Technology By Itself Does Not Make a 21st Century Law Firm

Technology By Itself Does Not Make a 21st Century Law Firm

Technology By Itself Does Not Make a 21st Century Law Firm

“Digital Transformation is Not about Technology – it’s about strategy and new ways of thinking.”
Digital Transformation Playbook – David L. Rogers

Technology alone isn’t very good at overcoming inertia. Getting the most out of technology in a way that helps a law firm move forward and achieve its objectives requires careful planning and input from stakeholders across the firm, as well as the expertise and deep domain experience of the firm’s technology vendors. If ever there was a time when law firms needed to explore and leverage the full capabilities of legal technologies to remain competitive it is now, while a pandemic and industry dynamics force law firms to innovate their way onto solid footing in a rapidly changing environment.

This article examines how law firms can strategically plan and operationalize the full potential of their technology; assuring their ability to capitalize on the operational advantages and data insights technology can offer in support of the firm’s business strategies and objectives.

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Adjusting to a rapidly changing industry

Challenges and competitive pressures on the legal profession that would have been difficult to imagine 20 years ago now bear down on law firms across the landscape. Factors that challenge and can threaten a law firm’s survival include law firm mergers, growth in outsourcing legal services, pricing pressures, competitive business models, and increased client demands.

That’s only part of the picture. There are even more challenges rising from changes in workforce characteristics and evolving technologies.

Some of them include:

  • Multi-generational workforce, shift to remote working or a hybrid model
  • Exponential growth in volume and types of electronic data
  • Court eFiling; law firm automation; client collaboration; new technologies (AI, SaaS, Analytics)

Not every law firm has dealt with all these factors, but few have escaped them altogether.

selecting

Putting Technology Into Action

Looking to technology as an answer to these problems may be tempting but would not ultimately provide the full answer. Technology on its own is simply an enablement. Operated as part of sound business strategies and involved firm stakeholders, however, technology can take you to the moon and back.

The first step to getting technology to do the heavy lifting it was designed for is planning. Great technologies come and go but planning is always in style, and essential for getting the full set of capabilities and advantages technology solutions can offer.

Rapid Legal provides user data and reports that enable you to analyze productivity, spend, and value
Rapid Legal provides user data and reports that enable you to analyze productivity, spend, and value

Harnessing Strategic Thinking and Organizational Agility

Before technology can optimally serve a law firm’s needs, the firm must engage its strategic thinking.

It should define and challenge its underlying core assumptions and ardently seek to uncover blind spots.

It should also assess the organization’s readiness:

  • Who are all the stakeholders?
  • What are you trying to achieve? Goals? Objectives? Success Criteria?
  • How will you decide what to invest in, and is budget available?
  • If other departments are impacted, are they willing to change? Is there cross-organizational support and executive sponsorship?
  • What does the organization and staff need to support the roll-out and ensure success?
  • Plan and timing?

The legacy organization must be ready to make change happen, and at a rapid pace. Without organization agility, failure is imminent.

Even the most successful companies struggle with adapting their strategic thinking to think differently about every aspect of their strategy – customers, competition, data, innovation, and value.

It may be useful to conduct an audit of your firm’s readiness for the new technology.

Some needs can be uncovered by looking at a firm’s vision, strategies, and plans, including needs related to client matters, business processes, and practice areas. Getting a handle on the full scope of needs requires input from everyone.

By “everyone” we mean law firm staff members who represent an array of disciplines and can contribute expertise relative to the technology being implemented.

Is it really necessary to involve all those disciplines?

Yes, and for good reason.

questions

When you don’t know what you don’t know, ask someone else

Taking on a new technology is not unlike taking on a new employee. Just as human resources departments have a model for making new hires, law firm business models should have a model for acquiring and deploying new technologies. Each model uses specific questions to reveal strengths and weaknesses.

In a law firm, this vetting process should gather individuals from across the organization who possess multidisciplinary expertise to “depose” the legal technology and legal technology vendor.

Why does this approach work?

It’s simple. Let’s look at eFiling and service of process through the eyes of “financial people.” Looking at a new technology through the lens of finance and accounting professionals, you gain insights squarely related to the technology’s finance-specific features or even if not a finance solution, it may have impact to cost-related outcomes for the business.

