(Excerpt from the United States Law Week
March 30, 1999; vol.67, no. 36))
Shawnee County, Kansas. The Third Judicial District Court in Shawnee County, Kansas, is home to another electronic filing project. Initiated in January 1998, the project is currently limited to collection cases, but plans are in the works for expansion to domestic relations cases.
Cutting down on the work and paper in the clerk's office and increasing the correctness of filings motivated the shift to a "paperless" scheme, according to Sally S. Henry, director of court information systems. Three large Topeka law firms took part from the start. Since then, two additional firms have jumped on the bandwagon.
To file a collection action under the Shawnee County system, an attorney e-mails the required information, which is retrieved from the Web interface and put into the court's computer. This computer, in turn, sends the information to the computer in the sheriff's office where papers are printed out for service to the defendant. The court computer produces a receipt, assigns a case number, sets a court scheduling date, and deducts a filing fee from the firm's bank account.
As a prerequisite for e-filing, a firm must have a bank draft signature on file with the court clerk. The clerk's office will draw on only one account per firm, Henry said. The firm is notified at the end of the week of its total weekly debit, she said.
The court requires filers to use specified software for digital signatures and to have a digital signature public key on file with the court. These safeguards guarantee that no tampering was done prior to transmission of the filing and that the filing is actually from the attorney named, Henry explained.
Shawnee County Court Administrator, Kay Falley, said the system is easy to learn. The biggest problem is making sure that attorneys understand how simple the system is and to convince them that it works.
Henry reported that the court receives filing of some 200 new cases per week. In may instances, clients submit the required information to the attorneys, who add a few more pieces of information before filing electronically with the court.
"Everyone save time," Henry said. According to a press release issued when the program began, the district estimated that "[f]rom the time a paperless case is filed until a computer generated summons is issued, 47 minutes elapse, compared with 9 hours and 45 minutes in traditional handling."