Mandatory court e-filing for all civil cases is operational in all but three Illinois counties, according to a representative of the company charged with introducing the system.
Cook County went live with mandatory filing on July 1, six months after the initial deadline set down by the Illinois Supreme Court.
Tyler Technologies, a Texas firm, was picked to make sure all counties in the state will be linked into re:ResearchIl, the unified system ordered by the Supreme Court in early 2016 to be in place.
All counties, bar one, will be linked to the unified system by the end of this month, Terry Derrick, Tyler's general manager for e-solutions, told the Cook County Record.
Derrick described Cook County as somewhat unique among the 102 in the state as its system was partly electronic, and partly not. A further 14 were in the same position, or not fully electronic. All were given more time to link up with the unified state system.
"It is easier going straight from paper-based, teaching clerks how to begin to jump in to the electronic world," Derrick said. "It is a blank slate, a fresh start, teaching the right way to file."
He added that it is more challenging where existing e-filing is in place, as employees must acclimate to a different system and to deal with a different functionality. Two counties, McHenry and Winnebago, will be on line by the end of this month, while Du Page has been given an extension to 2019.
Derrick talked up the advantages of having a unified system, particular for lawyers, clerks and judges who can access and file "from the comfort of their own home."
It is, he added, a real "time commitment" for lawyers and others to travel to other counties to file, which will now be made much easier.
At this stage, lawyers and those filing on their own behalf will have online access to the cases they are involved in, including documents, indexes and other records.
Hopefully over time, Derrick said, that access will expand to include access to filings for all, including the general public and journalists. But that is up to decision and policy makers, he added.
Tyler, which operates in 24 states, covering 40 per cent of the population, is working on other projects, including Cook County's case management system, and Research Illinois, which will be a central online portal for access to civil court records.
The company released figures from when it first become involved in the project in August, 2016, to early June, just prior to the significant increase as Cook County moves fully online.
It said efiling has saved more than 12 million pages of paper, which, the company said, would reach 4,000 feet tall, or twice the height of more than twice the height of the Willis Tower, and weigh 60 tons. While the company says it has 80,000 registered users, they have submitted 1.3 million e-filings.
The office of the clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court, Dorothy Brown, did not respond to requests for comment on the roll out of mandatory e-filing system.