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Summit County Clerk of Courts adds criminal cases to e-filing

RICHARD WEINER
Legal News Reporter

Published: September 29, 2016

The multi-year technology upgrade project to the Summit County Clerk of Courts office has just brought electronic court filing (e-filing, or sometimes abbreviated ECF) to criminal cases on the dockets of the Summit County Common Pleas Court.

That move adds to the clerk’s e-filing capabilities, which had previously included the civil docket (installed in 2011) and the domestic relations docket (2015), according to Clerk of Courts Sandra Kurt. E-filing for the criminal docket started Sept. 19.

“That just leaves the 9th District (Court of Appeals),” said Kurt. She said that that court’s e-filing should be on line within a year or less.

The clerk took office in January of this year, inheriting the e-filing from her predecessor, current Akron mayor Daniel Horrigan. There have been some changes since she took office, she said. The vendor and the software remain the same, but the clerk’s office has lost its formerly dedicated IT team because of a change in the law.

While the same technicians are working on the e-filing project, the clerk’s IT department has lost its former autonomy, having been folded into the general Summit County technology division at about the same time as she took office in January.

The vendor, CGI Group, “has been very responsive to our needs,” said Kurt. “Continuing the e-filing project after she took office) has worked out very well.”

E-filing is a major convenience for the court, attorneys and their clients, pro se litigants and the public, said Kurt.

“Electronic filing has been very well received,” she said. “People appreciate the ability to any time of the day or night, and wherever they have an internet or a Wi-Fi connection. It is a lot more flexible that having to come to the courthouse, and it gives attorneys an extra eight hours to file.”

Instead of having to rush down to the clerk’s office in downtown Akron to file papers before the office closes, she said, “they have until 11:59. That’s eight more working hours.”

When asked about attorneys who still resist the e-filing process, or other technological advances, Kurt said, “well, most of them have staff who are comfortable with it.”

Phone and internet service for Victim Assistance

Kurt also pointed with pride to another small, but appreciated, technology upgrade made since she came into the office.

“We have provided a phone line and an internet connection for Victim Assistance,” she said.

“We gave them internet service so they can work from the lobby here,” she said. “And we gave them a separate phone line so they don’t have to use cell phones.” Both are hard lines that provide “more functions” for VA, Kurt said.

Those small moves were a big help, said Leanne Graham, Executive Director of the Summit County Victim Assistance program.

Graham said that the two lines particularly aid “victims who are seeking a protective order.” She said that, previously, the internet connection was “intermittent,” because it was connected to a “mi-fi,” mobile wireless hotspot. “We would lose our connection all of the time. It was frustrating to the victims who came to us for help. It is up and running a hundred percent now, and Sandra (Kurt) was able to provide us that—literally overnight.”

A hard line for phone service was also of great benefit, said Graham. There are particular times when a victim cannot use a cell phone because of caller identification, or does not have one. Now, said Graham, “victims can pick up the phone and call the advocate from the courthouse.”

Graham said that she “is tremendously grateful for the level of service that we are now able to provide to the victims.”


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