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Tag Archives: E-Filing

E-Filing Tips.

09 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in E-Filing, Law Office Management, Legal Technology, Office Procedures, Technology

≈ Comments Off on E-Filing Tips.

Tags

E-Filing, Smokeball

E-Filing Tips for Attorneys, by Smokeball

https://www.smokeball.com/blog/e-filing-tips-for-attorneys/

Are you an e-filing superstar or novice? Regardless of your court jurisdiction, Smokeball has provided tips that cross jurisdictional lines. These are more common-sense suggestions rather than tips specific to a particular court, and worth your time. Smokeball includes a commercial for its product. Even if Smokeball is not your cup of tea, the underlying premise is a good one. -CCE

With the advent of e-filing comes new challenges and opportunities for mistakes. Some e-filling mistakes are caused by poor planning, clunky software or even something as simple as a setting in your inbox. To help you stay on top of your e-filling, here are five e-filing tips to help you avoid e-filing pitfalls.

‘[A] computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history – with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.’[1]

Use a Separate and Distinct E-Filing Email Address

Did you know that the average person receives about 120 emails everyday?

If you are like most people, you have to sift through the clutter to get to emails that are important. But, because you get so many emails everyday, you may overlook or mistakenly delete an important email.

With mandatory e-filing, every attorney is required to provide a primary email address and up to two secondary email addresses on all appearances and documents filed with the court.[2] This means that not only will you electronically file documents, you will also receive documents filed by other parties via email.

As you list your primary email address on your appearance, don’t use your personal email address as your primary address. Create a separate email address for e-filing to help you stay organized. A dedicated email address for e-filing will ensure that all notices are sent to one central address. This allows other members of your firm to access emails and look for notices from the courts specifically for your cases. Also, when you are out of the office, others can cover and look out for any actions taken on cases.

Check Your Junk and Spam Folders

Another simple but overlooked e-filing tip is checking your spam folder.

Everyday you receive junk or spam mail that clogs up your mailbox. Because of the countless number of junk mail we receive each day, our mail servers have filters that uses a set of protocols to determine what is junk and what are legitimate emails. However, there are times that legitimate emails are caught by an aggressive filter. For attorneys, that could potentially be an e-filling.

To ensure that you don’t miss a notice from the court or opposing counsel, make sure to check your junk mail folders. Also, don’t set your junk mail folder to delete automatically. You don’t want to make a mistake of missing a deadline because it was stuck in the junk mail folder and then auto-deleted.

Whitelist Important Senders

A whitelist is a list of email addresses or domain names that you provide that allows your junk mail or spam filter will allow through into your inbox. I recommend that you put the domain names of the courts and clerk’s offices on your whitelist.  Also, enter opposing counsels and key clients on the whitelist to ensure that emails are not blocked. It’s important to keep your whitelist updated as people and organizations change email addresses or domain names.

Check the Online Court Docket

It’s easy to rely on emails and notifications for new events on your cases, but don’t rely on emails to stay on top of your cases. It’s still a best practice to check the court’s docket online to ensure that no new action or orders were entered. There may be instances where emails were blocked, sent to the wrong address, or other technical glitches causing you to not receive a notice. Create a protocol to check the court’s online docket every 2 to 3 weeks on all your active cases.

Don’t Wait ’till the Last Minute

Supreme Court Rule 9(d) provides that you have until midnight to electronically file a document and still have it considered as filed that same day.  However, don’t wait till the last minute to file a document. E-Filing is a new process and there may be technical issues that you will encounter at the last minute. You may lose your internet connection, lose power, have computer issues, etc., which can cause you to miss your deadline.

Make sure your computer is up to date and have your anti-virus updated. Use a legal practice management system to ensure your data is backed up and you can collaborate with other members of your firm just in case something goes wrong with your computer.

E-filing with Legal Practice Management Software

It’s more important with e-filing to have all your case and critical data in a digital file, where you store all documents, emails, and other important case details in one central location. Enter Smokeball.

Smokeball not only allows you to keep all your information in one central place, you have access to over 14,000 automated legal forms, the most comprehensive automated legal forms library in the industry.

For attorneys in Illinois, Smokeball’s integration with InfoTrack allows you e-file directly from your practice management software. To learn more, see the software for yourself.

