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Electronic Public Access User Group Conference Call

March 29, 2022

Electronic Public Access (EPA) Public User Group Members Present:

Christopher Allman Assistant U.S. Attorney, Kansas, Department of Justice 

JoAnn DiSanti Associate Director of Managing Clerks, White & Case LLP 

Nicholas Goldrosen Student, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge

Todd Higey Representative, National Association of Professional Background 

Screeners 

Seamus Hughes Deputy Director, Program on Extremism, George Washington University 

Margo Kirchner General Counsel and Development Director, Wisconsin Justice Initiative 

Tyler Mills Team Lead, Bloomberg Law 

Robert Patrick Reporter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Theresa Reiss Law Librarian, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress 

Gabriella Sarnoff Assistant Managing Attorney, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP 

Warren Thomas Principal, Meunier Carlin & Curfman

Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO)

Aicha Campbell Program Analyst, National Programs Branch, Court Services Office

Angela Jaffee Chief, National Programs Branch, Court Services Office

Eva Roeber Clerk of Court, District of Nebraska

Jane MacCracken Deputy Chief, Court Services Office 

Julie Neville Attorney Advisor, National Programs Branch, Court Services Office

Linda Melchor Program Analyst, National Programs Branch, Court Services Office 

Conference Call Summary

Angela Jaffee, Chief of the National Programs Branch, Court Services Office, welcomed the 

group and announced that Chris Vagner, former Programs Division Chief in the Court Services 

Office has been promoted to Chief of Staff for the Department of Program Services. Jane 

MacCracken, Deputy Chief, Court Services Office, is serving as the acting Programs Division 

Chief and chair of this Group.

Status of Public User Group Recommendations

Since the July 2021 call, the following additional recommendations have been completed:

• The issue with viewing PDFs on iPads in District Case Management/Electronic Case Files 

(CM/ECF) has been resolved in NextGen release 1.7, which was released Fall 2021. 

• The Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) Authentication and PACER Case 

Locator Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) were released last fall.
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Currently, the AO is working on:

• Adding the ability to select which case documents to view or download, and the ability 

to view or download all documents in a case with one click of a button in upcoming 

releases of NextGen CM/ECF. The next release of District CM/ECF (1.7.1.) will include 

the ability to view/select attachments from the docket sheet, which is expected to be 

released later this spring. Similar functionality will be added to Bankruptcy and 

Appellate systems in future releases. 

• Exploring what additional PACER training can be made available for users, such as 

modules on how to search.

• A guidance memorandum addressing best practices for sealing and unsealing court 

documents has been drafted and is in the clearance process for release to the courts 

soon.

The Group’s remaining recommendations, which would still require evaluation and technical 

analysis prior to development and implementation in the CM/ECF applications for all court 

types, have now been deferred to be addressed as part of the modernized electronic case 

management, filing, and public access system. This includes the recommendation for search-byjudge functionality, which has already been endorsed for inclusion in the upcoming modernized 

system and further refined by this Group.

Additional recommendations about search functionality, such as full-text searching, are still 

undergoing policy review and, if approved, will be deferred for consideration of inclusion in the 

modernized system. 

18F Report Discussion: How to get started building a new CM/ECF. Today.

The AO has now received three reports from its partnership with 18F, the most recent of which 

was released to the public this month online at https://www.uscourts.gov/courtrecords/electronic-filing-cmecf. The AO agrees with 18F’s recommendations, except for the 

recommendation to develop exclusively using open-source technology. While the AO is not 

opposed to using some open-source development, it would also like to explore the possibility of 

incorporating commercial off the shelf (COTS) solutions and leveraging court-developed 

innovations.

Development of a cloud-based system using a user-centered DevSecOps model requires the AO 

to modernize operations, focusing first on four areas:

1. Setting up empowered product teams with product owners;

2. Research with real users, both public and internal to the judiciary;

3. Build based on data, risk, and security standards; and
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4. Incrementally release solutions.

