# Presentation: 538285

## Electronic Case Filing Training for Attorneys, Support Staff and the our Customers

**ECF**

## Objectives

**ECF**

- By the end of the class you will be able to:
- Prepare documents for electronic filing
- File documents electronically
- View electronically file documents
- Manage your user account options and password
- Explain rules for electronic signatures, noticing, and retention of original documents.

**Notes:**
During the next two hours of class you will have an opportunity to file a few documents in our ECF training database which will allow you to experience ECF hands-on. 
Before we post documents electronically, we will discuss various options for getting your documents ready for posting. Together we will convert one file from WordPerfect/Word to PDF. The process may vary from firm to firm, but the overall concept is the same.
We will file an answer, motion and other supporting documents to ECF to provide you with a wide range of examples that may be posted by external customers. We cannot post all of the types of documents, so we may discuss many other options.
We will discuss how customers will be able to view documents posted in ECF using the e-mail noticing system. This may not be a new concept to some of you as the court began it’s ECF e-mail noticing in February 17, 2004.
There are many options for managing your accounts. Attorneys for example can change their address/contact information, your password, and your e-mail notifications options. We will look at where these are stored in the system.
The court is currently working on an ECF Procedural Guide. The purpose of the guide is to provide customers with the nuts and bolts of the system. We wanted to provide customers with a one-stop location for all the questions you may have on e-filing in our district. This should be made available in May 2004. Look for this helpful tool on our external website. In the meantime, many of the rules provided  in the manual will be incorporated in our training today.

## Benefits of ECF

**ECF**

- Access to case files via internet 24/7
- Automatic e‐mail notice of case activity
- Reduction in mail, courier, and copy fees

**Notes:**
For those of you that attended an Electronic Filing Demonstration or have filed with other federal courts, you may already know some of the benefits our customers will find by using ECF.

Customers will virtually have access to view and file documents 24 hours a day. The court will have scheduled down time each evening between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. for system backups. During this timeframe each evening, the system will be unavailable. The court may also need to take the system down during other times of the day for maintenance and upgrades. When this type of downtime is scheduled, the court will announce this on the external website a few weeks prior to the scheduled down time.
As many as 2000 customers are already benefiting from the e-mail noticing feature that occurs in ECF as a result of postings being made. Soon, beginning in May, if all counsel is using ECF, there will no longer be the need for counsel to mail copies of documents to each other. Service can be accomplished when e-filing.  Counsel can save the notification and documents filed in the case either electronically or in hard copy after receiving notice.
Every court across the country has shared with other courts like ours, that attorneys are benefiting from a reduction in mail, courier and copying fees. Since counsel will no longer need send hard copies of filings to other parties that are on ECF, this becomes an immediate reduction in fees. Take a look at the streamed video on our external website entitled “CM/ECF from an Attorney’s Perspective.” This video includes real customers of the court discussing their experiences with ECF thus far.

## ECF Filing Tipsfor Attorneys

**ECF**

## 10 – Keep up the great work!

- The number of documents filed by attorneys continues to _[increase](slide6.xml)__.  _

**Notes:**
The District Court of MN is glad to not have to make this system mandatory. Customers are filing voluntarily and are excited about using the system. We hope to get as close to 100% participation as possible.

## Slide 6

## 9 – Remember to place your “s/” signature on all documents.

- _Attorney Signature_. A pleading or other document requiring an attorney’s signature shall be signed in the following manner, whether filed electronically or submitted on disk to the Clerk’s Office: “s/ (attorney name).” The correct format for an attorney  signature is as follows:
**s/ Judith Attorney**Judith Attorney Bar Number: 12345Attorney for (Plaintiff/Defendant)ABC Law Firm123 South StreetMinneapolis, Minnesota 55415Telephone: (612) 123-4567Fax: (612)123-4567E-mail: _[judith_attorney@law.com](mailto:judith_attorney@law.com)_

