Electronic Filing—A Practitioner's Perspective
By John J. Nagle III
Baltimore County Bar Association
Technology Committee Open Forum
February 18, 1999
- Maryland Rule 16-307 (Electronic Filing of Pleadings and Papers)
- Court submits Plan to State Court Administrator.
- County Administrative Judge submits detailed plan for a pilot project.
- State Court Administrator consults with County Administrative Judge, Clerk of Court, Vendor of the electronic filing system, other judges, members of the bar.
- Plan is reviewed for:
- Compatibility.
- Electronic filing systems in other courts.
- Financial or operational burdens.
- Reasonable availability and cost for use by litigants and attorneys.
- Effectiveness, reliability, durability and secureness of system.
- Provisions in system for privacy.
- Can system be replaced without undue financial and operational burden?
- State Court Administrator makes recommendation to Court of Appeals.
- Plan must be approved by Court of Appeals prior to implementation. Shall terminate after two years. Renewal by subsequent administrative order.
- Chief Judge of Court of Appeals shall appoint a committee consisting of judges, court clerks, lawyers, legal educators, bar association representatives, and other interested and knowledgeable persons to monitor and evaluate Plan.
- Court of Appeals may extend, modify, or terminate Plan at any time.
- Electronic Filing - Circuit Court for Baltimore City - An overview:
- Electronic filing of all pleadings, papers and filings in asbestos personal injury cases will be mandatory.
- The CLAD (Complex Litigation Automated Docket) System from LEXIS/NEXIS has been selected.
- CLAD is running in fourteen courts throughout the United States.
- Handles the asbestos dockets in state courts of Delaware and Cleveland.
- Most recent version is "Windows" based.
- The CLAD System
- Attorneys will not have to invest in major hardware or software upgrade.
- CLAD can be used on any PC or Mac computer.
- Filings will initially be through WordPerfect 5.1 (DOS), considered the universal, lowest common denominator.
- Modem capable of 9,600 baud per second, although the system will work best with a high speed modem.
- Two Components to CLAD
- Filing and Retrieving
- CLAD icon on user's screen is accessed.
- CLAD prompts user for information on document to be filed.
- Once document is filed, the parties to the case are notified by e-mail at no cost. Fax notice also available.
- Four different kinds of reports can be generated:
- Docket from a specific case.
- Pending motions.
- A motion's history.
- Service list for a particular case.
- Searching
- LEXIS/NEXIS downloads file in ASCII format. Information can be queried and searched, as typically done in LEXIS/NEXIS.
- Pleadings, papers and documents may be viewed as well as printed.
- Examples:
- Everything filed by a specific law firm.
- Everything filed by a specific attorney.
- Everything filed by or against a specific defendant.
- Every case in which a plaintiff alleges a particular disease. type.
- Queries can search entire database as well as individual trial groups.
- Misc. CLAD Info
- Exhibits or attachments to electronic filings will be filed conventionally.
- LEXIS/NEXIS will provide training for CLAD free of charge.
- Electronic filing is 24 hours a day. Court deadlines now extended to 11:59 p.m.
- Although Mead Data (LEXIS/NEXIS) owns CLAD, the database belongs to the Court.
- CLAD expects to have Internet user interface this year.
- A terminal will be provided to Clerk's office for members of the public
- Case Management Order - Circuit Court for Baltimore City
- All parties' (Participants) attorneys must consent to terms of the CMO. Participants must enter into "CLAD Filing and Use Agreement" with LEXIS/NEXIS.
- LEXIS/NEXIS assigns a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to each law firm.
- The filing of a document also constitutes valid service on all other Participants. Independent service not required.
- Typographical signatures will be used.
- Appeals will also be included in the CMO as it relates to the trial record.
- Judges also bound to use CLAD for all orders, opinions, schedules and correspondence.