Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 30, 2009
ECF Forum to gather input from attorneys on electronic case filing
Samara Litvack
On Nov. 12, the United States District Court, East District of Tennessee, and the Chattanooga Chapter of the Federal Bar Association will present the first ever Electronic Case Filing Forum, providing program users with the latest information on electronic filing and creating an open dialogue about the system itself.
“We went on electronic case filing five years ago, in May of 2004, which was a major change in the way that the court keeps its records and how the attorneys file their pleadings,” says John Medearis, U.S. District Court chief deputy.
Before the shift in 2004, all filings in the local federal court were done on paper files and physically brought to the courthouse, where the clerk’s office then docketed them. Each case had only one hard copy file and, therefore, only one person could view the file at a time.
“With electronic case filing, those days are gone,” says Chief U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier.
“This came about because courts wanted to get into modern times. And we implemented this program without an awful lot of involvement from lawyers, especially on the local level.”
To reevaluate the program and gain input from those who have used it for the last several years, the ECF Forum will allow Chattanooga attorneys to tell the federal court what is right with electronic filing, what is wrong with it and what can be done to make the system more effective.
The court has offered basic training for ECF since its implementation. Everyone knows how to use it, says Medearis, but the courts really aren’t sure what problems attorneys may be facing.
“We have a product,” says Katharine Gardener, District Court law clerk. “The attorneys are the users of the product. We want them to tell us how it’s working for them and we want to try and see if there are any common problems that attorneys are having. And if there are, we may be able to alter the system to address those needs.”
“The other big part of CM/ECF is that we have rules and procedures on how the system is to be used,” Medearis says. “We got input from the (local) bar when we initially drafted those five years ago. We had a committee and we had a lot of input into it. But, again, it’s five years down the road. There’s been a number of changes in the rules and so we would also like to hear from the attorneys whether there are any changes they would like to see made in those rules and procedures.”
The forum is set up to fashion a similar concept in Washington D.C., where representatives from courts throughout the country gather to brainstorm ideas and topics of interest or concern that they feel need to be addressed. With the help of a facilitator, topics are expanded and taken back to administrative offices, which then pass the ideas on to programmers that create reports, tweak software and implement a variety of related changes.
“(ECF) is a national system for the federal courts,” says Medearis. “It’s a dynamic system. There is at least one major upgrade every year and usually a couple of minor ones across the board. And these upgrades, a lot of what drives them is what the users want. And so most of that, in the past, has been what the court wanted.
“A lot of really neat, good features have come out of that, some of which have been useful for attorneys, but most of it has been for the courts.”
Through the ECF Forum, the courts hope to put an emphasis on making the system work better for the attorneys and the public by getting the attorneys’ points of view and altering the system accordingly.
“We can do some things here locally,” says Medearis. “The software is written in a way where it has a lot of configuration choices… There are a lot of things that we can do locally to make it work one way or another. So we would like to hear what would make it work better for the attorneys, what they would like to see it do. And then if we can do something here locally, we’ll do that. If we can’t, we’ll send these ideas up the ladder.”
The forum will begin with Collier delivering opening remarks. Following the welcome will be a roundtable discussion, facilitated by Magistrate Judge William B. Mitchell Carter. Seated on the panel will be Collier; Neil Brunetz, Miller & Martin; Angela Gibson, Federal Defender Services; Krista Starnes, U.S. District Court judicial assistant; Medearis; and Rick Tipton, U.S. District Court, Greeneville Division manager. The panel will speak to a variety of topics, based primarily on questions and suggestions from attorneys.
“In the registration portion of the conference, which is on our Web site, there’s a section on there where we ask them to submit topics they would like to have discussed,” Medearis says. “We’ll also be handing out index cards when they actually arrive and ask them to jot down things and then we’ll be taking
questions.”
Microphones will be placed throughout the audience and the panel will be entertaining
questions.
“We hope this will be a dialogue,” says Medearis. “It will be a discussion, not just a question/answer.”
At lunch, which is included in the price of the forum, representatives from the court will be seated at each table, allowing the conversation to be carried throughout the entire lunch hour. Afterward, an issue discussion will be held with a panel of representatives from the federal court. Gardner will discuss the chamber’s use of CM/ECF; U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan K. Lee will discuss restricted filings; U.S. District Judge Harry S. Mattice, Jr., will discuss privacy issues; and U.S. District Court Courtroom Deputy Rick Tipton, Greeneville Division Manager, will offer tips and pointers regarding ECF.
This portion of the forum, while still in place to collect input from attorneys, is also designed to show attendees the flip side of ECF. By understanding how the courts use the system, Medearis and Gardner hope attorneys will better understand the way they should file and docket their cases.
Once the forum proper is over, laptop computers will be set up around the room and court staff will be on hand for one-on-one discussion or hands-on help with the system.
The forum is $50 for attorneys, $40 for Federal Bar Association members and $35 for staff. Two staff members for every one attorney are welcome to register, and the forum is good for four CLE credit hours. To register or learn more, visit www.tned.uscourts.gov/forum/.
“This may be a rare opportunity where (attorneys) can influence how the system is going to be implemented in the future to better serve them and their clients,” says Collier.
“I’m hoping that the lawyers will tell us what they would like to see ECF develop. As is true with most technology, it is constantly evolving. And it’s for their use and their benefit and if they don’t tell us what they like and what they don’t like, it’s very hard for us to adapt the program so they can use it
better.”
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