**Notes:**
s/signature will be audited by the Clerk’s Office. We do not want scanned signatures on 3rd party documents.

## 8 - An attorney’s login and the “s/” on a document must match.

**An attorney/participant’s password issued by the court combined with the user’s identification (login), serves as and constitutes the attorney/participant’s signature.**
**If signing a document as local counsel, sign with your “s/” and then type “for” and the out-of-state attorney’s name.**

**Notes:**
Both the s/ and the login constitute an attorney signature. We must have both.

## 7 – Open all PDF documents before filing.

- Many documents are incomplete, upside down, or illegible.
- Incorrect documents are attached.
- In order to verify that you have selected the correct document, right mouse click on the highlighted file name to open a **quick menu **and left mouse click on **[open**]. Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader will launch and open the PDF document that you selected. You should view it to verify that it is the correct document.

**Notes:**
If you attach the incorrect document, don’t forget the court will leave this out on the system.

## 6 – Proposed Order Tips

- Do not combine motions and proposed orders into one document.
- Electronically submitted proposed orders may not be combined with the motion into one document. The motion must be docketed prior to submitting the proposed order to the judge, and the proposed order must refer to the resulting docket entry number for the motion.
- Submit proposed orders in WordPerfect/Word compatible format and send to the correct e-mail address.
- All proposed orders must be submitted in a format compatible with WordPerfect, which is a “Save As” option in most word processing software. Judges and the Clerk’s Office will not accept proposed orders in .pdf format.
- A proposed order should be attached to an Internet e-mail sent to the e-mail address of the assigned judge. The judges’ e-mail addresses are listed in the Administrative Procedures and should only be used to submit proposed orders.
- Remember to send the proposed order to all other counsel.

**Notes:**
This is the process for proposed orders. They are not filed in ECF, rather sent to an e-mail box.

## 5 – Include a certificate of service on all documents.

**To determine whether another party is a registered user, the filer can select the System’s “Utilities” category, and then click on “Mailing Information for a Case” on the pull-down menu. **
**A certificate of service on all parties entitled to service or notice is still required when a party files a document electronically. The certificate must state the manner in which service or notice was accomplished on each party so entitled. **

**Notes:**
Samples of these are in the back of the users guide and the Admin Guide.

## 4 – Know when to use your ECF login/password vs. PACER login/password.

- When viewing criminal documents and social security civil cases, enter ECF login/password first and PACER login/password second.
- When viewing civil documents in all cases besides social security cases, no login/password is required when viewing documents for the first time.

**Notes:**
Don’t get charged. Be smart!

## 3 – Select the proper event.

**When filing a motion, you must use the motion event.  **
**If you are filing a notice of appeal to the 8****th**** Circuit, use the Notice of Appeal under the Appeal Documents to USCA.**

**If menu items do not appear, place mouse on a blank area of the screen->right click->select “refresh”**

**Notes:**
If you are uncertain, call the helpdesk before filing. Use the guide in the back of the book. Remember to file the motion before the notice of motion.

## 2 – Attachments & Exhibits

- Attachments and exhibits larger than two megabytes may be filed electronically in multiple two-megabyte segments.
- A filing party should electronically image, *i.e*., “scan,” a paper exhibit that is less than two megabytes and submit the exhibit as a .pdf file.
- A party submitting evidentiary materials in conventional format shall also file in conventional format an index of evidence listing each item of evidence then being filed and identifying the motion to which it relates. or may be submitted, bound, in conventional format.

**Notes:**
Because .pdf files containing scanned documents take up considerably more space on the System than .pdf files containing electronically generated documents, filing parties may submit .pdf files containing scanned documents of more than two megabytes only if they are filed in separate two-megabyte segments.

All bound documents submitted to the Clerk’s Office should be two or three-hole punched.  The filing party must serve conventional copies on all other parties to the case.

## 1 – Ask questions and give us your feedback.

- Take a look at the Frequently Asked Questions on the Internet.
- Call the Help Desk numbers for assistance.
- Send questions and/or feedback, including your ideas for improvement.
- Send comments to _[ecfhelpdesk@mnd.uscourts.gov](mailto:ecfhelpdesk@mnd.uscourts.gov)__ or call us._