I just had a really exciting experience. On Thursday, December 8, 2011, I testified before the Texas Supreme Court about something that is very important to me. I was invited to speak about electronic filing and whether the State of Texas should move towards a new statewide, mandatory electronic filing portal, or allow localities to pursue their own initiatives.
My key points were that I want to make sure any statewide mandatory system is free or almost free, and that we eliminate the middle man. We should move towards a PACER-like system that allows for free filing and is financially self-sustaining via user fees for searches and copies.
There are a number of issues to resolve prior to doing this, such as dealing with smaller districts which still do not have case management systems that they could integrate with a statewide system. In Tom Green County, for example, the District Clerk prints documents that are e-filed through the current statewide pay portal, and puts the paper in physical files.
Finally, the seven Justices present for the hearing seemed universally positive about the Harris County solution we’ve put in place called FREEfax. That system, as you may know, complies with our 1990′s fax-filing rules, but allows litigants to file documents with the Harris County District Clerk’s Office from their desktop for free.
You can see my testimony HERE. My remarks start at the 18:30 mark.