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Ramsey County District Court Moves to Electronic Filing with LexisNexis File & Serve
Selection makes Ramsey County the first Minnesota court to incorporate electronic filing for civil cases
DAYTON, OH, May 11, 2006 - LexisNexis U.S. today announced that the Second Judicial District in Ramsey County, Minn., has implemented a pilot project involving the LexisNexis® File & Serve system to manage electronic filing and service. LexisNexis is a leading provider of information and services solutions.
The effort to bring electronic filing to Minnesota was led by Judge Michael DeCourcy of the Second Judicial District, along with Civil Court Administrator Lynae Olson. "LexisNexis File & Serve helps us meet our objective to continually improve the litigation process," said Judge DeCourcy. "We expect to increase our ability to manage what is the largest caseload of complex litigation in the state. Not only will there be better access to case information, but we will spend less time pushing paper and more time making decisions and resolving cases."
Ms. Olson cited experience as a key factor in choosing File & Serve. "We selected LexisNexis File & Serve because of our experience with the service area of the system, implemented two years ago under the direction of Judge DeCourcy. Attorneys who had been using the system for electronic service also expressed a high level of satisfaction with it," she said.
With its selection of the File & Serve system, the Ramsey County District Court becomes the first court in Minnesota to incorporate electronic filing for civil cases. Ramsey County covers the city of St. Paul and surrounding area. The File & Serve system will initially be used with the court’s civil asbestos litigation cases.
File & Serve addresses the issue of managing the overwhelming amount of paper generated in litigation by providing the court with a streamlined process for automated docketing and real-time online access to filed documents. The system also provides links to LexisNexis legal citations directly from the documents submitted through the application.
Attorneys benefit from the File & Serve system by gaining easier access to court documents and by enabling them to deliver documents to the court online instead of using couriers or runners. The court clerks review the submitted documents online and forward those to the judge. The judge in turn reviews the documents and is able to issue court orders back out to the attorneys through the File & Serve system. Automated email alerts keep the court and attorneys up-to-date on new activity in the cases, and an online case file is created for easy access to documents.
"We continue to see strong demand for File & Serve as an online service for courts," said Michele Vivona, vice president and general manager, LexisNexis Litigation Services. "Because we develop the application and host the system, there is little to no financial cost to the court or the county. The benefits of electronic filing extend throughout the legal system. Judges have better access to information, clerks get a more efficient process, and attorneys improve the delivery of documents," she added.
File & Serve has electronic filing and/or service projects in jurisdictions in 26 states and has well over one million cases online. Today, there are nearly 70,000 judges, clerks, attorneys and other legal professionals nationwide who have been registered to use the service. File & Serve is offered to law firms through the new LexisNexis® Litigation Services, which provides strategic insight and greater control throughout the litigation process.
About LexisNexis
LexisNexis® (www.lexisnexis.com) is a leading provider of information and services solutions, including its flagship Web-based Lexis® and Nexis® research services, to a wide range of professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting and academic markets. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc [NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK] (www.reedelsevier.com), the company does business in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide.
In the United States, LexisNexis® offers its customers total practice solutions comprised of an extensive range of online and print legal, regulatory, news and business information products, tools, customized Web applications and critical filing services that help legal professionals achieve excellence in the business and practice of law.
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