[1] Mitch Ratcliffe (quoted in Herb Brody, The Pleasure Machine: Computers, Technology Review, Apr. 1992, at 31).

[2] Rule 11, Rule 131(d)(1)

 

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Judge’s Benchslap for Missing E-Filing Deadline By Three Minutes.

13 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Benchslap, Calendar/Docketing, E-Filing, Judges, Law Office Management, Legal Technology

≈ Comments Off on Judge’s Benchslap for Missing E-Filing Deadline By Three Minutes.

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Above the Law, Benchslap, Brief Writing, Deadlines, E-Filing, Judges, Staci Zaretsky

Judge Shames Lawyers Over Midnight Filings In Awesomely Sarcastic Order, by Staci Zaretsky, Above The Law

http://tinyurl.com/oeld5yg

Thanks to the advent of electronic filing, lawyers get to work nearly 24 hours a day. You’re not expected to work that much, of course, but your firms certainly wouldn’t mind it if you did. Got a motion due at midnight? No problem! You’re overworked and you’ve got a million other things on your plate, so putting one filing on the backburner can’t hurt. After all, you can just furiously write it the night it’s due, and click a few buttons to get it filed by 11:59 p.m. But for some, until the last minute will come back to bite you in the ass. . . .

Continue reading →

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Excellent Argument About Technology and Citation Placement.

13 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Apple, Brief Writing, Citations, E-Briefs, E-Briefs, E-Filing, Footnotes, iPad, Laptop, Legal Technology, Legal Writing, Mac, Microsoft Office, PC Computers, Readability, Tablets

≈ Comments Off on Excellent Argument About Technology and Citation Placement.

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Brian Garner, Brief Writing, Citing Legally Blog, E-Briefs, E-Filing, Legal Citations, Legal Technology, Legal Writing, Peter Martin

If the Judge Will Be Reading My Brief on a Screen, Where Should I Place My Citations? by Peter Martin, Jane M.G. Foster Professor of Law, Emeritus, Cornell Law School, Citing Legally Blog

http://citeblog.access-to-law.com/?p=149

 

As pointed out in this article, more courts require e-filing and are using tablets and other technology to read what you file. If you do not use technology, then you do not know how your document appears on the screen. It is quite different than reading something on a printed page.

So what to do? Keep writing as you always have and ignore changes brought about by technology or adjust? -CCE

A. Introduction

In a prior post I explored how the transformation of case law to linked electronic data undercut Brian Garner’s longstanding argument that judges should place their citations in footnotes. As that post promised, I’ll now turn to Garner’s position as it applies to writing that lawyers prepare for judicial readers. . . .

Continue reading →

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Big Changes For Civil Cases In The Southern District Of New York.

09 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Courts, E-Docketing, E-Filing, Federal District Court Rules, Recent Links and Articles, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

≈ Comments Off on Big Changes For Civil Cases In The Southern District Of New York.

Tags

Above the Law, E-Filing, Gaston Kroub, Southern District of New York

Beyond Biglaw: The End of Paper Filing in the S.D.N.Y., by Gaston Kroub, Above The Law Blog

http://abovethelaw.com/2015/06/beyond-biglaw-the-end-of-paper-filing-in-the-s-d-n-y/

Yesterday marked the beginning of a new era for those who file civil cases in the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.). Considering its status as one of the nation’s oldest, most prestigious Districts Courts, with a corresponding docket full of high-profile civil (and criminal) cases, the change from ‘paper filing’ to electronic filing is an important one. The announcement that the District would be going to electronic filing was in itself a bit surprising, considering that the clerk’s office and judges had resisted the temptation for many years. But change is constant, and starting yesterday [June 9, 2015], filing civil cases in the S.D.N.Y. will be done electronically in the vast majority of cases. . . .

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Honey Pot of Federal Court E-Discovery Local Rules, Forms and Guidelines.

18 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Bankruptcy Court Rules, Court Rules, Courts, Discovery, E-Discovery, E-Filing, Federal District Court Rules, Local Rules

≈ Comments Off on Honey Pot of Federal Court E-Discovery Local Rules, Forms and Guidelines.