In the case of data provided by a litigation support service provider, the finance and accounting staff members may notice a system integration between the provider and the firm that can automate reconciliation and allocation of payments to clients. On their recommendation, this process becomes part of the business model which, in turn, makes the firm more efficient.

Did it actually happen?

If you’re wondering whether law firms in the real world use these measure to their advantage the answer is, “Yes.”

In fact, one Los Angeles area law firm used this exact approach to streamline its accounting and save the cost of one full-time employee.

A critical key in leveraging this technology strategically was the daily transfer of order and payment details from the customer relationship management (CRM) system used by the firm’s litigation support service provider directly to the law firm’s CRM.

The success owed to involving multiple stakeholders in the planning who understood the law firm’s needs, recognized an opportunity for technology to satisfy those needs, and turned to technology that met their requirements.

Hard to believe? Read the case study: How This Law Firm Leverages a System With Rapid Legal to Improve Cost Control and Gain Efficiencies.

When it Comes to Data: Think Differently and Think Often

Data adds significant value from within the framework of a law firm’s business model. Data can help a firm save money and lower certain types of risk, so when you consider taking on any technology solution you’ll want to ask questions about the data it provides.

Specifically, you’ll want to ask whether the data is sharable and how it can be used to track performance and identify trends.

You’ll especially want to know whether data can be applied to predict trends or outcomes that might occur. To facilitate this kind of business insight you’ll again want to plan strategically and involve stakeholders from throughout the law firm who understand what data is important, and how it can be used to advance the firm’s objectives.

This approach allows decision makers to use data and analyze it so they understand the performance of efforts you’ve already made. This look back will strategically inform the next move forward.

Properly implemented, legal tech solutions will produce data that tells you how well your business is running. With that, you can continue to let the business evolve and move it forward. At that point you can use predictive analytics to move the law firm even further along.

Analytics is making itself a marquee player in the practice of law. Be certain that your firm’s business model is structured to use the power of analytics and data as a revenue generator, to control costs, help utilize staff, and smartly guide many other functions inside a law firm.


setup analytics

Predictive Analytics for Cost Control
If you’d like to do a deep dive into predictive analytics check out this article to learn how business are using it to control costs.


Cure performance issues with data

Predictive analytics is a glamorous term and its role in courtroom litigation was popularized by the film Runaway Jury. In the trenches of a firm’s day-to-day operations, however, the more routine use of data is less glittery but no less important.

For example, data about the performance of common litigation support services such as court filing, eFiling, and service of process all can help gage the performance of vendors. It is also common to use data to monitor certain litigation support services and know whether they are being delivered as promised.

This information can help firms operate more efficiently and, more importantly, keep more of the revenue they earn. Not all law firms, however, have this data.

cohort analysis

This is where a litigation support service provider that provides court filing, service of processes, and other critical services can help. They can collect these types of data and provide it to law firms in regular reports. For example, a firm may want to perform an analysis about key services such as electronic court filing. A firm can use the data in the litigation support service provider’s eFiling reports to evaluate turnaround times and rejection rates, and know whether it needs to course correct.

Similar data can be pulled from a litigation support service provider to measure service of process performance. This data enables a firm to track service level distribution, orders by type, and service of process orders by pricing zone. It’s important for a firm’s business model to use these data sets as cost control measures.

As an example, a firm can examine service of process orders by pricing zone to predict whether the cost of service of process in certain locales may be untenable. The firm may also use the reports to gage the vendor’s performance or the law firm’s own internal performance.

When a law firm searches for a litigation support service provider, its business model should stipulate that a provider can deliver these reports.

4 ways your firm’s business model can use sharable data:

  • Service level distribution
  • Orders by type
  • Service of process orders by pricing zone
  • Service of process performance

Read Technology Your Process Server Should Be Using and learn how these reports can save money for your law firm!

powerful

Want to lower rejection rates for your electronic court filings? This article explains how. Read it: Common Pitfalls for Court Filing Rejections and How to Avoid Them.


Onward and upward

There is power in planning and expertise and uniting all of the key stakeholders in a technology acquisition and deployment. The success of that acquisition hinges on more than simply having a sound business model. It also requires developing and maintaining strategic best practices that move the law firm toward key business outcomes.