The AO will engage representative groups of users for product teams that will be created and 

and disbanded as functionality is developed and rolled out. This will create many continuing 

opportunities for stakeholders to participate in requirements gathering, development, and 

testing.

Update on CM/ECF Modernization, Platform Market Research, and Unified Search Request 

for Information (RFI)

The modernization of CM/ECF is a major initiative being undertaken by the judiciary. This 

complex initiative requires significant resources and time for planning and developing the new 

system. The AO is currently engaged in two market research efforts. First, the AO engaged the 

National Center for State Courts to conduct market research for a platform that could be 

bought or built for modular development. Second, the AO issued a Request for Information for

industry sources to provide demonstrations of current technologies that could be used to 

search and retrieve court dockets and documents.

The AO seeks a platform that would require low or no code on which to build the new 

application’s modules. Having a common platform would likely enhance consistency between 

courts, but still allow important local case management-related configurations. Regarding 

search functionality, the AO seeks a modern system that can deliver a one-system experience 

for users, and have more modern search capabilities, and near real-time sync with filings. The 

culmination of market research efforts will give more definition around the project to solidify 

next steps. 

Members asked questions and provided feedback regarding the market research initiatives:

• Members plan to encourage their IT vendor contacts to respond to the RFI and/or to 

survey their organizations to get feedback on modernization and change processes in 

the state courts, noting that unintended consequences happen when user groups are 

not engaged up front. Members will provide feedback on which modernized state court 

systems work well, and which are difficult to use. The AO will set up a platform for 

easier exchange of this information.

• Members asked why the AO has decided not to exclusively use open source 

technologies. The AO will research both commercial off-the-shelf and open source

products. There are data security concerns, and a desire to research what works for 

state judiciaries.

• Members asked whether the AO anticipates that the move to a third-party cloud-hosted 

service will result in faster patching of potential security breaches and better protection 

for highly sensitive documents (HSDs). The AO is conducting market research to 
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determine the options that may be available to meet requirements. The AO will 

evaluate whether technology can solve that issue to a sufficient level for judiciary HSDs, 

and this is a question the AO will pose to vendors.

• Members asked about the counterbalance between privacy and allowing full text search 

in the modernized system. The modernized system must operate in a manner consistent 

with the Federal Rules of Procedure (including privacy protections), and does not 

foresee those rules changing. Still, any new system could change the way litigants 

engage with courts regarding redaction of personal identifiers and the protection of 

other sensitive information. One of the goals of market research in this area is to 

determine how to enable compliance with rules, statutes and policies in such a modern 

system.

Looking Forward & Upcoming Brainstorming Session

The EPA Public User Group Charter has been renewed, and the Group will be reconstituted for a 

full two-year term beginning on July 1, 2022. The application information and materials are 

posted on uscourts.gov, and applications are due by April 30, 2022. Current members may 

choose to apply for a second term, but those applications will be considered as part of the 

regular applicant pool from each user type. 

The current members’ service on this Group has been very valuable both to the Judiciary and to 

other public users. In two short years, during a time of global pandemic, the Group’s input has 

resulted in numerous real improvements, both policy-related and technical.

In February 2020, this Group participated in a facilitated brainstorming exercise to make the 

recommendations that the AO has been following up on since that time. The AO will conduct a 

similar exercise in June 2022, focused on the modernization path forward. In particular, the AO 

will ask members, as representatives of the various user type constituencies, what search 

functionality and public access capabilities a modernized system should have. While the AO

cannot commit up front to building any specific feature, this group’s input, as well as other 

public stakeholders, will be considered at the outset of this project. Members expressed a 

preference for this session to be held as an in-person meeting in Washington, D.C.

Open Discussion

• Members reiterated their concerns about court practices relating to HSDs and sealed 

documents in CM/ECF generally, noting that it does not appear to users that any district 

has released an unsealed HSD since implementation of the policy. 

• Members suggest that the AO include a recommendation in communications to courts 

that unsealed documents be made available on CM/ECF.
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• Members request that the AO remind courts of the group’s recommendation that courts

fully and consistently enable CM/ECF RSS feeds.