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Tag Archives: E-Filing

Lone Star Lawyers Converging on Houston for SBOT12

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Briefs, Procedure, Technology

I will soon be departing for Houston to attend the 2012 State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting.  This will be my third straight year to attend and my second year as a presenter. On Thursday, as part of the Computer and Technology Section’s “Adaptable Lawyer” track, Don Cruse and I will give a talk entitled… Continue Reading

Hedges and Hawthorne to Speak on New TAMES System

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Briefs, Procedure, Technology

On March 29, 2012, Fourteenth Court of Appeals Chief Justice Adele Hedges and Texas Supreme Court Clerk Blake Hawthorne will speak to the Austin Bar Civil Appellate Law Section on "The Texas Appeals Management and E-filing System: Making Our Appellate Courts More Efficient and Transparent." This talk goes along with an article Blake published in the most… Continue Reading

SCOTX to Hold Hearing on Uniform E-Filing System

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Technology

This afternoon at 2:00, the Texas Supreme Court will hold a public hearing to explore the feasibility of a statewide uniform system for electronic court filings.  The hearing will take place in the Supreme Court Courtroom and will be webcast live here. The Court is considering whether Texas ought to implement a system modeled to… Continue Reading

SCOTX: Attorneys Must E-File Effective 9/12/11

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Supreme Court Orders, Technology

Texas appellate e-filing continues to evolve at a rapid pace.  Effective September 12, 2011, attorneys filing documents in the Texas Supreme Court must do so electronically.  Pro se parties may e-file, or they may submit paper documents. View the Court’s latest e-filing order here.  Don Cruse has broken down the new order over at the… Continue Reading

The Adaptable (Appellate) Lawyer

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Briefs, Motions, Procedure, Technology

I recently attended the 2011 State Bar of Texas Annual Meeting in San Antonio.  As mentioned here before, the Bar asked me to come back as a presenter this year.  It was quite an honor. My subject was e-filing in state and federal appellate courts.  In conjunction with my talk, I published a short article in… Continue Reading

Texas Appellate E-Filing Goes Live

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Announcements, Appellate Practice, Technology

Here is the text of an e-mail I received from SCOTX Clerk Blake Hawthorne this morning, along with links he included in the message: Effective March 28, 2011, you may electronically file documents, pay your fees, and serve opposing counsel using the Texas.gov electronic filing system. To use the electronic filing system you must first choose… Continue Reading

At Last, E-Filing Is Coming to Texas Appellate Courts

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Announcements, Appellate Practice, Technology

Four years ago, I first asked when appellate courts would catch up on e-filing.  Since then, the Fifth Circuit has successfully implemented an e-filing program, which has been mandatory for almost a year now.  In state appellate courts, however, the process has been painfully slow. The Texas Supreme Court took a giant step in the… Continue Reading

SCOTX Amends E-Document Order

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Technology

The Texas Supreme Court has amended its recent order requiring submission of documents in electronic form.  Among the changes to the previous version are requirements that attorneys (1) provide an e-mail address when submitting e-copies, (2) e-mail courtesy copies to opposing lead counsel, and (3) register for CaseMail in cases in which they are lead… Continue Reading

More on Appellate E-Filing

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Technology

Early this year, I accepted an offer from Texas Lawyer to write a quarterly column on technology issues affecting the publication’s namesake audience.  The first article in this series—an update on appellate e-filing in Texas—appeared in this week’s issue. I am happy to report that Law.com picked it up as well. I’ve received some nice… Continue Reading

Appellate Court E-Filing Becoming a Reality

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Appellate Practice, Technology

Three years ago, I asked when appellate courts were going to catch up on e-filing. At the time, I noted some of the advantages e-filing presents over traditional methods and observed that appellate courts had been slow to meet the trend. Times are finally changing. Effective today, the Texas Supreme Court requires parties to e-mail… Continue Reading

Appellate E-Filing Update

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Technology

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… Continue Reading

Lawyers to Push CCA for E-Filing in Death Penalty Cases

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in Technology

Austin Lawyer Chuck Herring is circulating a petition to be submitted to the Court of Criminal Appeals (download PDF here), along with the following message: RE: Rule-Making Petition To Permit E-Filing in Death Penalty Cases You may have seen the extensive press reports concerning the recent actions of Presiding Judge Sharon Keller of the Texas… Continue Reading

What’s Going on at the CCA?

By D. Todd Smith on Posted in News & Politics, Technology

I don’t practice criminal appellate law, and I don’t ordinarily follow the the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, but even I notice when the CCA makes front-page news for the wrong reasons. In case you haven’t heard, the media is lambasting the CCA (more specifically, Presiding Judge Sharon Keller) for refusing to keep the clerk’s… Continue Reading