The thing to remember about introducing technology to a law firm is this: Technology on its own is just an enablement, but under the guidance of a well-structured business model and involving key firm stakeholders, technology can take you to the moon and back. And, in many cases, the fuel for that trip will be data that helps you continually leverage that technology and plot the course forward.

Learn how you can get the greatest value from the technology and data you already have. Set up a consultation with a Rapid Legal account executive and learn how. Book a demo or schedule a call now.


Skyscrapers reaching toward blue sky with puffy clouds

How This Law Firm Leverages a System With Rapid Legal to Improve Cost Control & Gain Efficiencies

Law Firm Profile

2012

Year Founded

California

HQ Location

2012

Year Started with Rapid Legal

 

Over the past 5 years, this CA-based law firm has been growing exponentially. As a result of this growth, and the commensurate increase in the volume of accounting transactions, the firm recognized that its accounts payables processes needed to be evaluated, streamlined, and automated. The firm looked to its CFO, a CPA with over 20 years’ experience in Public and Private Accounting. The CFO first identified the vendors who generate a significant volume of invoices for the firm. They felt that if the process of recording invoices could somehow be automated, it would significantly impact the efficiency of the firm’s accounts payable cycle and enhance the reporting capabilities of the firm. The CFO turned to Rapid Legal, the firm’s leading litigation support service provider, for help in this process.

“Rapid Legal is one of our high-volume vendors, providing litigation support services in the form of eFiling and process serving. During our initial conversations, it was revealed that both Rapid Legal and our law firm use the same CRM to manage customer/client relationships. We thought, why don’t we integrate our systems, so Rapid Legal can push data and information directly into our system? So, we eventually did. This eliminates data entry duplication by our accounting staff and ensures all transaction receipts and documents are directly stored in our system. These days, everything is so seamless and effortless. We have 200+ receipts being pushed to our CRM and QuickBooks nearly every day in a process that is now totally hands-off.”
law growth creates new challenges

Record Growth Creates New Challenges

The law firm’s record growth has resulted in an expected increase in litigation expenses. “We literally went from a few invoices a day from vendors providing litigation support services to hundreds per day. The invoice count was even higher, in fact, 5-10x higher, for our high-volume vendors. Given this growth in volume, it became even more important to evaluate and implement the right approach and processes to accurately track, reconcile, and account for these invoices, fees, and payments, such as court fees and vendor service fees. This is particularly critical because these fees need to be properly accounted for and reimbursed at the conclusion of each case,” said the firm’s CFO.

The law firm also faced other challenges. The firm’s processes around these litigation support service expenses required a significant amount of manual effort and cost to manage and execute. In addition, as with any manual process, there’s always the possibility of error in tracking and reconciling expenses.  The firm’s CFO further elaborated, “Fee motion preparation and management was a big pain point for us. Without automated cost controls and visibility, a firm can run the risk of not properly associating vendor expenses with fee motions in cases, resulting in filing Fee Motions that are “understated,” meaning we’re not maximizing our revenue opportunities.”

Rapid Legal delivers unrivaled process serving for law firms and legal departments
Rapid Legal delivers unrivaled process serving for law firms and legal departments

An Unlikely Request and Solution

As a modern, tech-enabled law firm, the firm saw the value of leveraging data and technology to automate its workflows, maximize expense visibility & control, and improve other business outcomes.

The law firm uses a CRM (customer relationship management system) for matter and case management and QuickBooks for accounting and finance. Rapid Legal’s cloud-based litigation support services platform, LegalConnect, captures all order data, documents, and payments for each order placed with Rapid Legal. This data is then integrated with Rapid Legal’s CRM instance for ongoing customer relationship management.

“I don’t know of many litigation support service providers willing, or even able, to push data from their system directly to the law firm’s system but given all the court fees that Rapid Legal needs to pass on, along with its own service fees, it was particularly critical for us to ensure all fees and invoices were accurately captured in our systems. We also wanted to reduce the accounting staff time needed to reconcile all these expenses,” said the firm’s CFO. “We asked Rapid Legal if it had the capability to integrate with our CRM. To my delight, Rapid Legal welcomed the opportunity.”

System-to-System Integration for the Win

Over the course of a couple of months, Rapid Legal worked with the law firm’s technology team to implement a CRM-to-CRM integration. The scope entailed transferring Rapid Legal order and payment details data daily from its CRM instance to the firm’s own CRM system.

