Wisconsin Lawyer
Vol. 78, No. 4, April
2005
Wisconsin circuit courts test electronic
filing, kick off year-long pilot project
Electronic document filing (e-filing) is under
development in the Wisconsin circuit courts. The Consolidated Court
Automation Programs (CCAP) has begun a pilot project to allow
participating law firms to file small claims money judgment complaints
in Washington County. On March 8, 2005, the first small claims complaint
to use this system was filed.
"The pilot project initially will be limited to small claims debt
collections practice," says CCAP Chief Information Officer Jean
Bousquet. "This practice is conducive to a technology-based project
because it is high volume, fairly routine, and largely forms-based. The
pilot project may be expanded as the technical challenges are resolved
and demand increases."
The e-filing system uses a dedicated Web site to receive and post
documents. Users are assigned a confidential password and personal
identification number (PIN) to allow them to send and receive documents.
Pleadings are sent to the Web site and transferred to the clerk of
circuit court via a secure encrypted channel. When accepted by the
clerk, a notice of activity is generated and sent to all the registered
users on the case, who may view the new posting on the secure Web
site.
"This system is anticipated to be a considerable technical advance
over most other e-filing systems used by federal and state courts," says
Bousquet. "For example, this system takes case management information
from the document and automatically enters it into CCAP without any
manual rekeying of the information."
The Web site also includes a streamlined question-and-answer filing
feature for self-represented litigants. Defendants who choose not to
participate may continue to file paper documents. Any paper documents
will be scanned into the case management system by the clerk to create a
completely electronic file.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has adopted an interim rule to govern
this pilot project. The rule is intended to be temporary, applies only
to those lawyers and litigants participating in the pilot
project.
"The first phase of the pilot project will run through March 2006,"
says Bousquet. "The potential cost savings and accessibility benefits of
e-filing will be the principal factors in deciding whether to expand the
system beyond the initial pilot case type and county."
The rule is published at www.wicourts.gov/electroniccasefiling.
For more information regarding the temporary rule, contact Marcia
Vandercook at marcia.vandercook@wicourts.gov
or (608) 267-7335.
Wisconsin
Lawyer
