Supreme court accepting electronic filings

Starting Thursday, the Nevada Supreme Court Clerk's Office began accepting both civil and criminal documents for filing through its web-based electronic filing (e-filing) system.

The system allows litigants to file documents 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It also allows attorneys and district court clerks to file documents, pay filing fees, view and print electronic versions of documents and docket sheets.

The system also provides electronic notices when other parties or participants file documents in their cases.

"This is a major step forward," said Chief Justice James W. Hardesty. "Our e-filing system not only provides unprecedented services and convenience for those who must file documents at the Supreme Court, but it will make the Court's operations much more effective. That means public dollars will be saved and public access will be enhanced."

The new process is also expected to save time and money for attorneys and their clients. No longer will attorneys have to ship or deliver documents to the Supreme Court.

"E-filing will allow case documents to be received, processed, and considered by the justices more rapidly than ever before," said Chief Justice Hardesty. "Because Nevada does not have an intermediate appellate court, the Nevada Supreme Court must consider all appeals. Consequently, we are one of the busiest Supreme Courts in the nation with more than 2,200 cases filed annually."

"Since cases must be reviewed by multiple justices, as well as staff, the electronic filing of documents will allow all justices to receive the documents at the same time, rather than having paper documents rotate from one justice to another," Chief Justice Hardesty said.

"The improved efficiency is obvious and we hope the Court can resolve appeals more quickly despite our growing caseload," he said.

"E-filing is the culmination of literally years of work by a very dedicated staff," Chief Justice Hardesty said.

E-filing began as a pilot program in March 2008. The pilot program was limited to criminal fast track cases in which all parties were represented by public lawyers.

On Feb. 23, 2009, the Supreme Court began accepting e-filing in all criminal cases.

Expansion of the e-filing process to all cases will allow District Court clerks to electronically file notices of appeal with the Supreme Court. Attorneys will then have the opportunity to e-file court briefs and documents rather than send paper copies.

Attorneys will also be able to initiate certain cases, such as writ petitions, by e-filing them directly with the Supreme Court Clerk's Office.

For attorneys to access the new e-filing, the URL is https://efile.nvsupremecourt.us/login.jsp. A new account request can be submitted by clicking on the "Request Account" button from the main screen and typing in the required information on the subsequent screens. For additional formation, the Supreme Court Clerk's Office may be contacted at (775) 684-1600.