beginning Feb. 7, instead of filing multiple paper copies of criminal court documents, attorneys will submit items over the Internet using the U.S. district court's electronic filing system. In 2001, the Northern District became one of the first in the nation to take advantage of e-filing, but only in civil cases.

"[Criminal e-filing] marks another significant step toward complete electronic filing in the court," said Northern District clerk Richard Wieking. "We're on the forefront of implementation."

About 600 to 700 criminal cases are filed in the Northern District each year, compared with about 5,000 civil cases, Wieking said.