Trial court e-filing is well under way with courts in 29 counties using e-filing on civil cases. The e-filing list of trial courts is a close match with the counties that provide the greatest number of appellate filings.
E-filing, coupled with other automation initiatives at the trial court level, increases the pool of information available to transfer electronically to the appellate courts. If the appellate courts are to be able to accept these filings electronically, certain improvements in data transfer and storage are necessary.
Further, as electronic documents become available in the appellate court, the multiple decision-makers in an appellate panel will be enabled to circulate the filed documents electronically, without numerous problems of handling paper records, such as loss and replacement, storage, transport, etc.
Summary of Improvements
| Proposed Change | Impact |
|---|---|
| Update Case Management | Ability to accept and properly reference electronically transmitted documents and files. |
| Increase server storage capacity | Allow courts to store case-related documents electronically, rather than in a paper format. |
| Enhance web site | Provide for enhanced public access to case information through a greater number of related documents and improved search capabilities. |
Stakeholder Benefits
| Stakeholders | Description |
|---|---|
| Appellate Courts | Benefits for the appellate courts affect all areas of
court operations:
|
| Office of Court Administration | OCA is interested in supporting the courts and public access as efficiently as possible. Improvements to the case management system and web applications will reduce the support demands of the applications. |
| County Government | The trial courts are increasingly involved in creating an electronic-only version of trial court records. Allowing for electronic transfer of these files will better match their business model, and prevent them from creating paper documents solely for the purpose of transmitting to appellate courts. |
| Attorneys | Appellate attorneys are potential e-filers and are also heavy users of the appellate court web sites and their case-related information. E-filing will be a convenience for them. Enhanced web capabilities will give them greater access to valuable information. |
| Public | Enhanced web capabilities will improve the public’s access to information, particularly since the current application is geared toward those with some knowledge of the courts and their processes. |
| Case Management Vendors | Case management applications at the trial court level must be capable of supplying appropriate information to the appellate courts. |
| TexasOnline/ Bearing Point |
Expansion of electronic filing from trial courts to appellate courts is a key part of this project. |
Project Steering Committee
| Adele Hedges, Chair | Chief Justice, Fourteenth Court of Appeals |
| Blake Hawthorne, Vice-Chair | Clerk, Supreme Court of Texas |
| Charles Bacarisse | District Clerk, Harris County |
| John Dietz | Judge, 250th District of Texas |
| Paul Green | Justice, Supreme Court of Texas |
| Bruce Hermes | Information Services Director, Office of Court Administration |
| Sharon Keller | Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals |
| Jeff Kyle | Clerk, Third Court of Appeals |
| Judy Miller | Certified Court Reporter |
| Brian Quinn | Chief Justice, Seventh Court of Appeals |
| Peter Vogel | Chair, Judicial Committee on Information Technology |
| Ed Wells | Clerk, Fourteenth Court of Appeals |
Project Planning
The 80th Texas Legislature has appropriated funds to the Office of Court Administration for the FY2008-2009 biennium to start building the Texas Appeals Management and E-filing System. During the summer of 2007, OCA staff and the project steering committee will be preparing for a timely commencement of project activities when the funding becomes available on September 1.
Updated: 20-June-2007
