Judiciary Now Offering E-filing Educational Sessions

(ANNAPOLIS, Md. – July 18, 2014) Attorneys and law professionals can sign up today to attend educational sessions to help them get ready for e-filing, the electronic filing of court cases, papers and documents. E-filing will be available in Anne Arundel County this fall when the county becomes the first jurisdiction to launch the pilot of Maryland Electronic Courts (MDEC), the Judiciary’s electronic case management system.

“This is a great time for attorneys to become more familiar with MDEC and e-filing because, starting in mid-September, they will be able to register to e-file and thus be ready for Anne Arundel County’s launch of MDEC this fall,” said Tara Glover, MDEC e-filing project manager for the Judiciary.

While the MDEC pilot will begin in Anne Arundel County this fall, statewide rollout of the case management system will take place over the next several years. E-filing for attorneys will become mandatory county by county as the conversion to the new MDEC system proceeds. The MDEC project is creating a single Judiciary-wide integrated case management system that will be used by all the courts in the state court system. Courts will collect, store, and process records electronically, and will be able to instantly access complete records as cases travel from District Court to Circuit Court and on to the appellate courts.

“Going electronic with MDEC is a critical step to updating the Maryland Judiciary with the rest of the world and other state court systems, along with federal courts. MDEC generally will improve service to the public by helping to deliver justice more effectively and equitably,” said Judge Paul A. Hackner, administrative judge for the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County.

The first group to participate in the sessions is the Anne Arundel County Bar Association, which has invited the Judiciary to explain MDEC and e-filing for its members in August. Designed for attorneys, law firm administrators, paralegals, and law firm personnel who do court filings, the sessions will include an overview of MDEC and its strategy, rule changes that affect electronic filing, and a demonstration of the portal for e-filing, including attorney registration, new case initiation and subsequent filing.

“When we launch this pilot system in Anne Arundel County, we will be working to replace our existing outdated system. We have been planning and preparing for this for a number of years and have been involved since the beginning,” said Anne Arundel County District Court Judge John P. McKenna, who is the administrative judge for District 7.

“We are the first jurisdiction to have MDEC roll out,” said Robert Duckworth, Clerk of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. “We have been busy with a number of things on our to-do list to be ready for the ‘go live’ pilot date, including working to upgrade courthouse infrastructure, such as upgrading computers, providing electronic scanning of paper files, transitioning to electronic courtrooms, and providing public terminals required for an electronic court operation.”

“I think these sessions will be a valuable resource for attorneys,” said Anne Arundel County District Court Administrative Clerk Tami Chester. “We have been preparing to launch and work with this new system, and now, attorneys can learn about MDEC, how it will work, and what they need to know to have it benefit them and the clients they serve.”

For more information about scheduling a presentation for law firms and bar associations, email Tara Glover, MDEC e-filing project manager, at [email protected].

Starting Monday, Sept. 15, attorneys will be able to register for e-filing in preparation for MDEC’s launch in Anne Arundel County. Also on Sept. 15, attorneys will be able to sign up for e-filing webinars or view tutorial videos online. More information about MDEC is available online at www.mdcourts.gov/mdec.

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