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VirtualCourthouse May 1997;
Issue 2.4 FOUR STEPS TO PAPER FREEDOM The infocosim, a place where computing,
communication and content converge, a world unconstrained by time, place or
form, depends on an environment where paper is not used as a carrier of
communications. The first step then to a virtual courthouse or a virtual law
office is to develop a place or a strategy to convert the paper processes of
the judicial and legal business of this country to an electronic process. Key
to an organized approach is an understanding that the paperflow in a court
house or, for that matter, a law office is that information flows into the
court house and then information flows out of the courthouse. INFORMATION IN INFORMATION OUT I. PUBLIC TO CLERK. The first and most important step is to convert as much paper at the
beginning of the process into an electronic document. An electronic document is
one which is composed of simple text documents much like a word processing
document or ASCII character text. It is important to remember that the priority
should always be to motivate the creation of an electronic document as opposed
to a scanned document, because of space and ease of use. A scanned document
takes up to 25 times the space in the computer memory and hard drive as a
character-based document. However, it would be unrealistic to develop a plan
which did not have a component providing for the conversion of a paper document
to a scanned document (Image) because paper is not going to suddenly disappear.
When it is time to file a pleading, the documents which have been created and
scanned must be combined as one electronic entity much like a paper complaint and
accompanying exhibits. This electronic pleading is transmitted to the Clerk for
filing in an electronic package -- the equivalent of mailing a paper complaint
and accompanying exhibits for filing. The final part of this step is for the
Clerk to electronically receive the document and docket the pleading which
includes updating the Court's case management system. II. CLERK TO JUDGE In this step, the development process becomes more difficult. It is at this
step where the old paper world and the new electronic world converge and are
merged together into an electronic case file (ECF). An electronic complaint and
exhibits are expanded to an ECF. Existing paper pleadings and new paper pleadings are scanned and their
images are combined with electronic documents into the ECF. When the case is
ready for a ruling from a judge or a trial, it is electronically transmitted to
the Judge. In the meantime, the file is still available for use or review by
other members of the public, the court or other government agencies. III. JUDGE TO CLERK This step records the Judge's ruling electronically. This occurs in several
different ways depending on the action of the Court. The Judge's ruling is
placed in an electronic Order which becomes a part of the electronic case file.
The electronic Order can also be printed and converted into a paper Order where
paper Orders are needed by the non-electronic world. Where Orders are not
necessary to communicate a Court's ruling, such as a trial verdict, the ruling
is docketed electronically. In all cases, the Court's ruling will
electronically update the Court's case management system. Finally, the
electronic case file is electronically transmitted to the Clerk's Office. IV. CLERK TO PUBLIC. When the electronic case file is transmitted to the Clerk's Office, it can
be published to the public, government agencies and within the Court as an
electronic file. The public who still depends on paper can print any document
they wish to have in paper form. For the public who depends on the electronic
world, access to Court documents will be viewed on-line on a computer screen. Once completed, the four steps to an electronic case file will lead the
Court, the Bar and litigants to tremendous efficiencies. For the Clerk, the ECF
will reduce clerical steps, reduce the movement of the file and give the
Clerk's Office an opportunity to reorganize. For the Court, the ECF will reduce
the need for paper to decide, make the Court file always available, reduce the
number of steps to record the Court's judgment and speed the availability of
the Court's judgment to the public. For the Bar, the ECF will reduce the paper
costs of filing, reduce the delivery costs of filing, provide organized access
to case dockets and provide the foundation for the beginnings of an electronic
law office file. JusticeLINK, the nationally-recognized electronic filing pilot
project quantified the savings for the Clerk's Office and for the law office.
Results of this case study showed that the Clerk would realize a 35% savings in
Clerk time spent docketing pleadings. On the law office side, electronic filing
demonstrated saving a lawyer $7,000 a year in overhead. These cost savings are
first the beginning and more will come. However, many clerks, judges and lawyers
still are nay-sayers, doubters and fearful of change. For them, the time for
change is NOW!! Contact: AMAHALT@virtualcourthouse.com AAHALT@co.pg.md.us Telephone: 301-952-4520 |
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