Swift justice
Swift justice
The County Court of Victoria has introduced an electronic filing system that will change the way lawyers are able to access court documents and bring greater efficiency to the whole judicial process.
The introduction of the eFiling system, which is available 24 hours a day, will mean legal practitioners can file documentation relating to civil matters directly from their desktop, eliminating the need to visit the court.
The system was developed by CITEC, a national information and communications technology company in collaboration with IBM, the County Court of Victoria and legal professionals.
The system will be made available to all users in the Court's civil jurisdiction by the end of year. CITEC already provides the technology behind the Queensland and Victorian Magistrates eFiling services, and the company is planning to introduce similar systems in other state jurisdictions.
CITEC Managing Director Dr Mark Rainbird said the process of eFiling would save time and money by reducing workload for both court and law staff.
"From a practical perspective eFiling is a do-it-yourself system with a host of cost, service improvement and control benefits," he said.
"eFiling utilises an intelligent database to compile a case history by enabling a lawyer to electronically file and process court documents."
Dr Rainbird said other benefits would be the cost savings associated with outside clerks not having to tend court or wait for long periods in line at court before documents could be filed.
"With eFiling court deadlines are now easier to meet through the ability to process instructions from clients and lodge documents online, and it also frees up registry staff who no longer have to process their documents manually," Dr Rainbird said.
Other benefits included the availability of current and accurate case records for online review and action at any time, a user-friendly browser-based interface and the ability to attach and track the progress of applications and documents submitted to the Court.
"Court filing will be further streamlined through eFiling's ability to direct documentation to the relevant court file by reference to the lawyer's own file or reference number," added Dr Rainbird. "The system will also prove beneficial for processing bulk filing, resulting in a quicker turnaround for the law firm and the client".
Dr Rainbird said the other major benefit would be broader access to the justice system.
"eFiling really opens up greater court access to regional areas. Through the utilisation of eFiling there is now greater access to the justice system for lawyers living outside the metropolitan area.
A number of large legal firms are said to be interested in subscribing to the service, which has no joining fee. The bonus for them is that they don't have to send a cheque every time they send a document to the court. Instead, they are billed at the end of the month, making the reconciliation process a lot easier for both the courts and the lawyers. CITEC also look after the training for court personnel and handle technical enquiries.
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