tomaustin wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 6:24 pm
are you setup for electronic filing ?
or, electronic retrieval..?
For Criminal and most Civil cases, yes. Family Law-not yet but probably in the next year (electronic filing). Court records searches-yes. All of the court documents (excepting a few confidential document types) are scanned. That had greatly improved our ability to serve the public-if someone calls with a question about a document in a specific case, I can look it up and retrieve it in seconds.
As for electronic filing-I am the lead electronic filing clerk in the office. Aside from the IT folks, I’m the only person in the Civil or Criminal Department who knows how the actual system works and am the only person still on staff who was involved with the design and beta testing years ago. I know what the system can and can’t do. The managers and supervisors don’t know that. I’m the person they refer user questions to. I can also usually walk a user with an issue through the system, as I got a great deal of experience entering data from the user side during testing. When I’m in the office, I’m often the only person processing the electronic filings.
I deal with attorneys all the time and the ones who have gained experience using the system love it. It makes things so much more convenient and easier when the system works-which is most of the time. It used to be that you had to get your documents to the courthouse by 5PM to file. Now the courthouse is effectively open 24/7/365 for filing. As long as your pleading is in the system by midnight, it will be filed on that date regardless of when I get to processing it. The system can automatically notify you if someone files in the case and you can electronically serve other parties in the case with documents. With COVID being such a concern, it means that they can conduct most of their business from home or the office.
As for court hearings, they are almost all being conducted via teleconference or video conferencing. The Arizona Supreme Court pretty much shut down in person hearings in the courts back in March, along with suspending jury trials. For rare in person hearings, only the parties are permitted in the courtroom. The court has set up a system where the public can watch hearings in real time by video.
The County Law Library has form packets that can be downloaded from the court website or ordered and picked up at a location just outside the courthouse. Due to the limitations of the physical facility, the public are not permitted inside the law library.
All said, the Arizona courts have done a very good job at maintaining as many services as possible while insuring maximum protection for court employees and members of the public. The courts have remained open for public business the entire time and while some court employees have gotten COVID, there have been no incidents of workplace outbreaks in our courts. Everyone entering any Arizona courthouse is subjected to a mandatory wellness screening and must wear a face covering inside the courthouse. Persons exhibiting symptoms or are non compliant are prohibited from entering. Yes, a lot of normal procedures are taking longer but at least we’re doing them. In many parts, courthouses are temporarily closed.
And what's a Covidiot? Someone who sees through the deception? Or people who have just had enough of this nonsense?
