Revised Administrative Procedures Posted Revised Administrative Procedures re: Electronic Filing were posted today. Revisions include a clarification that a registered CM/ECF Filing User must file all documents electronically except those which are required to be filed in paper. Electronic filing is mandatory for those registered to use the system.
Hyperlinks. Also, new provisions on hyperlinks permit use of hyperlinks to research services and within documents. (Future releases of CM/ECF will support hyperlinks within the record of a case.)
Sealed filings: The procedures also make it clear that to file a document under seal there must first be an order authorizing the sealed filing. This is consistent with existing Local Rules.  ¶ 2:35 PM 0 comments

  Quality Control and the Help Desk Docket clerks at the court are preparing to shift focus on August 1, to the new functions of Help Desk and Quality Control.
Docket clerks will rotate in service at the Help Desk. The phone number (801) 524-3248 will be answered during business hours. Those on the desk will have access to multiple resources and the ability to run an "attorney" style CM/ECF session so they can see exactly what the caller is seeing. The Court’s PACER system, which provides access to electronic case information, also has a Help Desk which can be reached at 1-800-676-6856.
Docket clerks will continue to docket the incoming paper filings (scanning them into CM/ECF), but will also shift attention to Quality Control verification of attorney filings. The pace of attorney filings has not been great, and the accuracy has been high, but the docket clerks anticipate a steady increase in review of attorney filings, while docketing scanned paper decreases.
On August 1, attorneys trained in CM/ECF in other districts are eligible to register in this district. And training will begin for trainers and attorneys not in pilot law firms.  ¶ 5:01 PM 0 comments

  Scanned vs. Text Based PDF Files As the court reviews filings to date, by attorneys, a few have been found to be created by scanning documents rather than by printing to a PDF file. More information on this distinction is in a PDFs - Scanned vs. Text fact sheet on the court's web site. The court's strong preference is that filed documents be "text" PDF format, so that copying and pasting, keyword searching and text output functions will be available. "Text" PDF documents also have a smaller file size. It appears that many firms have acquired copiers or scanners which can scan a document and create a PDF file. While this is acceptable for pre-existing exhibits, the preferred method of creating motions and memoranda for filing is to print to a PDF file. This is expressed in the Administrative Procedures re: Electronic Filing.  ¶ 11:43 AM 1 comments

  Deadline Not Met By CM/ECF Filer A CM/ECF filer in the Northern District of New York logged on at 10:49 am to make a bankruptcy filing to stop a foreclosure sale set for 11:00 am. However, the petition was not filed (confirmed by a NEF) until 12:05 p.m. By that time, the foreclosure sale was over, and the lender was the successful bidder. The judge in the case declined to consider "logging on" as the effective time of filing. "Logging on is not enough," the judge said. "Otherwise, debtors' counsel could simply log on to the system and then go about the process of filling out the petition at his leisure. The Court does not want to encourage this practice."
From Law.com Legal Technology:
http://www.law.com/jsp/ltn/pubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1122368712404  ¶ 10:19 AM 0 comments

  Court Technology Committee Updates on CM/ECF

Today's meeting of the Court Technology Committee updated court staff and attorney representatives on the status of CM/ECF:

Training Trainers: Over 25 trainers have been trained, with another 26 scheduled to be trained next week. The trainers have already trained many attorneys and staff in their firms and agencies.

Law Firm Issues: Law firms report several issues in moving to CM/ECF.

• Attorneys want the ability to change their district court CM/ECF password to coincide with their bankruptcy CM/ECF password.
• Attorneys and staff express less motivation to learn to efile if the system is not mandatory. Trainers are told, "We already know how to file paper, so lets keep doing that." One agency has made efiling mandatory for the agency.
• Filers want to know if they must use the notice of conventional filing on all paper filings made after they are registered to e-file.
• Attorneys and staff wonder why courtesy copies of dispositive motions are required. "Judges have printers."
• One filer was told that all pages in a memorandum and exhibits must be consecutively numbers under DUCivR10-1(a).

Court staff will research all these issues and provide responses.

Attorney Registration: 70 attorneys are registered filers. So far, 11 documents have been filed by attorney filers.

Attorney Training: Attorneys and staff are signing up for training in August and September. Sessions are currently scheduled every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from August 9 through September 29, 2005. Attorneys from interested firms should contact Krysta at 801-524-6146 or via e-mail to register for a session.

Pro Hac Vice Attorneys who are registered filers in other districts may register to file in Utah after August 1, 2005.

Credit Card payments for some fees may be accepted by the Utah CM/ECF system after January 1, 2006. The court is preparing for this additional feature.  ¶ 12:51 PM 0 comments

  First Attorney Filing The first attorney filing in Utah District Court CM/ECF occurred today, July 12, 2005, in Case No. 1:05-cv-00041-BSJ EXO Props v. Ogden Cty, et al. Docket numbers 30 and 31 in that case were filed by Michael Stanger and Cass Butler. Document 31 attaches scanned exhibits, but both the main documents are text based PDF files, which allows the full versatility of key word searching and copying and pasting.  ¶ 1:19 PM 0 comments