“It’s great that the data and records are automatically deposited into our system. It’s so seamless. We’ve already set up a dashboard in CRM that gives me and the firm’s staff insight into the various litigation services and related expenses.”

The law firm’s next step is to develop reporting capabilities for metrics and insights.

“Our fee motion management will be done faster and with greater assurance of accuracy, our accounts payables will be better tracked and managed, and our staff’s productivity will be better utilized from the efficiencies gained,” shared the firm’s CFO.

“I used to have the equivalent of one full-time employee reconciling invoices and expenses for fee motions. Now, we’re nearly in a position to reallocate these resources to activities that will deliver greater value to the firm and our clients.”


Stanislaus County Superior Court eFiling with Rapid Legal

Stanislaus County Superior Court eFiling with Rapid Legal

Stanislaus County Superior Court eFiling with Rapid Legal

Effective immediately, you can now eFile with Rapid Legal for all Non-Criminal cases at Stanislaus County Superior Court. This is permissive and the date for mandatory eFiling has not yet been announced.

Rapid Legal delivers unrivaled process serving for law firms and legal departments
Rapid Legal delivers unrivaled process serving for law firms and legal departments

These requirements are issued pursuant to Rule 2.250 of the California Rules of Court, Code of Civil Procedure § 1010.6 and Stanislaus County Superior Court’s General Order in Re Electronic Filing Procedures. Documents that are determined to be unacceptable for eFiling by the Court due to eFiling system restrictions will be rejected subject to being allowed to be filed nunc pro tunc to the original submittal date upon exparte application to the Court and upon good cause shown

For more information see the requirements document here.


Guide: eFiling Basics for Beginners

Guide: eFiling Basics for Beginners

Guide: eFiling Basics for Beginners

More and more county courts in California are making the switch from paper court filing to electronic filing (eFiling). At Rapid Legal, we’ve made it our business to help demystify eFiling and make it simple for legal professionals. Here’s what you need to know – all in one place – to understand eFiling and get started.

What is eFiling?

Electronic filing, or eFiling, is the method of electronically submitting your legal documents to the court via the internet and typically requires the user to select an approved eFiling Service Provider (EFSP) in which to eFile their legal documents. Federal, state, and municipal courts have varying rules and regulations for eFiled documents. In many courts, electronic filing is mandatory and they do not allow in-person physical filing. Thus, it is more important than ever to ready your law firm for the transition to eFiling.

How Does eFiling Work?

If you’re still doing traditional filing, depending on the size of your firm, the process probably looks a little something like this:

  1. Finalize and print the document.
  2. Get signatures and make copies.
  3. Draft cover letter, staple, and enclose everything into the package.
  4. Call clerk to confirm filing fees.
  5. Pay filing fees (this may require a call to accounting).
  6. Contact runner or courier for pick-up.
  7. Contact process server to serve papers.
  8. Wait for file stamp from the runner/courier.
  9. Scan and file hard copies of completed documents.

The average firm, depending on size, probably spends between 1-2 hours to file the old-fashioned way.  That translates into tremendous staff time, the expense of hiring runners or couriers, and billable time lost.  When you add in court filing fees and copying expenses, it is no wonder that a firm can spend $500 or more to file a simple 10-page document.

Now consider eFiling:

  1. Go to your preferred Electronic Filing Service Provider’s (EFSP) website and log into your account.
  2. Place your eFiling order and provide online payment.
  3. Upon hitting “Submit” for your order, the EFSP files your document directly with the court’s electronic filing manager (EFM) where the documents can be processed into the court’s case management system.
  4. The Court accepts or rejects the eFiled documents and then the EFSP delivers a confirmation of processing and the associated conformed documents straight into your account when ready. A copy is also sent via email.
  5. All along the way, the EFSP sends you order status notifications from submission to completion to keep you informed.

This diagram gives a high-level overview of how eFiling works:
eFiling workflow

As a certified Electronic Filing Service Provider (EFSP) with the Court, Rapid Legal’s technology is integrated with the Court’s Electronic Filing Manager (EFM). This integration enables filers to electronically file documents directly with the court through Rapid Legal.

