Legal News

So Easy, Even a Philadelphia Lawyer Can E-File

By Brian Harris

By Charlotte E. Thomas

I recently spoke to the Honorable D. Webster Keogh again, the Administrative Judge of the trial division, Court of Common Pleas, with the help of Mike Meehan of Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott. This time, we talked about the e-filing system for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.  Our discussion was timely, because the Court is offering three hours of CLE on e-filing on April 22, in Room 380, City Hall.  Inquiries should be directed to Kara.Behlau@courts.phila.gov.

The process of filing pleadings certainly has changed since I started practicing. Filing in Philadelphia used to be somewhat complicated.  Back in the dark ages, simple motions to compel discovery for failure to respond were filed in Motion Court (not the Prothonotary and not Discovery Court), with stops along the way to pay the filing fee and to pick up a set of docket entries to attach to the motion.  Some of us even admit to accomplishing minutes-late filings in ?the old days? by shoving filings under a City Hall door to meet a deadline (or at least being told that it had been done). 

E-filing is far more civilized.  Filing of pleadings can be accomplished remotely up until 11:59 p.m. of the date of a deadline (of course, this is not recommended, as Murphy?s Law predictably will cause problems for procrastinators). An e-mail is sent to the filer to indicate receipt, acceptance or rejection, and it comes promptly ? sometimes in under an hour?s time.  This is a big improvement over manual filings, for which an attorney might wait several days to learn that a filing had been rejected, and hopefully, not after the statute of limitations had expired.  In addition, accountability is improved. It is easier to determine who at the Prothonotary?s office rejected a filing and accordingly easier to ascertain how to cure the problem.

Not only have 10,758 attorneys in the area filed electronically in Philadelphia, incredibly 5,178 pro se parties have e-filed documents. Unrepresented parties can file from remote locations such as a public library or home computer, but they also can obtain the Prothonotary staff?s assistance (215-686-8863), provided they pay the cost of scanning the document.

At this point, we have come to expect efficiencies with electronic systems.  Some of the efficiencies gained are easier to quantify than others. There is a significant savings to the court due to orders served electronically. The court saves over $7,000 a month in postage by serving orders electronically. The total amount saved on postage since November, 2009 is almost $88,000. On March 9, 2010, the Court started up electronic service of court notices, and in less than the full month the court has already saved close to $3,000 on electronic service of notices. 

Philadelphia was lucky to follow the establishment of the federal electronic filing system ? Public Access to Court Electronic Records or PACER ? as well as in Orphans? Division, which allowed the bugs in the system to be identified, refined and cured before launching e-filing in the Court of Common Pleas. The e-filing system has been in the making for several years. As administrative judge Keogh oversaw the large steering committee comprised of a number of constituencies (judges, lawyers, administrators) so that the e-filing system could best accommodate the needs of its users. Keogh is particularly proud that there was no need to contract with a vendor. Rather, the system was set up by talented and devoted computer wizards employed by Civil Court Administration and the Prothonotary?s office. Various constituencies both within and outside of Pennsylvania have visited the city to examine and replicate the system.

One difference between the federal PACER system and Philadelphia?s electronic system is that PACER allows public access to the pdf. for documents filed. Keogh explained that attorneys representing parties in a matter have access to the underlying documents, but that there was some concern about privacy concerns in broad ranging electronic access. The public still can gain access to filed documents at the Prothonotary?s office.

For the seasoned veterans among us, it is important to adjust to the efficiency of e-filing ? not that there is much of a choice. None of the four surrounding county courts have mandatory e-filing yet.  Montgomery County is the closest, with optional e-filing at present, but mandatory e-filing in the surrounding counties is definitely on its way.

Charlotte E. Thomas is a partner with Duane Morris. She can be reached at cthomas@duanemorris.com

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on April 08, 2010 (boomark / email).