22nd Circuit Court approves electronic filing of criminal cases
McHenry County Circuit Court Clerk Katherine Keefe and 22nd Circuit Chief Judge Michael J. Sullivan are pleased to announce they have received approval from the Illinois Supreme Court to move forward with the implementation of electronic filing for criminal case types in the 22nd Circuit Court.
The McHenry County Circuit Clerk will begin accepting electronic filings in criminal case types effective Sept. 8, 2015.
Electronic filing, or E-Filing, is an automated online process where users of the court system can file documents electronically over the Internet, rather than on paper. In addition, filing fees are paid online, thus allowing the party to complete their filing without ever coming to the McHenry County Government Center.
The E-Filing system is available to attorneys and self-represented litigants. McHenry County has been accepting electronic filing for civil case types since September 2013 and was the second county in Illinois approved by the Supreme Court for Criminal E-Filing. Currently, only five Illinois counties have been approved by the Supreme Court for E-Filing in criminal cases.
The filer receives notification that the documents have been received and accepted or rejected. Once accepted, a file stamped document is returned electronically. Illinois Supreme Court Rules allow for an electronically submitted document to be filed up until midnight while still receiving a file stamp with the current date. Documents can be submitted electronically 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, eliminating "racing the clock" to the courthouse. In addition, E-Filing is cheaper and faster than mail and delivery services.
E-Filing also streamlines the process in the clerk's office for accepting filings, entering the data associated with those filings and the storage of those court documents.
"We have been extremely successful with Civil E-Filing over the past two years, and are very excited to finally have Supreme Court approval to offer Criminal E-Filing as well," said Circuit Clerk Kathy Keefe. "E-Filing not only enables the court and circuit clerk to operate more efficiently, it is also gives attorneys the ability to file at any time, from any location. Increased efficiency will provide better customer service to users of the court system and will ultimately result in cost saving to the taxpayers."
Once accepted, electronically filed documents are posted directly to the clerk's computer system and the images appear on the public access terminals available in the clerk's office. E-filing will eventually replace the current system of manually scanning all court documents. The McHenry County Circuit Clerk's office files and scans over 550,000 documents on an annual basis. With the current manual scanning process, it can sometimes take a few days before documents are available for viewing; with E-Filing, images of the documents are available within minutes.
The McHenry County Circuit Clerk and the 22nd Circuit Court continue to use I2File as their electronic filing vendor. I2File is currently being used by DuPage, Will and St. Clair counties for the electronic filing of their cases. I2File is also used for E-filing by the 2nd District Appellate Court and Illinois Supreme Court.
More than 19,000 attorneys practicing in Illinois are already registered to file in Illinois jurisdictions using I2File. There is no additional cost to the end users of the system. The cost to the circuit clerk is also very minimal compared to the cost of other systems. The annual support and maintenance cost for I2File is under $15,000, which is paid for from the circuit clerk's court automation fund. The circuit clerk's automation fund is funded by court fees collected from users of the court system, designated by statute to be used for automating the court system.
Trial Court Administrator Dan Wallis is also extremely pleased that this milestone of criminal case E-Filing has been achieved.
"Any time you can increase efficiency and reduce cost, it is a good thing. On behalf of Chief Judge Sullivan and the 22nd Circuit, we want to recognize the efforts of Kathy Keefe and her staff to move this initiative forward," Wallis said. "Without Kathy's vision, determination, foresight and willingness to embrace technology, E-filing would not have been approved. The court is very fortunate to have an incredible relationship and to be able to collaborate with the Circuit Clerk's Office."
Both the Circuit Clerk's Office and the 22nd Judicial Circuit want to thank the Illinois Supreme Court and the Administrative Office of the Illinois Court for allowing the E-filing program and for providing guidance throughout the entire process.