On February 4, 2009, the Executive Committee of the Clark County Courts approved the implementation of the next phase of creating a paperless court in the Civil Division of the Eighth Judicial District Court. Chief Judge T. Arthur Jr. made an official announcement to the Clark County Bar.
By moving to a paperless court, the District Court Clerk’s Office moves from a paper intensive operation to a technology and quality assurance operation, according to Chief Judge Ritchie.
#1 by digital god - February 17th, 2009 at 13:06
1. “Paperless” is more a goal to work toward than an achievement. The terms refers to replacing paper documents with digital documents and/or electronic information (data).
Digital documents can be accessed by many (versus there being a single file). A digital document can be accessed in seconds, versus minutes or even hours. You can lose or misplace a digital document. Electronic data is case information that has been entered into a case management system. Name and number of case, parties, attorneys, actions, findings, rulings, etc. Again, the alternative to electronic data is some case index document floating around someplace.
The benefits to all are staggering. Seconds versus hours. No lost or missing documents. Much greater security. File clerks are not needed and file storage space can be used for productive work. One County Clerk with documents eliminated 12 file clerk positions. (Of course, because it was a government, the 12 employees were transferred to another department. Hopefully, with attrition (death, retirement, moving, those positions won’t be refilled. Hopefully. Unions have a different agenda!)
What the public can expect is increased efficiency.
Paperless filing is a different issue. This matter deals with digitizing millions of pages of archive files.
Managing cases electronically is also a different issue. Automated processing of cases produce an even higher level of efficiency. The court’s case management system captures that case information but probably does not automate the processes in the case.
If the courts could get attorneys to file electronically even more efficiency could be achieved. The paper documents that attorneys file now could be filed electronically. After all, the document was created with a computer and there is a digital copy on the attorney’s system.
The courts, and most government agencies, are still decades behind the digital curve. Most larges companies in the private sector are probably about 80% paperless, which is about as paperless as they will get.
Recapping:
The court in question is only addressing digitizing archives;making digital copies (with a scanner)
Electronic filing is a different issue.
Attorneys have a pulp addiction. It will be some time before they will give up their paper. Copies are a revenue stream for attorneys. They charge .20, .30 and more per page for copies they provide to other parties in a legal matter. What can they charge if they email the document? Email is free.
#2 by JL - March 3rd, 2009 at 16:35
“Digital God:” You would get a higher rate of e-filing if the Courts didn’t charge for it. It costs nothing to file at the counter, it should cost nothing to efile. Believe me, I would rather efile, but as a public agency, we cannot justify the cost of $6 per document whether it be a 40 page brief or a two page document.
Your analogy does not make sense as it doesn’t cost anything to send an email. It does cost to efile.