|
To file electronically, attorneys create their documents on their computers just as they normally do. Instead of printing the document on paper, however, attorneys save it in a portable document format that can be read by others with all formatting intact regardless of the type of computer or word processor they use. Attorneys then access the electronic filing system through their Internet provider over the World Wide Web. After establishing their identity by providing a court assigned user identification name and password that serves as their signature for electronically filed documents, attorneys indicate the case number that their document applies to, the party the document is being filed on behalf of and the type of document (answer, motion, etc.) being filed. The document is then sent over the Internet to the court computer. A receipt is immediately sent back to the attorney's screen verifying that the document has been received. The receipt can be printed or saved to disk for future reference. Additionally, the system automatically creates a docket entry and makes both the updated docket sheet as well as the document itself instantly available to anyone with access to the Internet. The system also sends e-mail notification of the filing to all the parties who desire electronic notice of the filing.
E-filing is a national initiative for the Federal Judiciary. As of May 2001, six district and nine bankruptcy courts are using the e-filing software; another nineteen bankruptcy courts are in the process of implementing the system. Within the next six months, another seven district and another seventeen bankruptcy courts will begin their implementations (a phase that lasts about ten months to a year.) You can find a press release listing the e-filing courts on the CM/ECF web page of the PACER Service Center where you will continue to find updates and information about electronic filing in the Federal Judiciary from a national perspective in future.
In order to file electronically, an attorney must be admitted to practice before the court and must have previously registered to file electronically. In addition, the case must be one designated by the court for electronic filing. The necessary forms can be obtained from the clerk's office or by clicking here. In addition, you will need a PACER account to do any retrievals of information from the system. Note that the PACER account does not have to be individual; one account shared by an entire firm could work fine. If you do not already have a PACER account you can contact the Pacer Service Center at 800-676-6854/210-301-6440.
The best way to learn to use the e-filing system is to complete the CM/ECF On-Line Tutorial. We will be offering a series of hand-on training classes in the immediate future. Further information will be disseminated as it becomes available.
Why is it that only attorneys may register to e-file?
The e-filing login and password together constitute one's signature for all the purposes of Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Just as paper pleadings had to have counsel's signature, electronically filed documents must bear counsel's "e-filing signature". Please note that you do not need to register more than once. Even if you change firms, your e-signature remains valid; you must update your address and e-mail information, but you need not re-register.
Back to Top
How do I change my e-filing password?
 |
Once logged in, go to "Utilities" on the dark blue tool bar.
|
|
Click on "Maintain Your Account" in the "Your Account" section.
|
|
Click on the "More User Information" button at the bottom of the screen.
|
|
Highlight the row of asterisks in the password box and type your new password in their place.
|
|
Click on "Return to Account screen" at the bottom of the page.
|
|
Click on "Submit" at the bottom of the page. You will see a list of cases in which you participate. You may spread the changes to all of them by selecting "Update All" and then hitting "Submit". You'll see some chat back from the system as it makes the various updates by way of confirming that you've succeeded in having it register your change.
Back To Top
|
When is a document attachment to big to send electronically?
Some scanned document attachments will be of a size that makes it impracticable to upload. Here are a couple of rough approximations of what you might expect for upload or download time for different kinds of connections for a megabyte of data (approximately one million characters, spaces included). These are only approximations.
T1 line with little traffic: 1 megabyte per second
DSL or cable: 2-5 seconds per megabyte
56k modem: 3-7 minutes per megabyte
Back To Top
Is there a limit on the size of an e-mail?
There is a limit on the size an e-mail message imposed by the gateway through which mail comes to us. A message may be no more than 10 megabytes in size. In the case of complaints or other initiating documents which you need to e-mail to the court, you may find that the size of your accompanying exhibits, particularly if they're scanned documents, requires sending your documents in as separate e-mails. If a single attachment exceeds ten megabytes in size please contact the court for further instruction.
Back To Top
How do I make a PDF document?
There are several ways in which you can get a document from a word processing program into the PDF format. The newer versions of some common word processors include the ability to publish a document to PDF built right into the word-processing software. In WordPerfect 9 the "Publish to PDF" option is on the File menu.
Adobe Corporation, the inventors of the format, make available both the free reader version of the software, which can be used to retrieve documents from our e-filing system, and the writer version, which can create documents for posting. (Go to the Library section for more information about obtaining the software)
When you have installed Adobe Acrobat, you can make PDF files right out of your word-processing software simply by "printing" the document, and selecting the "printer" called "Acrobat PDFWriter" from the drop down list of available printers. That process will actually save a file in PDF format, with a ".pdf" file extension, on your hard drive.
