What E-Filing Can Do for the Courts and the Public
Last week, the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (account required) reported on the progress of the Cook County’s conversion to e-filing. The article directs readers to a survey circulated by the Illinois Supreme Court’s Automation and Technology Committee, which is collecting information about who is and who is not using the e-filing service.
The Law Bulletin writes: “About 28 percent of respondents said they did not know e-filing exists in Cook County. ‘And this is 28 percent that were interested enough to answer the survey — imagine that,’ [Cook County Circuit Judge Lorna E. Propes, member of the Committee] said.”
Cook County has had e-filing since 2009. Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy A. Brown is also quoted in the Law Bulletin as planning an “intensive promotional campaign” about e-filing.
E-filing is considered cost-effective and has been demonstrated to spare court budgets significant expense. It eases access to records, reduces physical storage needs, and facilitates efficient calendaring. It also saves time for attorneys and their staff.
But there are additional benefits to a strong e-filing system. Chicago Appleseed hopes that e-filing will lead to better availability of court statistics for the public. Electronic filing offers a wonderful opportunity to automate docket statistics, such as number of new cases filed in a year or per quarter, as well as average number of days to disposition. E-filing makes it easier to identify which attorneys or firms have entered appearances in particular courtrooms during a particular time period in order to better study the courtrooms and courtroom professionals.
Many states already have systematic docket reporting, allowing their citizens valuable insight into the function of a critical government entity. As an example, the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania has been posting docket statistics online since 1995, as has Florida. Indiana has been collecting them since 1997. In these states, the data collection precedes e-filing systems, although some e-filing systems are now in place.
California’s docket statistic reports fulfill a state constitutional requirement to survey the condition and business of the state courts. In Texas, the reports are collected monthly and statistics are made public annually.
Typically, docket statistic reporting is done through a quarterly report which details the number of open cases at the start of the quarter, the number of new cases assigned at the start of the quarter, and the number of open cases at the close of the quarter. Number, and type (e.g., settlement, verdict, dismissal), of dispositions are also reported.
The value of this information to the courts and to the public is significant. Docket statistics can be used to measure how resources are allocated, improve budgeting decisions and correct staffing imbalances. They can help answer questions about the costs of litigation. Statistics can identify trends in prosecution, which can assist in the evaluation the efficacy of social programs. Finally, a release of complete information about the courts fosters trust in the courts through transparency.