"(Electronic case filing) is a great thing, and it is long overdue for the Western District."
- Danny Van Horn
partner, Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada PLLC

"Jan. 3 is game day," according to Thomas M. Gould, clerk of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, which operates in Memphis and Jackson.

That's the day Gould and his staff will find out just how good their preparation and planning have been for the final stages of transition from a paper-based court to a system of all electronic document processing and case management.

"The implementation of electronic case filing, known as ECF, ushers in a new era of law practice techniques and benefits for attorneys, as well as judges and court staff," said Gould, who joined the court in June and began implementing ECF in August. "ECF is a major operational and cultural change."

Getting prepared. The new system marks the second of two separate modules that have been put in place over a year and a half. The first, electronic case management, or CM, was launched in June 2004.

"Some courts launched these (together), but we decided to phase them in to make sure that both parts worked well and that staff and practitioners were well prepared," Gould said.

Beginning Jan. 3 - when the court reopens after the New Year's holiday - every attorney practicing in the court in the Western District will be required to file all documents and receive all notices in existing and new civil and criminal cases through ECF.

There are some exceptions to the ECF requirement, Gould said, but they are generally limited to law enforcement documents.

Using the system. To file electronically, attorneys must first register to receive a password-protected account. The registration form and optional standing credit card authorization form - for documents with fees - are available from the court's Web site at www.tnwd.uscourts.gov.

One or both forms should be faxed to the court, and within about two weeks, log-in data - including a user ID and a password - will be e-mailed to the registrant, Gould said.

Gould estimated the court has so far received registration forms from about half of active federal court practitioners.

Faster and easier. Danny Van Horn, a partner with Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada PLLC in Memphis, said ECF will make filing cheaper and faster for his firm while clients will experience more rapid access to the courts and to other parties' pleadings. He said his firm's experience with ECF in other districts has been very positive.

"About the only downside is that you no longer have extra days to get something filed," Van Horn said. "For example, under the current system, if your filing deadline is a Friday, you actually have until Monday at 6 a.m. to get something filed stamped 'Friday.' Under ECF, you really do have to get the pleadings completed by 11:59 p.m. on the day the pleadings are due."

That's a small inconvenience, though, that Van Horn conceded is more than made up for by not having to send runners to federal court and by the speed with which notices of filings by others will be received.

"ECF is a great thing, and it is long overdue for the Western District," he said.

Related expenses. Gould recognized that some parties in some cases will have to be served in more traditional ways, but he pointed out that almost all service will be completed through the court electronically at no expense to the electronic filer.

Asked if clients can expect to see cost savings from electronic filing passed on to them, Gould replied, "Probably not, because law firms will incur additional IT expenses ... and maybe the cost of additional PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) accounts."

Attorneys need both ECF and PACER accounts, Gould said. The public can create PACER accounts, but usually cannot obtain ECF accounts.

Van Horn acknowledged a slight increase in work for his firm from ECF due to having to create a portable document format, or PDF, for each document filed electronically. But he doesn't view that as a problem.

"That additional time is de minimus," he said.

Archiving benefits. From the court's perspective, ECF offers many benefits. Gould said a paperless operation eliminates huge costs related to records management storage, permanent archiving and document movement. There also is a workload savings that comes from many users being able to access records at the same time.

"The nature of ECF is such that the attorneys do a lot of the docketing work which allows (court) staff to do quality control work," he said.

For the few attorneys who are not prepared for the technology shift, court staff is ready to help, Gould said. Questions now or in the future can be called in to the court's help desk at 495-1505 or faxed to 495-1250. An e-mail address for questions soon will be established, he added.

Training classes. Gould noted that free PC-based ECF training sessions are being offered for an indefinite period. While December sessions are filling quickly, he said, a concentrated number of sessions will be offered during the first two weeks of 2006. Information about the sessions is available at the court's Web site.