The Monroe County Circuit Court is in the process of adopting e-filing, a project allowing cases to be filed online, which will make the courts more eco-friendly and efficient.
Although the project is being carried out statewide, different counties are adopting e-filing at different times because it is such a major change. Since its system will have moved entirely to e-filing by Jan. 20, Monroe County is ahead of the curve in part thanks to the progressive attitude of the previous clerk, Linda Robbins, Monroe County Clerk Nicole Browne said.
The statewide e-filing project was announced in 2014. It is set to be completed by the end of 2018.
E-filing addresses an important issue — storage space — faced by all clerk’s offices. The Monroe County Clerk’s Office is responsible for the care and keeping of court records stretching from today all the way back to the 1800s.
“We just can’t house all of them here,” Browne said. “We literally have no room at the inn.”
The historical documents are essential pieces of history and county heritage, and the responsibility of preservation is an important one, but it is also one that hasn’t been addressed in the past due to budget and resource constraints, Browne said. However, the clerk’s office is hopeful e-filing will free up time and room in the budget to focus more on historical documents.
Monroe County Circuit Court started e-filing in November. The new process begins with attorneys filing cases. Depending on the type — criminal, civil, probate, appellate, etc. — of case, attorneys can choose from different online vendors offering e-filing services because some are more suitable for certain types of cases. From there, they enter all of the case information, which is a new task for them because it was previously done by clerk’s offices.
“We used to do data entry and even edit where it was necessary, but it really makes more sense that the attorneys do it because they know their cases better than anyone else,” said Jessica Hollingsworth-Swiger, an e-filing training coordinator in the Monroe County Clerk’s Office.
Once cases are filed, e-filing allows all parties involved to see developments in real time. This should speed up court proceedings by eliminating the wait time when documents are sent through the mail. It will also allow parties to get notifications when paperwork is filed or about the next events in their cases.
Right now most new criminal cases filed by Monroe County entities are being e-filed, Hollingsworth-Swiger said. The Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office was one of the first to start using e-filing in November. Now, the Clerk’s Office is seeing e-filing in many other types of cases, like civil cases, expungements and small claims.
The transition has gone remarkably well, said Robert Miller, chief deputy prosecutor in the prosecutor’s office.
“E-filing is a much more efficient and cost-effective system,” Miller said. “It does not change how we do things, but it does give us more time to do them.”
Although e-filing has been well-received by most in the courthouse, it’ll still be a while before the county goes truly paperless. E-filing is state-mandated, but counties can still impose certain restrictions on themselves, Browne said, and at least two judges have expressed major concerns about moving away from paper filings.
For now, the adoption of e-filing means double the work for employees in the clerk’s office as they adapt to new technology and try to get documents digitized. However the office is excited to embrace the changes and is grateful for the help it has received from the state government, Browne said.
“We’re fortunate the state and other local offices have been so willing to collaborate with us on this,” Browne said.