In summary, eFiling is a truly integrated, end-to-end data exchange solution, connecting law firms and EFSPs directly to the courts.

Advantages of eFiling

The biggest advantages of eFiling over traditional filing methods are that it is significantly faster to process and it reduces the amount of printed paper. Traditional filing meant that law firms needed to have a document runner to deliver multiple paper copies of legal documents and pleadings to the corresponding courts and parties. There is also less room for error as data entry errors will likely be caught before you complete the process.

Other advantages of eFiling include:

  • eFiling takes half as many steps and likely half as many people over paper filing. This translates to substantial cost savings and frees your time to serve your clients and grow your practice.
  • eFiling can be done at any time from any location, so you have the freedom to file documents whenever and wherever it’s convenient for you.
  • eFiling deadlines are typically later, like 11:59 pm* in Orange County and Los Angeles County, than for paper filings which need to be delivered at the courthouse by the time the court closes that day. (*Note: Rapid Legal’s eFiling deadline is 11:45 pm, the buffer is to ensure there are no transmission issues).
  • eFiling reduces the time effort needed to manage files, which ultimately allows you to serve your clients better.
  • eFiling can reduce the risk of paper files being misplaced or lost. Additionally, the use of digital files reduces the likelihood of unauthorized tampering or modification of original documents.

Rapid Legal delivers unrivaled process serving for law firms and legal departments
Rapid Legal delivers unrivaled process serving for law firms and legal departments

How Do I Prepare for eFiling?

To get started with eFiling, here is a helpful checklist to guide you:

1. Make sure you have the right tools in place.

First, you’ll want to make sure you have a scanner with at least 300 dots per inch (dpi) resolution. You’ll need to be able to create crystal clear text-searchable PDF documents for your eFiling submissions.  While most Electronic Filing Service Providers offer the ability to automatically convert your online documents directly to PDF, there may be exceptions like when your file is too large for their conversion capability which will require you to do the conversion yourself or seek assistance from their customer support team. Therefore, you’ll need PDF software, such as Adobe Acrobat Pro. This will allow you to easily organize and bookmark exhibits, as well as create text-searchable documents, so you can comply with the local court’s eFiling rules.

2. Start early and prepare for the unexpected.

Just like any new technology, adopting eFiling into your law practice can require some time and patience at the start. And the unexpected will inevitably occur at the worst time. Although you can theoretically file your documents at 11:59 pm* on your filing deadline for a court, you should allow at least a 30-minute buffer in case of the unexpected. (*Note: Rapid Legal’s eFiling deadline is 11:45 pm, the buffer is to ensure there are no transmission issues).

3. Be familiar with common eFiling rejection reasons and know how to avoid them. Here are the top 8 to watch out for:

  • Party’s name does not match the name listed on the initial lead document
    • For example: If the plaintiff’s name on the caption of the complaint shows “Jane C. Doe”, then it must be entered to match throughout the eFiling. If the defendant’s name is “John Doe, an individual”, it must also be entered to match, including “an individual”.
  • Incorrect case type has been selected
    • The case type must match the selection on the Civil Case Cover Sheet.
  • Incorrect document type has been selected
    • If the document is for a “judgment,” then that specific category must be selected.
    • Following that selection, choose the document title within that category.
  • Wrong case number has been listed somewhere on the filing
    • The case number appears in multiple locations, and it must always be listed correctly, or the document may be rejected.
  • Wrong court location has been selected
    • For example, on its website, San Diego Superior Court provides a Filing Court Locator that can help you determine which courthouse they should be using.
  • Issues with the filing itself, like uploading the wrong filing, submitting the filing in the wrong format, having the wrong name on the saved filing, improper scanning, or not including the required attachments
    • Some of these issues can be fixed through higher levels of diligence. Others are more technical, especially when it comes to scanning documents — ensuring you’re saving scanned docs in black and white, and that these documents are being scanned exclusively in PDF format. Your printer settings should also be set to a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi) to make your scanned documents clearer and easy to read.
  • PDF is not text searchable
    • California state law requires that electronic filings be text-searchable, although historically not all courts have been enforcing the requirement. PDFs are not automatically text searchable. They can be made text-searchable using tools such as Adobe Acrobat
  • Keep file size limitations in mind
    • File size limitations may vary by court and EFSP. In general, 25 megabytes per document and 60 megabytes per e-filing transaction is a good guideline. The majority of filings can be submitted with ease through the EFSP.

