Texas Launches Largest Mandatory Court Filing System in U.S.

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Today, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht announced that the state’s new electronic court filing system is now live. eFileTexas is the largest electronic mandatory court filing system in the US and was online nine months ahead of schedule – making it one of the most successful IT projects in Texas government to date. Tyler Technologies acted as the vendor for the project.

In November 2012, the Texas Judiciary announced the plan to develop and deploy eFileTexas in accordance with a Texas Supreme Court mandate to create a uniform electronic filing system for all civil cases in district courts, statutory county courts, constitutional county courts and statutory probate courts. eFileTexas was rolled out in a phased approach based on county population, starting with the 10 largest Texas counties going live by Jan. 1, 2014.

Given the size of the system, users submit over 25,000 documents per day. Training and change management involved some 115,000 users from the court and legal system. eFileTexas is accessible 24 hours a day from any location with the internet.

Texas officials estimate that by going to an online system they will be able to save printing as much as 30 million sheets of paper per year. The court system has also developed a business continuity and disaster recovery plan in the event of a major destructive event.

The project was guided by the Texas Office of Court Administration and Judicial Committee on Information Technology, and funding was allocated through the state legislature.

“Every branch of Texas government, particularly the Judiciary, is committed to applying technology that enables everyone, regardless of means, to access our justice system.” said Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht.