In 2008, we wrote an article for this magazine titled “Paperless Courts: Electronic Filing in Wisconsin Circuit Courts.” The article announced an e-filing system for civil, small claims, and family cases. Since then, e-filing has been available through the Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP) for Wisconsin counties that choose to use it and for lawyers who choose to participate.

Despite rapid advances in law office technology in the last eight years, circuit court e-filing has been slow to catch on: only 27 counties currently participate, and only 1,343 cases were e-filed in 2013. In most counties, for most cases, filings still travel by mail and courier, lawyers drag boxes to court, and stacks of paper are piled in front of the judge and clerk in each courtroom.

To take advantage of the time and cost savings that e-filing offers, e-filed cases must be the norm and not the exception. To speed this transition, the Committee of Chief Judges and the CCAP Steering Committee have recommended that all attorneys be required to e-file in Wisconsin’s circuit courts. The chief judges plan to file a rule petition in the fall of 2014 asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to adopt mandatory e-filing as new Wis. Stat. section 801.18.

The rule proposes a three-year rollout period from 2016 to 2019 that would phase in e-filing county by county. The proposed rule is paired with a biennial budget proposal to expand and enhance the system and provide training for all users.

It has been more than 20 years since the first federal bankruptcy court required lawyers to file electronically, and now almost every federal court in the country does so. Statewide e-filing systems have been implemented in 13 other states and are under active development in 27 more. The time has come for the Wisconsin circuit courts to move forward as well.

Building on Existing Technologies

Electronic filing is only a small slice of a much greater technology shift. Online banking and shopping, credit cards, and ATMs have transformed commerce. Email and social media have transformed correspondence. Transactions requiring a high degree of security, such as filing tax returns, can be completed with a password or a PIN. Businesses of every size rely on software to handle inventory, billing, payroll, and customer service.

Law offices are no exception to the rapid adoption of technology. Client files are scanned, case management and billing systems are automated, and fact investigation and legal research are done online. Similar advances are taking place in the courts, with scanning of case files, electronic signatures, online payment of court fines, and judicial dashboard tools. CCAP has programmed interfaces to accept filing of electronic citations from law enforcement agencies and complaints from district attorneys and to send information about case outcomes to executive branch agencies.

Merging the electronic capabilities of law offices with the electronic capabilities of the courts is the next logical development in this progression. E-filing will facilitate the exchange of documents between attorneys and courts and will move all users toward a simpler, more unified electronic environment.

The proposed rule mandates e-filing for all attorneys and allows voluntary participation by self-represented litigants. For small claims actions filed under Wis. Stat. section 799.06, the rule mandates e-filing by agents who file 10 or more actions in a county per year, typically collection agencies, hospitals, and property management firms. Self-represented litigants are welcome to file electronically but are not required to do so.

Fond du Lac County Judge Bob Wirtz chairs the chief judges’ subcommittee on e-filing implementation. He says, “The circuit courts have offered e-filing since 2008, but the number of voluntary e-filers has yet to reach a critical mass. The states that mandate e-filing are the ones that have realized all the efficiencies and benefits that e-filing offers.” The chief judges’ subcommittee visited the federal district court in Madison to see a fully implemented electronic system. “The users there told us they would never go back to paper.”

Benefits for Attorneys

With e-filing, attorneys have access to the complete electronic court file for all their cases, from any Internet-connected device, even when the courthouse is closed. An attorney can file documents through the court e-filing website without making copies, paying a courier, or leaving the office. Filing fees can be paid using a credit card or an electronic check. Attorneys can view and download documents and orders as soon as they are filed. Attorneys may delegate access for staff members to receive notices, prepare pleadings, and pay filing fees.

The e-filing website creates a custom portal for each attorney with links to all the cases on which the attorney is registered. The list can be sorted by party name, county, date, type of case, and open or closed status. Each case can be opened to access the complete court record, all pleadings and correspondence filed with the court, transcripts, and reports, as well as a calendar feature.

Katherine Koepsell, an attorney at Quincey, Becker, Schuessler, Chase & Devitt, a general practice firm in Beaver Dam and Mayville, has been e-filing since April 2012. She says, “It’s wonderful to have all filed documents on a given case always available at my fingertips and to be able to quickly and easily submit documents to the court. Change is always difficult, but I think the benefits have far outweighed any short-term inconvenience of learning the new system. CCAP has been wonderfully responsive to proposed changes and suggestions for improving the e-filing system.”

Charles Kramer, with Weiss Law Office in Mequon, has also been e-filing since 2012. His firm files electronically in every county that makes e-filing available. “I like the system a lot; it’s amazingly convenient,” he said. “Now instead of waiting for the mail, I can file a case in the morning, get my copies back in a few hours, and have my process server serve them by the end of the day. The $5 e-filing fee is more than offset by what we save in postage and delivery costs. When all attorneys are e-filing, the savings will be even more impressive.” He notes, “Anyone who practices in federal court or who files an appeal with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals is already an e-filer. Extending the technology to the circuit court just makes sense.”

Benefits for Courts

For the court system, the advantages of e-filing are numerous. The new judicial-dashboard application helps judges and court commissioners move through crowded dockets more efficiently. Judges can quickly access electronic documents, view future hearings, and electronically sign orders on the bench or from their desks. The complete court file is available at any time to multiple users: to the public in the clerk’s office, the judge, the judicial assistant, attorneys in the courtroom, and paralegals back at the law office. Documents are available only to those involved in the case; unlike the federal PACER system, documents will not be available for sale to the general public.

