Arthur Sims Executive Officer/Clerk

Courthouse 4075 Main Street, Suite 310 Riverside, California 92501 FAX: (909) 955-5537

Superior Court of California
County of Riverside

An Open Letter to the Legal Community of Riverside County

Exciting times are upon us in the world of court Automation and we are pleased to share with the legal community a few of the recent developments. As you may know the Superior Court has been providing a number of services to help the legal community establish a better rapport with the courts. Now you can go to the web site, http://www.co.riverside.ca.us/depts/courts and get general information about the courts, local rules, judicial directory, phone numbers, filing fees, probate notes and other useful information. This resource is available for everyone.

The court established a fax filing system in 1995 to help the legal community submit cases via fax. Recent advances in Internet and computer technology have allowed the court to offer you an even easier and more cost effective substitute for your filings. You had previously expressed concerns about the cost and quality of fax filing. Now with E-Filing the court has addressed these problems. The Superior Court has begun offering direct electronic filing through E-filing.com, Inc.

The Riverside Courts are very proud of our contribution to reducing the cost of doing business with the courts. Today, with over 1.5 million people living in Riverside County, over 300,000 filings a year, there is in excess of one-million dollars for the administrative effort that goes into the traditional system of filing a case. By using E-Filing, not only do you save on these unnecessary costs, but also it creates a chain reaction of more productivity, and better time management. Further, the ability to view, print and route the document anywhere you like, conformed with the Court’s stamp, has its advantages too. The E-Filing system is relatively simple and requires only that you establish an account with our E-Filing vendor and download their “plugin” for your browser.

In an effort to overcome the obstacles to trying this new process, E-Filing.com, Inc. has arranged to provide training for anyone needing it, and can offer a one-hour MCLE credit. They will offer a course “Simplifying Your Law Practice with Electronic Filing” and will schedule it whenever there is sufficient interest. Then, back in the real world, The Superior Court and E-Filing.com.Inc. have both decided to forego additional filing fees for electronic filings from now through the end of June,2000 for up to three cases per filer. To take advantage of this, all you need to do is go to their web site http://www.e-filing.com/ and open a trial account. They will provide a step-by-step guide for filing, downloading, and thereby walk you through the simple filing process. This will help you see how E-Filing works. Just let E-Filing.com.Inc. know that you are interested in the MCLE training and they will arrange it.

I hope that these innovations will have real value to you and to your clients; this is our only intention. We would love to hear any thoughts you might want to offer. As always, I am open to your comments and look forward to hearing from you.

Very truly yours,

Arthur Sims,
Executive Officer

E-Filing • 35, South La Patera Lane, Goleta, CA 93117 • (805) 683-3345 • Fax: (805) 683-8525