LAW OFFICE COMPUTING

May 2003

Winton Woods

New Game In Town

            When I did my taxes this year, my accountant suggested that we file electronically and I decided to give it a try. It was the most stressLESS tax day of my life. The return was filed in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (.pdf) and it was very easy to review.  I won’t go back again to the paper form.  I already buy my postage online and my trips to the post office are few and far between. That is how it should be!

            Several years ago when I wrote about electronic filing, I was critical of the .pdf format because the software was costly and cumbersome to use. Now both Word and WordPerfect provide the ability to write in .pdf, and there are a number of inexpensive programs on the market that will convert many different file types to .pdf. Adobe Acrobat has carried the day and is now the standard document format for all types of electronic filing. Speaking of e-filing, I recently spoke with Division Two Chief Judge Philip Espinosa about the new remote electronic filing program that is rapidly growing as the method of choice for filing documents with the court of appeals in Tucson. What follows is based on what he told me and printed materials he provided.

            In the past, it was fair to say that courts are generally bastions of tradition and not on the forefront of change, especially when it comes to technology.  In contrast, consider where commerce and industry are today in terms of electronic transactions, automated business management, and Internet presence, not to mention marketing.

            Under both the previous and current supreme court strategic agendas for Arizona’s courts: Justice 2002 and Justice for a Better Arizona, one of the objectives of the court of appeals is to develop a “substantially paperless environment” in order to improve the efficiency of the court, provide better service and improved access for the public, and help reduce the cost of justice.  With a recent administrative order on electronic distribution issued by Judge Espinosa, Division Two has taken another major step in that direction.  But before talking about that order, let's look at some innovative and important steps along the way.

            Foremost among those steps has been Division Two’s adoption of  a comprehensive electronic document management system (EDMS) that is integrated with all other court information systems to allow court personnel, i.e., judges, staff attorneys, law clerks, secretaries, and clerk’s office staff, to view and work with all documents in a case electronically, regardless of their source or how they were delivered to the court.  The documents can be viewed at multiple locations simultaneously and printed out if desired.   In another year, it is anticipated the majority of all case documents at the court will be electronic.

            A number of related projects have been undertaken and completed at Division Two over the last three years to effectively utilize the EDMS and are now fully implemented.   They  include:

*  Imaging   Documents that come to the court in traditional hard copy media are routinely and efficiently scanned, converted to electronic format, and stored in the EDMS.

*   e-filing   Litigants can transmit their filings to the court electronically over the Internet, saving them time and money.  It also lets the court efficiently and rapidly docket, store, manage, and process the documents.   e-filer is an application developed at Division Two and is completely integrated with both the EDMS and case management systems.

*   ECMS   The Electronic Case Management System tracks, produces, and maintains all case “documents.”  The legacy system used for many years (ODS) lacked flexibility and extended capacity.  ODSPlus was developed at Division Two and is a document-based ECMS with a user friendly “browser” interface.  It is fully integrated with both e-filer and the EDMS. 

*   Inter-Court Data Transfer   This is an e-filing system between courts.  Titled Electronic Blueback,  it allows the superior court to transmit the trial court record and  index electronically to the court of appeals in lieu of physically transporting large and voluminous paper records on a regular basis.  In Pima County, Electronic Blueback is in operation with the superior court for all criminal cases, with civil to commence soon.

*   E-Distribution   Orders, notices, and decisions are now efficiently and “paperlessly” delivered via the Internet not only to litigants but to all on the case distribution list.  This results in substantial savings of time, labor, and money, eliminating the need to print, copy, collate, stuff envelopes, affix labels, and pay postage.  It also reduces delay, improves communication between the court and public, and enhances the efficiency of court operations.

*   Public Access   In January 2003, ODSPlus WebDocs came online in Division Two.  This application allows attorneys to view their case documents and portions of  the trial court record remotely via the Internet.  It also greatly benefits the court's judges, staff attorneys and law clerks, allowing them to quickly and easily view indexes and documents via “hotlinks” on their desktop PCs.  As electronic access rules are promulgated by the supreme court, WebDocs will provide Internet access to case documents in accordance with those rules.

*   e-PR   This is a new project with the Arizona Supreme Court.  When petitions for supreme court review of criminal cases are filed in Division Two, they, along with the entire record on appeal, are now provided to the Court via secure Internet access.  A special notice and “hotlink” are electronically transmitted to the clerk of the supreme court who then distributes the link to staff attorneys and justices, enabling them to instantly access all case documents at any time on their desktop PCs.

On March 4, Judge Espinosa issued a groundbreaking administrative order

directing that Division Two would no longer distribute decisions, notices, and orders in paper form but only transmit them electronically to litigants and all others, except by special arrangement.  Substantial savings in the time and labor of many deputy clerks copying, collating, stuffing envelopes, and affixing postage are obvious.  What is not as obvious are the advantages to lawyers and their clients in receiving official communications from the court immediately and securely, wherever they may be.  Out-of-county counsel will particularly benefit and no longer suffer any disadvantage from waiting longer on snail mail than their Tucson counterparts.

            It is electronic filing, however, that is the gold standard for court automation.  Over the past three years, Division Two’s e-filer application has been fine tuned and is now a robust but user friendly gateway for the filing of any type of case or pleading at the court. Any Arizona attorney can access and utilize the system, with no special software or training.  And, after an attorney e-files, he or she not only has direct real-time access to the court’s online docket information, but can view all electronic filings in that case from the convenience of his or her desktop PC or any PC with Internet access.  Since September 2001 when the system was opened to all Arizona attorneys, registrations and e-filings have grown by leaps and bounds.  To date, 485 attorneys have signed up.  In 2003, Division Two has received about 140 e-filings every month and the number continues to grow. 

            Last but not least, in December 2002, another groundbreaking project, e-PR, was initiated when the supreme court agreed to begin receiving from Division Two petitions for review, along with the entire record on appeal, electronically via secure Internet access.  One supreme court staff attorney has commented on what a remarkable experience it was not to have to go to the clerk’s office with a rolling cart and check out a stack of files and folders, lug them back to his office, spread them out on his desk, and start thumbing through hundreds (sometimes thousands) of pages of pleadings, minute entries, and transcripts.  Instead, a single hot link in an ordinary e-mail instantly brought up an index of all documents in the case.  Another click took him directly to any document he selected, which was then available for viewing, forwarding, or printing if a hard copy was desired.  Any number of staff attorneys, law clerks or justices can do the same from any location and at the same time.  Such instant access to the record at this early stage of the PR process benefits not only the court, but the lawyers seeking review, their clients, and ultimately, the public.  And that, after all, is what it’s all about.

            Division Two has a number of additional projects in the works, including online financial transactions and LegalXML –  an evolving national standard being developed for electronic transmission of legal documents nationwide.  It is also anticipated that other courts around the state may eventually benefit from Division Two's many successful projects.  In the meantime, if appellate work is any part of your Southern Arizona practice, it behooves you to get registered with e-filer and see what it can do for you and your clients.