Cook County is the Largest Court System to "Go Green"

with E-Filing Pilot at No Cost to Taxpayers

More than 1,000 Cook County Attorneys are Registered E-Filers

By The Honorable Dorothy Brown's Clerk's Office Corner

The Honorable Dorothy Brown launched an Electronic Filing (E-Filing) pilot on Monday, May 11, 2009, in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court Cook County, making Cook County the largest court system in the world to initiate this "Green Court" technology. Clerk Brown announced that this system has been developed at "no cost" to taxpayers.

"This measure is a win-win-win for Cook County," said Clerk Brown, explaining that E-Filing will save millions of dollars in saving time and tax dollars, as well as helping to preserve the environment.

To date, more than 1,000 attorneys have registered to use E-Filing in Cook County.

"In these tough economic and budgetary times, public leaders have a responsibility to find innovative ways to save taxpayers’ money," Clerk Brown said. "We developed this new initiative not because the private sector demanded it. We pushed ahead because it was a forward-looking way to better serve Cook County and better use the resources of this office. In short, it was the right thing to do."

The E-Filing pilot is the automated online process of creating a court file, paying associated filing fees and electronically file-stamping and storing court documents. The process increases efficiency for attorneys, self-represented litigants and court clerks. E-Filing also increases the proficiency of the Clerk’s Office in accepting court documents and storing them, thus a cost savings to taxpayers. Rolled out in the Individual Commercial Calendar Section of the Law Division, the goal is to eventually expand E-Filing to all court divisions. With the rolling out of this pilot, Cook County has become the largest court system in the United States to have an integrated E-Filing system.

Implementation of E-Filing in Cook County at "Zero" Cost to Taxpayers

"The Clerk’s Office incurred no expense for the development, training or project management of this new technology in the Clerk’s Office," informed Clerk Brown, who noted that the service provider, OLIS, and the training company, SmarTech, will both be paid through the vendor’s electronic system usage fees.

Cook County is the second most populous county in the U.S., larger than 36 states. The Cook County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office provides support to approximately 400 judges in 17 different locations throughout the county. In 2008, there were 1.7 million new cases filed in the Cook County Court Clerk’s Office, and 19.7 million case activities recorded. Cook County has almost one billion electronic court records.

Clerk Brown has been preparing for the advent of E-Filing in Cook County since she and the Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge, the Honorable Timothy C. Evans, received approval from the Supreme Court of Illinois in 2007.

At the E-Filing Launch press conference, Chief Judge Evans voiced his enthusiastic support of the E-Filing pilot project, stating, "Clerk Brown and I are eager to embrace technology that will help make court operations more efficient and user-friendly."

Chief Judge Evans also said that as the E-Filing pilot rolls out, he will consider, as part of a future phase of the implementation, the judicial function of the E-Filing system that permits litigants to electronically file draft court orders for submission to judges, then allows judges to edit, sign and then electronically return the signed orders.

Clerk Brown thanked Chief Judge Evans for his support of the E-Filing project, noting, "Chief Judge Evans and I share the primary goal of finding the most effective ways to deliver swift and equal justice for the citizens of Cook County."

"E-Filing will streamline the process for filing court documents, basically allowing filers to move from in line at the Clerk’s Office to online with the Clerk’s Office. The launching of this pilot will bring us another step closer to my vision of a fully integrated, electronic court system," said Clerk Brown.

Attorney Jeanette Foreman was in the Law Division of the Clerk’s Office on the launch day of E-Filing. "Congratulations and kudos to Clerk Dorothy Brown," Foreman exclaimed. "What an excellent convenience for lawyers and for the legal system. Clearly it will make our work far easier and make the whole process flow more easily."

She continued, "The court system of Cook County has joined in the technology revolution and the citizens will all benefit greatly; with the exception of the (downtown) parking garages that will miss the $25 (daily parking) fees."

Attorneys Save by E-Filing and Receive Several Free Services

Even with an E-Filing fee attached, using the system is still a cost-savings for attorneys and self-represented litigants. Clerk Brown had a cost analysis conducted that compared using the traditional method of filing a new complaint, to the $4.95 vendor’s electronic system usage fee, and the electronic payment fee, that will be charged for E-Filing a new complaint. "Taking into account the attorney’s time to travel to the court house, the time to stand in line, and the printing costs (paper and equipment), including the printing costs for serving opposing counsel with subsequent pleadings, it was determined that attorneys can realize a savings as high as an estimated $97.69 per filing, assuming a 10-page complaint filed electronically, and an estimated $117.93 per filing for an assumed 10-page subsequent pleading filed electronically," said Clerk Brown.

There are also several FREE services within the Clerk’s Office E-Filing system: Registration is FREE; Attaching an unlimited number of documents to a single filing is FREE; Serving the opposing party electronically is FREE; Viewing, saving, or printing the E-Filed document from the system, at the filer’s home or office, is FREE.

Training on System

"We introduced another new and innovative idea, not only for government but also for the private sector," Clerk Brown announced, as she unveiled an E-Filing "Webinar," developed by SmarTech, that will be available 24 hours a day on the Clerk’s Office Web site at www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org. and on the E-Filing system.