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Clerk of Courts Lydia Gardner To Chair Statewide E-Filing Committee

ORLANDO, FL — Orange County Clerk of Courts Lydia Gardner has been named chairman of a statewide committee that will create a Florida portal for Electronic Case Filing. ECF allows attorneys and pro-se litigants to electronically initiate cases and subsequent pleadings 24/7.

 Gardner has been a pioneer in the development of e-filing in Florida. The Orange County Clerk’s Office began offering ECF for Complex Business Litigation cases in 2006 and expanded the program to all Circuit Civil cases in July 2008.

 More than 3,600 attorneys have registered to e-file with her office.

Among the advantages of e-filing:

• A process that could take days can be done in less than an hour.
• 24/7 means there’s no rushing to get to the courthouse before it closes.
• Attorneys and pro se litigants save money on staff, postage and other costs.
• They are notified electronically of any action in the case.
• ECF requires no paper.
• ECF is more efficient for clerk’s offices. It requires less time and staff – and therefore money – to accept a case electronically.

 “I’m passionate about Electronic Case Filing and appreciate the opportunity to lead this very important committee,’’ Gardner said. “My experience has been that e-filing serves the best interests of the attorney and pro-se litigant, as well as my office. It’s efficient, as well as cost- and time-efficient. It’s also good for the environment, not just because it requires no paper, but because it also eliminates a great deal of traffic to and from the courthouse.’’

Gardner has a long history of experience on policy-making committees and blue-ribbon panels, having served on the Florida Supreme Court Committee on Privacy and Court Records, the Orange County Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Commission and the Orange County Jail Oversight Committee.

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Clerk’s Office Expands ECF To Circuit Civil Cases

February, 2008

ORLANDO, FL — Orange County Clerk of Courts Lydia Gardner is pleased to announce that Electronic Case Filing (ECF) has been expanded to all Circuit Civil cases effective July 1, 2008. Previously, e-filing was only available for Complex Business Litigation cases.

 The expansion means thousands more cases can be filed electronically, 24/7, from anywhere the attorney or pro se litigant has Internet access. The process is reduced from days to just under an hour and reduces the need for courier fees and postal services, to name just a few of the savings.

 “We are delighted to make this efficient, time- and cost-saving customer service available to hundreds more attorneys and their clients, as well as to pro se litigants,’’ said Clerk Lydia Gardner, who noted the invaluable collaboration with Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. of the Ninth Judicial Circuit in making ECF possible. “We anticipate accepting an additional 30,000 cases electronically in the coming year.’’

 ECF allows attorneys and pro se litigants to initiate new cases and pay filing fees online, as well as to receive electronic notification of all documents filed in their cases 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, said Project Manager Carolyn Weber, who previously deployed e-filing in the Middle District of Florida for the Federal Court.

 Already, more than 1,600 attorneys are registered to file electronically and more than 900 cases have been accessed through the system.

 The Clerk offers regular training sessions to attorneys, law firms and paralegal organizations. For more information and training opportunities, please see our ECF information page on myorangeclerk.com..

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February 5, 2008

Clerk’s Office Step Closer To Expanded ECF

ORLANDO, FL — Orange County Clerk of the Courts Lydia Gardner is pleased to announce that a key state Supreme Court committee has approved her office’s request to expand Electronic Case Filing to Circuit Civil cases. Now that the Florida Court Technology Commission has made its recommendation, the next step is a Supreme Court Administrative Order endorsing the move. 

“ECF allows attorneys to initiate new cases and pay filing fees online, as well as receive electronic notification of all documents filed in their cases,” said Project Manager Carolyn Weber, who previously deployed e-filing in the Middle District of Florida for the Federal Court.  Weber noted that an additional 30,000 cases a year could be e-filed in the Orange County Clerk’s Office once expansion gets final approval. 

Among the benefits:

·         A process that once could take days can now be done in an hour.

·         Attorneys and pro se litigants have remote access to case files 24/7.

·         Documents are automatically docketed, filed and immediately available.

·         Attorneys and clients save money on postage, staff and other costs.

·         The Clerk’s Office can better serve customers, its No. 1 goal.

Electronic Case Filing began in March 2006 with the Complex Business Litigation Division, and effective January 2007, e-filing became mandatory for those types of cases. Already, 780 cases have been accessed and filed through ECF and more than 1,200 attorneys are registered to file electronically. Through ECF, the process of case initiation has been reduced from 5 to 10 business days to an hour in many cases.

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April 4, 2007

Orange County Clerk Announces Launch of myCLERK and Other Technology Advances

Lydia Gardner, Orange County Clerk of Courts, announced today that the new myCLERK web portal, developed to better serve the public, will be online by the end of April.

She also announced that more than 600 lawyers are registered to use the Clerk’s Electronic Case Filing system to file Complex Business Litigation cases and that payments made via the Intranet at myorangeclerk.com increased by almost 114 percent in FY 2005-06, exceeding $2.9 million, and continue to soar.