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Bankruptcy Court Rules, E-Discovery, E-Discovery Court Rules, E-Filing, ESI, K&L Gates, Local Court Rules, U.S. District Court Rules

Local Rules, Forms and Guidelines of United States District Courts Addressing E-Discovery Issues, Electronic Discovery Law Blog, published by K&L Gates

http://tinyurl.com/p3d6srx

No doubt many of you have already have bookmarked this site. K&L Gates compiled this comprehensive list of local rules, forms and guidelines for U.S. District Courts and U.S. Bankruptcy Courts. At the bottom of their post, you will find a link that will take you directly to the U.S. Court’s website of all federal court rules. Thank you, K&L Gates. -CCE

Local Rules, Forms and Guidelines of United States District Courts Addressing E-Discovery Issues

Many United States District Courts now require compliance with special local rules, forms, or guidelines addressing the discovery of electronically stored information. Below is a collection of those local rules, forms and guidelines, with links to the relevant materials. Please note also that many individual judges and magistrate judges have created their own forms or have crafted their own preferred protocols for e-discovery. These are generally available on the website of the individual judge or magistrate judge and care should be taken to ensure you are aware of any such forms or guidelines in any court you may appear in.

Continue reading →

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Reminder – Minnesota Court Rules Are A-Changing.

23 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Adoption Law, Appellate Judges, Appellate Law, E-Filing, Family Law, Juvenile Law, Legal Technology, Minnesota, Recent Links and Articles

≈ Comments Off on Reminder – Minnesota Court Rules Are A-Changing.

Tags

Adoption, Appellate Court Rules, Brief Writing, E-Filing, Juvenile Law, Minnesota, Minnesota Judicial Branch

In an earlier post, (https://researchingparalegal.com/2014/06/14/recent-court-rule-changes-for-minnesota-courts/) I mentioned that changes to appellate, juvenile, and adoption court rules in Minnesota’s would go soon go into effect on July 1, 2014. They are:

(Effective July 1, 2014) Supreme Court Promulgates Amendments to the Rules of Juvenile Protection Procedure and the Rules of Adoption Procedure.

(Effective July 1, 2014)  Court of Appeals Issues Standing Order Regarding Paper Copies of Briefs

(Effective July 1, 2014) Supreme Court Issues Standing Order Regarding Paper Copies of Briefs

(Effective July 1, 2014) Supreme Court Promulgates Amendments to the Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure

The orders for the appellate courts look especially important.  You can find hyperlinks to these orders here: http://tinyurl.com/nxawksy.   -CCE

 

 

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PDF File Reduction Lifesaver For E-Filing Restriction.

11 Sunday May 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Adobe Acrobat, Courts, E-Filing, Legal Technology

≈ Comments Off on PDF File Reduction Lifesaver For E-Filing Restriction.

Tags

Adobe Acrobat, E-Filing, Electronic File Management, Ernie Svenson, File Reduction, PDF for Lawyers

Reducing The File Size Of A PDF The Fast, Easy Way, by Ernie Svenson, PDF for Lawyers

http://pdfforlawyers.com/category/e-filing/

Lawyers sometimes need to slim down the size of a PDF, often to meet an e-filing restriction (i.e. where a court limits the size of files uploaded to its servers).

There are two ways to reduce the file size of an existing PDF: (1) the Reduced Size option, and (2) the Optimized PDF option. . . .

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Learning E-Filing and E-Docketing the Hard Way.

27 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Appellate Law, Courts, E-Docketing, E-Filing, Federal District Court Rules, Technology, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

≈ Comments Off on Learning E-Filing and E-Docketing the Hard Way.

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E-Discovery, E-Filing, E-Mail, E-Notices, Excusable Neglect, Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure, Good Cause, Jr., Richard B. Phillips, Scott P. Stolley, Texas Appellate Watch

A Painful Lesson in the Pitfalls of E-Filing and E-Docketing, by Scott P. Stolley and Richard B. Phillips, Jr., Texas Appellate Watch

http://tinyurl.com/ma6head

As mandatory e-filing (and the accompanying switch to e-service, e-dockets, and e-notices) spreads across Texas, we need to adopt new standard practices to ensure that we fulfill our duties to our clients. An appeal pending in the Federal Circuit provides a cautionary tale that should not be ignored. . . .

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New Mandatory Cover Sheet for U.S. District of Arizona.

03 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Appellate Law, E-Filing, Local Rules, U.S. District Court of Arizona

≈ Comments Off on New Mandatory Cover Sheet for U.S. District of Arizona.

