Electronic filing project exceeds expectations

By Grace Wilson
KBA Desktop Publishing Assistant
©The Journal of the Kansas Bar Association

It used to be known as the cattle-call. Clients and attorneys crowded into the hallways of the Shawnee County Courthouse waiting in line for hours so defendants in limited actions cases could be called before the judge one by one.

"People were angry before they even appeared before the judge," said Judge E. Newton Vickers.

Vickers continues to hear limited actions cases since his retirement as district court judge from the Third Judicial District but in a totally different environment, thanks to some innovative changes by Third District Judge Terry Bullock.

Hon. Terry Bullock

"In the last eight years in Shawnee County, the criminal docket has doubled, and the civil has tripled," said Bullock, "but we have no additional staff."

Shawnee County handled more than 22,000 debt collection cases last year, while monitoring more than 100,000 cases from prior years. Bullock and the court staff remember when limited actions court lasted all morning, afternoon and often until 8 at night.

"It was difficult for lawyers; it was boring, rote," said Bullock, "I had trouble getting judges to do it."

To compound the problem, there was little parking available in front of the courthouse. But all of this has changed, thanks to the brainstorm Bullock had one night in church when the bishop invited parishioners to communion stations instead of serving them one at a time.

First Bullock turned limited actions on its head, changing the location and manner in which defendants' cases are handled. Then in July 1996, Bullock applied for a technology grant from the Kansas Supreme Court for $61,150, including a 50 percent local match, to pilot an electronic filing project. This was the first year the state supreme court offered technology grants to Kansas district courts. Projects approved must be useful and available to all Kansas district courts.

RIGHT: Edith Gordon-Hepp,left, and Rebekah Phelps-Davis prepared documents for defendants who owe child support during a "court" session at the Kansas Expocentre.

BOTTOM: James Willard of Scott, Quinlan and Hecht says the new process cuts the "court" time spent on limited actions cases in half.

Now at a "court" set up in a large hall at the Kansas Expocentre, Shawnee County is doing in two hours what usually took two days.

The hall looks like it is set up for military enlistment or college enrollment instead of court. A defendant's stay can be as little as 15 minutes, and only toward the end of the two hours do lines of any length begin to form.

One Tuesday morning, the new limited actions court took care of between 3000 and 4000 cases in two hours. Those who defaulted or pleaded no contest talked with attorneys at tables set up around the hall, often to develop a payment plan. The attorneys then marked the next electronic step needed in the case on a form from the clerk's office. If defendants fail to appear, the computer program prints out the warrants.

One judge sat on the stage at the front of the hall, dealing mostly with pretrial and old cases. Less than two percent of the defendants want to go to trial.

All firms in Shawnee County involved in Chapter 61 civil cases (debt collections, bad checks and medical debts) may participate in the electronic filing project, said Sally Henry, Shawnee County director of information systems. While some courts are using electronic filing of legal documents, Shawnee County is the only place in Kansas where attorneys are allowed to initiate cases electronically. In April 1998, some 770 cases were filed.

"Since March 9, more than 150 e-mail transmissions have come to the clerk of the district court from attorneys each week," said Angle Callahan, supervisor of limited actions for the clerk's office. With the electronic filing program, the computer generates the petition and summons and transfers the filing fee from the attorney's account. Ideally, the sheriff's office prints out the only paper copy in existence when they send the postcard notice of the defendant's court date.

Since information is not re-keyed by each office, there should not be any mistakes or changes in the original transcript. This saves staff time for the attorneys, the clerk and the sheriff's office. With the help of two scanners purchased through the grant, staff in the clerk's office is able to scan in previous limited actions documents.

"Not only are we saving trees," said Bullock, "but we are reducing the repetitive entry of shared information.' Bullock said he believes that this is not being done anywhere else in the United States.

Officials say they are well on the way to their target of having 85 percent of the court's limited actions cases as paperless filings. With the project online for only a few months, more than 70 percent of the of debt collections, bad checks and medical debts were being filed electronically. Bullock's goal is to have no paper files in limited actions by the end of the year. In addition to the entries already being submitted by attorneys, Henry said she expects more use by online Web browsers at www.shawneecourt.org.

There are three ways for an individual lawyer or firm to participate in the electronic filing project, said Henry. One is to have a programmer on site to modify an existing software program. Another is to pay a software vendor to write a program. It is also possible to do electronic filing without purchasing special software. By hardcoding the constant information into a Word Perfect document and using macros for the variables, attorneys can transfer the information needed to the court.

Court officials said they chose to use e-mail and plain text or ASCII format, because they are simple, fast and universal. Lawyers may use the court's standardized petition or use their own. Attorneys and clients may transmit files day or night. Participants from one Shawnee County firm say they can file a petition with three keystrokes.

Three limited actions lawyers in Shawnee County have been participating in the pilot program, Tom Valentine, Kent Hollins and Walt Scott. Valentine has also provided the computer program to his largest clients who are online, so that the same electronic information required by the court can be transferred to him by these clients, reducing keystroking errors that might have occurred before.