Gardner unveiled the selection of Tyler Technologies, Inc., as the vendor to replace the current Case Maintenance System. Once in place, the new CMS will give the Clerk’s Office a state-of-the-art system designed to keep up with future demands.

“Our use of innovative technologies,’’ said Gardner, “enables the Clerk’s Office to achieve significant progress toward excellence in all our operations through increased effectiveness and efficiency. These investments in infrastructure enable the Clerk’s office to serve our customers in a 24/7 environment, keep pace with growth in the county and control operating costs.’’

MyCLERK, the updated Internet-based service, will replace i-Clerk to enhance access and reliability for the general public. Currently visitors to myorangeclerk.com can experience service delays due to the exceedingly heavy volume of information requests. MyCLERK also will provide enhanced search capabilities so members of the public can carry out more detailed research.

The Orange County Clerk’s Electronic Case Filing (ECF) system received approval from the Florida Supreme Court in 2004 and went live in March 2006. It enables attorneys to file new cases and subsequent pleadings electronically and have access to those files and documents 24/7 from any location via the Internet.

After the successful launch, The Honorable Belvin Perry, Jr., Chief Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, issued an Administrative Order mandating it be used for all cases filed in the Complex Business Litigation Court. The Order became effective on January 2, 2007. The number of registered users has risen to 625 attorneys and more than 390 cases have been filed electronically.

“Having filed the first two cases on record using the new Electronic Case Filing System,” said Orlando attorney Ed Foster, a partner at Akerman Senterfitt, P.A., “I can say that we are very pleased with the system, the user-friendly process of filing and the very knowledgeable and helpful support staff at the Orange County Clerk of Courts.”

Enhancements to the web-enabled payment module have contributed to a dramatic increase in monies paid online. Currently electronic payments are averaging $130,000 per week.

The Case Maintenance System within the Clerk’s Office stores, tracks and retrieves information from a multimillion-record data base and serves 35 categories of stakeholders with hundreds of subgroups. Among them are the Courts, criminal justice system at the state and local level, local government entities in and outside the county, hospitals, treatment centers, and members of the Orange County Bar Association.

In 2006, the system processed more than 450,000 new cases, docketed more than 6.5 million in files and managed approximately 47 million file pages.

“Our current Case Maintenance System is foundational to every aspect of the business of the Courts,” said Clerk of the Court Gardner, “and is stretched to its limits. While we have been able to stabilize it to ensure reliability in the face of rapidly escalating demand for service, it is not a permanent solution.

“Tyler Technologies was awarded the bid,” Gardner continued, “after an extensive assessment of service needs and a rigorous and vendor-neutral due diligence process to determine the engineering readiness of bidders to develop software that will achieve all our objectives.

“We very much appreciate the ongoing involvement of Chief Judge Belvin Perry, Jr.; Judge Jay Cohen; Matthew H. Roby, Esquire, Chair, Technical Law Committee Orange County Bar Association; Rafaela Mena, Chief Information Officer, Orange County; along with Clerk’s Office IT staff,” Gardner said.

Gino Butto, the Clerk’s Chief Information Officer, led the Clerk’s efforts to find the right company to replace the Case Maintenance System.

“We were fortunate to have input from professionals with such impressive credentials and expertise,’’ Butto said. “We are moving forward with great confidence and excitement about the future.’’

Due diligence for the selection was supported by The North Highland Co., a nationally recognized technology consultant and the State of Florida’s approved vendor for technology assessment and selection services. A high level panel of business leaders and IT experts led by Edmund C. Timberlake, Jr., President-Central Florida, Bank of America, reviewed and evaluated North Highland’s assessment of the proposals to further ensure that no issue relating to the capability and performance of the products and vendors under consideration of potential consequence to the functioning of the Clerk’s Office has been overlooked.

Tyler Technologies is a leading provider of integrated, end-to-end information management solutions and services to local governments. Headquartered in Dallas, the company provides software and professional IT services to more than 6,000 local government offices throughout the 50 states, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. It is one of the leading technology providers for case maintenance and has several clients in Florida. Tyler’s professional services for local government clients include consulting, network design and management, installation, conversion, customization, training and ongoing support. In 2006, Tyler had sales of more than $195 million. It is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TYL.

February 16, 2007

Jury Scam

We have received information about a con making its way around the country that could result in your identity being stolen. Someone pretending to be a court official calls to say a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn’t show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a “jury coordinator.’’ If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks for your Social Security number and a date of birth so he or she can allegedly verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant.

In Orange County, when you are summoned for jury duty, you receive a notice in the mail that you fill out and return. A phone number also is provided for you to call before showing up. We take the privilege and duty of jury service very seriously, and a fine for contempt of court can be issued if you fail to appear without notice. In the Ninth Judicial Circuit, no one calls your home. Do not give out your personal information on the phone, and if someone calls attempting this con, you should contact the authorities.

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