Many benefits await courts willing to apply information technology to case files and integrate them into a full-featured judicial information workbench. Since Utah's electronic case files and court database employ a client-server architecture, they are both readily accessible from such remote locations as a lawyer's desktop. This paper describes the reasons for electronic filing and overviews the basic design options underlying the Utah system. Computer programs for displaying text often include hypertext functions enabling a reader to point a mouse at a citation, tap the mouse button, and look up the citation. These capabilities save the time and effort of pulling paper files or volumes off shelves, flipping pages, and replacing the files or volumes.
Computers search out relevant passages better in situations where no citation points the way.
Computers copy information easily and rapidly. As a result, they greatly reduce the bother of tracking paper file custody and coping with lost case files. Computers communicate well with each other which enables document retrieval and copying from remote locations . Computerized documents require less physical space to store than paper. For example, a document giving notice of an upcoming hearing could interact with computerized calendaring software.