Back To Top
Are there other PDF software vendors available other than Adobe ?There are other software vendors in the PDF market, but Adobe invented the format and is most widely known. We list two other vendors below in case you are interested, but endorse neither. 1. Free PDF check out: http://www.webxd.com/zipguy/freepdf.htm 2. PDF 995 at: http://www.pdf995.com
Back To Top
My document seems to change when I make it into PDF; what's happening?
Adobe calls this "flowing". Depending on the font, the printer selected, and other characteristics of the context, a document may undergo some changes when it's rendered into PDF. Using Distiller instead of PDFwriter is supposed to better preserve the document's original appearance, according to Adobe. Adobe has a good set of technical documents at their web site. There is one that speaks directly to ways in which you may attempt to address flowing problems.
Back To Top
Is ECF dependent on a specific browser ?
The ECF application was originally written for Netscape browsers, but recent modifications have made it available for both Netscape 4.6 and 4.7 and IE 5.0 - 5.5.
Back To Top
How does PACER and E-filing (ECF) fit together?
Besides your e-filer login, a PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) account is also required to retrieve documents from the e-filing system. If you do not already have a PACER account, you can contact PACER via e-mail, phone or on-line:
1. Email: PACER@psc.uscourts.gov
2. Phone: 800-676-6856 3. On-line registration at: http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov
The PACER Service Center can also provide phone support for e-filing users; specifically, the PSC staff can assist with browser issues, Adobe Acrobat installation and use, general navigation around a Judiciary e-filing site like ours, etc. The hours of the PSC are from 8 AM to 5 PM Central time.
A separate ECF login is required to file documents. Only attorneys may register to become e-filers, but anyone can sign up for a PACER account. When you receive a Notice of Electronic Filing in your email, you'll note that the case number and document number are both hyperlinks. You can click through from the document number to retrieve the pleading. That first retrieval when you have been served is free. Subsequent retrievals, even of documents you have posted, will be charged for when billing begins. Also, see our Pacer Guide for ECF users.
Back To Top
When I try to get my document from a Notice of Electronic Filing I get an "Internal Server Error" message. Is your server having trouble?
The first time you use the link or URL in a Notice of Electronic Filing to reach for a document, you use up the "free look" you get. Every subsequent time you use the link in the e-notice, you'll get a PACER login screen. If you use an e-filer login at that point, instead of a PACER login, you may provoke the "Internal Server Error" message. Just hit BACK and try a PACER login and password instead.
Back To Top
Why is my login failing?
The system is case sensitive. Both the e-filing logins and passwords and your PACER login and password consist primarily of lower case letters. If you have the CAPS lock on, your login is sure to fail.
Back To Top
I can't get to your web site, but other attorneys at my firm don't have that problem-why me?
If you get a blank screen when you try to reach our site, it may be that something is blocking the Secure Socket Layer (SSL), port 443. The e-filing web site is on port 443 rather than the usual web port 80. The IT department at your firm needs to look at the router and any firewalls the firm has set up to determine where the blocking is taking place. Some attorneys at a firm may experience this problem while others at the same firm do not, because they may be directed to different proxy servers.
Back To Top
I got a "DATA MISSING" error, and got dumped back to a login prompt. What's wrong?
This is a known bug in the application. If you attempt to re-size your browser window, you'll provoke the error "Data Missing This document resulted from a POST operation and has expired from the cache. If you wish you can repost the form data to recreate the document by pressing the reload button. " No matter what you do, you'll have to log in and start over. You can minimize your browser window without ill effect, but trying to change its size will guarantee you a free trip back to the login prompt. This problem has been reported to the developers and will, we hope, be corrected in a future release.
Back To Top
Why does my session freeze?
If you find your session freezing after you have hit "SUBMIT", try using the Back button to return to the previous screen and click on SUBMIT again. It may be the case that the session has not really halted, but this kind of misbehavior is endemic to browser-based applications.
Back To Top
My session still freezes; no amount of BACKing up seems to help. Now what?
Often times you need to give Netscape a fresh start: clear out its cache and start a new session, and that might help. You might also delete the files in C:\TEMP and/or C:\WINDOWS\TEMP. To clear your Netscape cache, go to Edit -- Preferences -- Advanced -- Cache, and click on both "Clear Memory Cache" and "Clear Disk Cache".
You could also clear-out all files from your 'TemporaryInternetFiles' directory. We have found that when this directory grows very large that many browser problems ensue.
The end...
|