Appellate E-Filing Update
Following up on this post, about 300 Texas lawyers have petitioned the Court of Criminal Appeals to adopt a rule permitting the e-filing of petitions, motions, and other documents in death penalty cases. (UPDATE: Per this news report, the CCA has agreed to allow e-mail filingfor emergency motions in death penalty cases and other "extraordinary matters.")
As mentioned here, the Texas Supreme Court allows parties to e-mail documents in emergency situations, although it doesn't consider them filed until it receives paper copies. Change is on the horizon, however, as the state legislature appropriated $2.3 million in the current budget cycle for the State Office of Court Administration to start working on the Texas Appeals Management and E-Filing System. As with anything government-related, it won't happen quickly, but it will happen.
(Hat tip to the Tex Parte Blog.)
[...] As a follow up to this post on the status of e-filing in the Texas appellate courts, the Third Court of Appeals is now accepting electronic courtesy copies. The court is also asking (but not requiring) the party responsible for requesting or filing the record and briefs to submit e-copies of such documents on a CD or DVD in searchable PDF format. For specific guidelines, see the "Electronic Filing" link on the court's web site. [...]