Jim McMillan of NCSC’s Court Technology Bulletin blogs today on his Rule 6 for e-filing.

E-Filing Must Support the Self-Represented

The whole post is very valuable, but here is some of the key language:

So how are states going to mandate E-filing when a majority of their cases include the self-represented?  The answer of course is to provide online capabilities that are designed for the self-represented.  These capabilities should include first guided forms for data capture (for example see www.a2jauthor.org and Minnesota’s I-CAN! court forms http://www.mncourts.gov/ican).  Many courts unfortunately currently only allow self-represented litigants to generate the paper forms with these systems.  However a few do “save” the data so that it can be automatically transferred and entered into their CMS/EDMS when the litigant appears at the court and submits their signed paper copies and/or fee payment.  An excellent example of a fully electronic online filer/response system has been built by the UK Courts in their Money (Small) Claim Online system.

Jim also discusses signature and verification issues in this post.