Currently, many clerks of circuit court and registers in probate maintain a mix of electronic and paper files. With mandatory e-filing, the courts can move into an all-electronic environment. The staff time spent on data entry, scanning, moving files, and mailing will be greatly reduced. Counties will see cost savings on paper, supplies, and physical-file storage space, and staff time can be better spent on other functions.

The courts have been hit hard by state budget cuts over the last few years, and efficiency is more important than ever. Law firms too have found their profit margins squeezed by changing practices and client expectations. With e-filing, lawyers and courts can leverage the power of their automated systems to their mutual benefit and the benefit of the public.

The circuit courts in Dodge County were early adopters of electronic files. Lynn Hron, the clerk of circuit court, started scanning small-claims case files in 2009 and saw the practice quickly spread as her staff realized the advantages. As of July 2014, the Dodge County Circuit Court no longer uses paper files for any type of case. According to Hron, “Ten years ago, I couldn’t imagine operating a court system electronically the way we are, but now I can’t imagine it any other way. We save hours every day that used to be spent moving paper around the courthouse, and our need for daily office supplies is way down.”

Judge John Storck, on the Dodge County Circuit Court, is another strong proponent of e-filing. He said, “At first there was some resistance by the judges, but today all four judges and our court commissioner are on board with the use of the electronic files. We have all gotten used to signing, reviewing files, and transmitting documents electronically. We have developed systems to use e-filed and scanned documents so we are more efficient today than when we were using the paper-based system.” He looks forward to the day when e-filing is fully implemented in all counties.

Implementation Over Three Years

After review by various court and state bar committees, the chief judges will finalize the e-filing rule petition and submit it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the fall of 2014, with a request for a hearing in the spring of 2015. The court will also submit a funding proposal to the governor this fall.

If the supreme court approves the rule and funding is provided, CCAP will gradually roll out the expanded e-filing system on a county-by-county basis between January 2016 and December 2018. The implementation date for each county will be identified by the director of state courts months in advance, with publicity and outreach in coordination with the bar.

The careful pace of the rollout is modeled on a successful implementation currently underway in the Iowa courts. CCAP plans to send employees to each county to provide training and support for court staff, judges, court reporters, attorneys, paralegals and legal secretaries, large-volume filers, and individuals who work with self-represented litigants. CCAP will also provide online training materials and a support line to assist filers with using the new system.

The new rule will apply to both new cases and new filings in open cases, for all case types. Each clerk of circuit court and register in probate will be required to have all open files scanned by the time e-filing becomes mandatory in that county. This will enable a county to transition quickly from paper to electronic filing rather than have to work in two different systems.

Todd Terry uses e-filing as much as he can in his civil litigation practice with Hotvedt & Terry in Kenosha. “One of the things I like best is the immediacy of it. It seems like we’re always hustling to get things filed, and now we can do it all quickly online. It saves on delivery and courier costs, and we get instant confirmation that things have been filed.”

He sees e-filing as a way to increase the efficiency of his office. “It’s great to have the ability to access documents remotely. Having two systems, paper and electronic, is not cost-effective. Whenever an old case can be converted to e-filing, we ask the clerk to do it. We welcome the day when it’s fully implemented.”

Paying for E-filing

Many state courts have purchased case-management and e-filing systems from private vendors. The fact that CCAP developed its case-management technology in-house rather than through a vendor has enabled it to be exceptionally flexible and responsive to the specific needs of Wisconsin court users, as well as highly cost effective. Those advantages will carry over into the e-filing system.

E-filing costs for users in Wisconsin are expected to compare very favorably to the cost of vendor-supported systems in other states. The current e-filing fee is $5 per case for each attorney or self-represented litigant, paid when the attorney or party enters the case. Filing fees can be paid by credit card (with a 2.75 percent bank fee) or by electronic check ($2.50 bank fee per transaction). No charge is made for subsequent filings. By comparison, the vendors in several other states charge multiple times over the course of litigation for various pleadings or groups of pleadings, at the following rates: Michigan charges $5, Arizona and New Mexico $6, Colorado $6 to $6.85. In addition, some vendors charge to serve pleadings on the other e-filing parties: Michigan charges $3 for service, New Mexico $4, Arizona $6, Colorado $6 to $7.50. Unlike the one-time cost in Wisconsin, filing and service costs in other states continue as the litigation progresses.

The Wisconsin court system is seeking $2.1 million in start-up funding through the biennial budget process to hire the necessary programmers and analysts, buy equipment, and train users during the county-by-county rollout. The system will be enhanced to accept all case types, interact with law office case-management systems, and add user-friendly features. Once all counties are up and running, the e-filing fee will be used to respond to changes in law and practice, add enhancements, and provide ongoing user support.

Comments Sought on E-filing Rule

The proposed e-filing rule is posted on the court website. Lawyers and law office staff are encouraged to offer suggestions. Written comments may be sent to web.admin@wicourts.gov or sent through the website by December 1.

Wisconsin courts and Wisconsin law offices have made many advances in electronic case management. Electronic case filing is the next logical step in using these systems to their full capacity. The chief judges believe that the Wisconsin bar and courts are ready to join the federal courts in this step toward the future.