News

The Wisconsin court system has completed the first phase of a statewide mandatory electronic filing (eFiling) project more than two months ahead of schedule, bringing all the convenience and benefits of eFiling to litigants, lawyers, court staff, and judges sooner than expected.

Circuit courts in all 72 Wisconsin counties have now implemented mandatory eFiling for civil, small claims, family, paternity, criminal, traffic, and ordinance case types. Together, these filings account for about 93 percent of filings in the circuit courts. The first phase of the project began in June 2016 and was to be completed by the end of 2017.

"We are well ahead of schedule, thanks to the talent and dedication of CCAP (Consolidated Court Automation Programs) staff, who worked tirelessly with clerks of circuit court and others across the state to make it happen," said Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Drake Roggensack.

eFiling makes it easy for lawyers and litigants to file and access documents from anywhere at any time and eliminates the time and expense of packaging and delivering paper documents to the courthouse. eFiling also reduces the need for physical space to store documents and to shuffle files around the courthouse.

"eFiling is transforming the way we do business in the courts, making it more efficient and convenient for everyone who uses the courts to accomplish their work," said Director of State Courts Randy R. Koschnick. "Counties and the court system gain all the advantages of eFiling almost immediately, once a switchover is made," said Koschnick, a former Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge.

Court system Chief Information Officer Jean Bousquet attributes the success of the eFiling rollout to the widespread acceptance that eFiling is a better way of doing business.

"As we worked from county to county, the project moved along more quickly than we expected as people saw the benefits take hold," said Bousquet, who oversees the CCAP staff responsible for development, training, implementation, and support of the eFiling system.

In addition to having implemented the first phase, 65 counties have implemented voluntary eFiling for probate and informal probate cases. Additional case types will be added to mandatory eFiling in phases. Development work is already underway for the guardianship, mental commitment, judgement, and lien case types. Each case type will be voluntary for a period of time and then transition to mandatory. Probate case types will be mandatory on March 1, 2018.

By the numbers

CCAP mandatory eFiling project accomplishments to date:

• Implemented eFiling for nine case types, which comprise 93% of total cases filed in the circuit courts annually
• Created more than 50,000 eCourts accounts for eFilers
• Processed more than 150,000 new case filings in the first year
• Processed more than one million court documents in the first year
• Delivered more than 30 major software releases to provide filers, judges, and court staff with enhancements and new functionality
• Resolved more than 16,000 contacts from filers for technical assistance and support
• Provided more than 800 hands-on training classes for attorneys statewide

Contact:
Tom Sheehan
Court Information Officer
(608) 261-6640