4. Carefully choose your Electronic Filing Service Provider (EFSP).

Your EFSP is the provider who connects you to the court and allows you to electronically submit your court documents, whether it’s through a third-party electronic filing manager or directly into a court case management system (CCMS). Essentially, an ESFP is an intermediary that sits between the filer and the Court and provides value-added services, training, and support for eFiling.

When selecting your EFSP, some things you’ll want to consider are:

  • Customer Support Coverage
    • Consider the hours during which you can call; what are their hours of operation?
    • How helpful and knowledgeable is the customer service team? Is there a variety of ways that you can reach them such as via email, chat, phone, or a dedicated support line?
    • Is there a dedicated Account Manager who you can readily speak to versus having to wait on hold contacting a call center?
  • Reliability and Experience
    • Research what is their average system uptime and success rate.
    • Find out how you will be notified when your document has arrived at the court and when it has been accepted.
    • Do they have in-depth experience of filing in California and have extensive knowledge of the Courts?
  • Accuracy of Service
    • Research what is their average eFiling rejection rate (for reference, the average eFiling rejection rate is between 10-15% for California courts).
  •  Range of Service Offerings
    • In addition to eFiling, consider other services you currently need and may also need in the near future. Some examples of services include: physical filing, process servicing, records retrieval, courtesy copy delivery, Secretary of State Filing, and county recording.
    • Valued added services. Some EFSPs offer Expert Review and Concierge Service where they will handle your submission from start to finish.
  • Court eFiling Coverage
    • Equally important, if not more, is understanding what courts, and how many, they can eFile into. The cost to eFile can be a tenth of the cost to paper file so an EFSP that has the capability to eFile into many courts will be a good choice eliminating the need to select multiple EFSPs because they have limited court eFiling coverage.

Rapid Legal is now integrating with law firm systems to help automate legal processes related to litigation support services.
Rapid Legal is now integrating with law firm systems to help automate legal processes related to litigation support services

Helpful Links

Glossary

eFiling: Electronic filing, or eFiling, is the method of electronically submitting your legal documents to the court via the internet.

Electronic Filing Service Provider (EFSP): Any company that handles the submission of documents to a court through an online portal. Rapid Legal is an example of an EFSP.

Electronic Filing Manager (EFM): The EFM acts as an intermediate system on the court’s side. This is the system that takes in filings and processes them for the courthouse clerks to view.

Case Management System (CMS): The stage following the EFM is the Case Management System. After your filing has been accepted, your documents become a permanent part of the court record. (Sometimes also referred to as “Court Case Management System” or “CCMS”)

eService: After a case has been accepted into the CMS, the electronic exchange of additional litigation documents between the parties is referred to as eService.

Dots per inch (dpi): This unit of measurement refers to the quality of the scanned image or document that will eventually be printed. Courts typically require a minimum of 300dpi to ensure the readability of the printed copy.

Envelope: In the context of eFiling, an envelope refers to a group of filings that are submitted together as part of a single transaction.

Lead document: In the context of eFiling, a lead document is any document that requires its own file stamp. Combining lead documents in one PDF file will result in a rejection of the filing transaction.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR): OCR refers to the scanning and subsequent translation of printed and written text into machine-encoded, searchable text.

Portal Document Format (PDF): PDF is a file format developed by Adobe in the 1990s to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems.

XML: Extensible Markup Language (XML) is used to describe data. The XML standard is a flexible way to create information formats and electronically share structured data via the public Internet, as well as via corporate networks. In the context of eFiling, XML is how the ESFP exchanges data with the court’s EFM.

About Rapid Legal

For more than 25 years, Rapid Legal has helped to define and transform the legal support services industry with its vision and commitment to customers, the courts, and a party’s right to due process under the law.

Trusted by thousands of law firms, government agencies and companies, Rapid Legal leverages its deep industry and technology expertise, and a best-in-class legal services cloud management platform, LegalConnect®, for delivering premium legal support services including electronic filing of court documents (“eFiling”), physical court filings, and service of process.

If you would like to get started with eFiling, you can create an account here or schedule a 15-minute call with a Rapid Legal Account Manager for a demo!