Tags

Civil Cover Sheet, E-Filing, ECF, Local Court Rules, Newsletter, U.S. District Court of Arizona

Notice of New, Automated Civil Cover Sheet (JS-44), from Newsletter, U.S. District Court, District of Arizona

Effective Monday, March 3, 2014, it will be mandatory for registered users of ECF to complete the new, automated Civil Cover Sheet (JS-44) when opening a civil case.

This automated form allows for the entry of multiple party and attorney names, provides drop-down lists for many categories and radio buttons to select the appropriate Nature of Suit. The final version includes only the selected information, resulting in a clean, easy to read document.

The automated Civil Cover Sheet (JS-44) is located in the Forms section of our website or by clicking the link below. http://www.azd.uscourts.gov/forms/js-44-civil-cover-sheet

If you have questions about ECF, take advantage of the experience of others by browsing our Frequently-Asked Questions by clicking on the link below, or copy and paste into your browser: http://www.azd.uscourts.gov/faqs/ecf.

[Emphasis added.]

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Tax Audit Triggers and How To Avoid Them.

13 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Finance and Banking Law, Government, Internal Revenue Service

≈ Comments Off on Tax Audit Triggers and How To Avoid Them.

Tags

Accounting, Contractors, Deadlines, E-Filing, Finances, Gross Revenue, IRS, Net Income, Quicken Docstoc, Receipts, Red Flags, Self-Employment, Social Media Profile, Sole Proprietor, Tax Audit, Tax Deductions, Vacations

10 Red Flags That Can Cause a Tax Audit, by Docstoc Articles, Quicken Docstoc

http://tinyurl.com/my99j5b

There are plenty of common audit triggers that business owners know to avoid. Never mix your business and personal finances. Don’t deduct things without receipts. Most of these preventative measures come down to common sense.

However, every year countless businesses get hit with an audit they never saw coming, and it ends up wasting their precious time and money. Where did they go wrong? Here are 10 little-known audit triggers that every business should know (and some suggestions on how to avoid them) . . . .

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Texas Moves To Its New E-Filing Website.

06 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Courts, E-Filing, Texas Supreme Court

≈ Comments Off on Texas Moves To Its New E-Filing Website.

Tags

Courts, E-Filing, EFILETEXAS.gov, Texas Supreme Court

We’ve moved! New e-filing website goes live, posted by Angela Morris, Texas Lawyer in Texas Law

http://shererandcrow.com/texas-law/weve-moved-new-e-filing-website-goes-live/

The state’s new system for electronically filing court documents has a new online home: EFileTexas.gov went live today, Dec. 6.

Starting Monday, the old site to access the e-filing system will go offline and anyone who visits TexFile.com will automatically be rerouted to EFileTexas.gov, according to a notice on TexFile.com.

 

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If a Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words, What Are Graphics in E-Filing Worth? A Lot.

03 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in E-Filing, Legal Technology, U.S. Courts of Appeal

≈ Comments Off on If a Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words, What Are Graphics in E-Filing Worth? A Lot.

Tags

E-Filing, Graphics

Using Graphics in Electronic Filings with Courts, by Legal Skills Prof, Legal Skills Prof Blog

http://bit.ly/19ZBhAE

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Oklahoma Courts Adopting New E-Filing System

21 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in E-Filing

≈ Comments Off on Oklahoma Courts Adopting New E-Filing System

Tags

Adobe Acrobat, Digital Signatures, E-Filing, U.S. Courts of Appeals

A step-by-step look at the Oklahoma Court’s new e-filing system, by Shawn J. Reynolds, PC Blog
http://www.shawnjroberts.com/step-step-look-oklahoma-courts-new-efiling-system/

Does anyone remember how we freaked when the federal court required e-filing in federal courts? And then we realized it was the best thing since sliced bread? I cannot wait to see this evolution in Oklahoma courts, and look forward to its implementation. The needed changes are in progress.

Keep in mind that this means legal professionals need to sharpen their skills, if necessary, on using digital signatures and features in Adobe Acrobat, just as we do with federal e-filing with PACER. Sometimes even positive change scares some of us. This will be outstanding. Look forward to it. Once it is in full swing, we will wonder how we ever lived without it.

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