While fewer errors are an advantage, verification and privacy are concerns for some participants.

"All of the information being handled by electronic filing in these cases is public information, " said Henry.

Even so, a confirmation process between the court and the attorney is built into the program. The total number of cases is compared and checked with each transmission. Cases with incomplete information are returned to the attorney.

Right now, each attorney has a private key number, explained Henry. Within the next three months, each participant will have a digital signature. The digital signature, approved as a legal signature by the 1997 Kansas Legislature, functions as a electronic "wrapper" for information, which if broken can indicate that data has been tampered with.

"It took our best clerk 91/2 hours to file 100 limited action cases," said Bullock. "With electronic filing, we filed 100 cases in 30 seconds. No more mindless, routine, back-breaking labor. People are freed up to do more creative work."

Occasional glitches were found during implementation of the computer software developed by consultants hired with the grant money. But, said Callahan, the few modifications needed were handled by two existing on-staff computer programmers.

"Running the old and the new system at the same time can be a challenge," said Joyce Reeves, clerk of the district court, "Having the administrative judge behind you makes all the difference."

Callahan said that she and other clerks especially appreciate being able to respond to phone questions by bringing up the electronically filed information on their desktop computer, instead of trekking to the file room for a paper copy.

"We've been using two scanners all day long, non-stop, since we got them" said Callahan, "It's more efficient storage and easy retrieval, too."

While 28 percent of the files are still paper, as the court scanners begin imaging more and more documents, there will no longer be a need for paper copies. The scanners were purchased with the Supreme Court grant.

RIGHT: Tom Valentine, one of the Topeka lawyers involved in the electronic filing project, conferred with court clerks Carol Barnes, middle, and Margie Hernandez.

BOTTOM: Valentine discussed a case with retired Judge E. Newton Vickers, who handles the few cases going to trial.

"I will love it when every case is filed this way," said Callahan. The judges, attorneys and court staff working on the electronic filing project, eager to go the next step this summer, added aids and garnishments cases and are looking for other categories they can add to the "paperless trail."

It was hard to find reservations about the new process. Rebekah Phelps-Davis, who wants child support cases handled seriously, said she was concerned the process might not be adversarial enough.

Steve Wiechman, a Topeka limited actions lawyer, said he thought clients might be leery of the electronic method, wanting a piece of paper as proof their case is being handled.

"We got lucky," said Valentine, who is handling more than 200 limited actions cases a month electronically. "We have a law clerk who understands computers and a judge who wanted to be a leader." Most counties are moving in the opposite direction, added Valentine, generating two pages when they used to have one.

Valentine said he originally thought the project was the impossible dream, and that it might have been impossible, but for Sally Henry and Larry Zimmerman and others who knew what computers could do. Valentine, whose firm was asked to present information about the project at a national software vendor's conference in June, estimates that for every hour saved in his office, the court saves two.

"I have 27 years of experience creating paper," said Valentine, "but the world will be vastly different for lawyers, even in five years. We are using computers like crazy, and we're not going 20 miles per hour; we are roaring down the pike."

The brilliance of Shawnee County's electronic filing project, according to Zimmerman, who wrote the computer program for Valentine and his clients to use, is that the process is easy enough for any county in Kansas to use, just as required by the grant.

"If you have a word processor, Internet access and e-mail, " said Zimmerman, "you can do it." Some states "think they need a $500 hammer,'' he added, "when you just need the same kind of tools you use to merge form letters."

When looking at other projects in Canada, New York and Utah, Zimmerman found that one required lawyers to have a $450 software license to do electronic filing and lengthy staff training. That is not the case in Shawnee County.

"The PC on most people's desk could launch a space shuttle," said Zimmerman, adding that the average desktop personal computer is used to a small percentage of its capacity. By sitting down with the actual users, said both Valentine and Zimmerman, Shawnee County officials helped make the right design choices, which resulted in a simple, easy-to-use tool.

"You can't imagine the change in mindset when the judges, clerks and attorneys, all three, got together," said Valentine. The group called together by Bullock started meeting once a month in October 1996, tested the first electronic pleadings in July 1997 and opened the process to all lawyers in March 1998.

"Practicing law should be a people process, instead of pushing paper," said Zimmerman. "Electronic filing allows you more time to be on the phone, working with clients. It allows us to be a law firm instead of a branch of Kinko's with everybody crowded around the copy machine."

"The first winner is the defendant," said Valentine, adding that attorneys have more time to discuss the defendants case across the table. He said the new process seemed less adversarial and with better coverage and more courtesy by attorneys than when the cases "were rammed through every five seconds." This in spite of the fact that the attorneys are all competing for the same business.

Lawyer Hollins, who was part of the pilot program, cited Bullock's insight, persuasiveness and creativity in solving a caseload problem that has "increased exponentially." He had heard about a project in New Mexico related to car titles, but nothing like the electronic project in Shawnee County.

Valentine said the success of the project can be credited to having the Supreme Court's blessing, the leadership of Bullock, the cooperation among judges and lawyers and the clerk's office, and having people like Henry and Zimmerman who are capable of thinking like a computer.