Strict eFiling Requirements Enforcement and What It Means for You

Strict eFiling Requirements Enforcement and What It Means for You

Strict eFiling Requirements Enforcement and What It Means for You

Courts have recently begun strictly enforcing the following rules regarding electronic filings.

Documents Must be Electronically Filed in PDF, Text-Searchable Format

Under California Rule of Court 2.256(b)(3) and California Rule of Court 8.74(b)(2)(a), a document that is filed electronically with the court “must be text-searchable while maintaining original document formatting.” The County of Los Angeles published General Order of the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, wherein section (c)(2)(A) further provides that documents must be electronically filed in PDF format. This includes Declarations, Proofs of Service, and Exhibits to documents.

The County of Los Angeles, Civil Department has begun rejecting order submissions if the documents are not text-searchable. Not all courts currently enforce this requirement, however, it is a state requirement for eFiling.

Documents Must be Bookmarked

California Rule of Court 3.1110(f)(4) and the General Order published by the County of Los Angeles also provides that documents must include electronic bookmarks. A bookmark is a PDF document navigational tool that allows the reader to quickly locate and navigate to a designated point of interest within a document.

Self-Service Tools

We understand that compliance is of the utmost importance with regard to minimizing the rejection rate of electronic submissions. As such, here are some tips and links to help you ensure your next electronic filing will be compliant.

  • Making Text Searchable: Adobe Acrobat provides this guide that helps users OCR a document. OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition, which is a method of digitizing text so that they can be electronically searched on a computer.
    • For non-Adobe users, there are free sites that will help users convert PDF’s into text-searchable documents. Click here or here for the links.
  • Bookmarking: For Adobe users, this guide will help users create bookmarks in a document.

Rapid Legal provides user data and reports that enable you to analyze productivity, spend, and value
Rapid Legal provides user data and reports that enable you to analyze productivity, spend, and value

eFile with Less Worry Using Our Expert Review Service

Finally, we provide Expert Review as an add-on service to help clients reduce their eFiling rejection rates when clients are unsure whether they are in compliance with new requirements regulating electronic filings. Under Expert Review, a Document Specialist will personally examine the key components of an eFiling in three distinct areas:

  • Filing Basics (e.g., case number, parties, signatures, dates, court location, case type, document type)
  • Electronic Assembly (e.g., font style, searchable text, pagination, file size, layout, scan readability)
  • Jurisdictional Requirements (e.g., confirmation the filing contains locally required information such as bookmarks, and mandated forms)

Want to save time, and minimize eFiling rejections by the court? Check out our Concierge Service.

Our program has a proven successful track record in minimizing rejection rates. Contact us today at (800) 366-5445 to learn more about how we can help you scratch one less worry off your list.


efiling insights and tips

eFiling Insights and Tips

efiling insights and tips

Courts across California are steadily migrating to eFiling for all types of cases.

Most recently in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Superior Court (LASC) began mandatory eFiling for most Civil cases with over 50,000 case transactions processed in the first 60 days.  Clearly, it’s a trend that legal professionals need to be aware of and prepared for.

While the majority of eFile cases are successfully filed on an initial attempt, Rapid Legal has noticed the following pattern of rejection causes that Law Firms and Legal Professionals should give particular attention to when attempting an eFiling:

Party’s name does not match the party’s name listed on the initial lead document
For example: If plaintiff name on the caption of the complaint shows “Jane C. Doe”, then it must be entered to match throughout the eFiling. If defendant name is “John Doe, an individual” it must also be entered to match, including “an individual.”
Incorrect case type selected
The case type must match the selection on the Civil Case Cover Sheet. (When eFiling in LASC, also note the need for the Civil Case Cover Sheet addendum)
Incorrect document type selected
If the document is for a “judgment,” then that specific category must be selected. Following that selection, then choose the document title within that category.

Is your process server fumbling your legal documents?
Is your process server fumbling your legal documents?

California Court’s currently offering eFiling include Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. A more extensive list of eFile Courts supported by Rapid Legal can be found here; California eFile Courts

Rapid Legal’s Concierge Service is also available as a “white glove” solution for any order you would prefer to not have to compliance check, digitally process and/or troubleshoot on your own.