Reference
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Legislation and Rules
Multi-jurisdictional Practice
In California, early experiments in e-filing were typically centered on a single jurisdiction. Studies suggest, though, that single-jurisdiction e-filing solutions would probably not enjoy significant market acceptance. A 1999 study by West Group in Orange County, and another conducted earlier in Santa Clara County, argue that e-filing solutions must transcend jurisdictions if they are to effectively satisfy the needs of practitioners.
More than 550 Orange County practitioners responded to the West Group survey. Among its significant findings:
- Thirty-nine percent or more of respondents were also active in four neighboring counties;
- Eighty-four percent of Orange County respondents also filed in Los Angeles County;
- Respondents filed in central and northern California jurisdictions; and
- Respondents filed in federal as well as state appellate jurisdictions.
The Santa Clara County survey was conducted in late 1995 by the Superior Court in conjunction with the Santa Clara County Bar Association. Among its significant findings:
- The typical respondent practiced in four counties annually;
- Forty-four percent of respondents filed in five or more counties; and
- Fifty-three percent of respondents filed in both the general and limited jurisdictions of the same county (this pre-dated court consolidation).
We conclude from these studies that the reach of services offered by EFSPs must be broader than a single jurisdiction: it seems clear that they must minimally encompass a geographic region, and ideally all courts with jurisdiction in California.
Organizations
OASIS/LegalXML Electronic Court Filing Technical Committee (TC)
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/legalxml-courtfiling/ 
LegalXML became a member section of OASIS in May 2002 and has been a primary source for the e-filing standards adopted by California.
OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, writes this about itself, "OASIS is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web services, XML conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and interoperability within and between marketplaces."
The LegalXML member section develops specifications for the use of XML to create legal documents and to transmit legal documents from an attorney, a party or a self-represented litigant to a court; from a court to an attorney, a party or a self-represented litigant or to another court; and from an attorney or another user to another attorney or another user of legal documents. It also develops specifications for related functions that are necessary for e-filing. The mission of the LegalXML TC is to, "Develop open, nonproprietary technical standards for legal documents."
California's Second Generation Electronic Filing Specifications project builds upon the work of the OASIS/LegalXML Electronic Court Filing TC and its predecessor, Legal XML, Inc.
W3C
http://www.w3.org/
The W3C has this to say about itself, "The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential as a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding." OASIS/LegalXML bases its standards on W3C-recommended standards.
NCSC
http://www.ncsconline.org/
The NCSC writes this about itself, "The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to the improvement of justice. NCSC accomplishes its mission by providing leadership and service to the state courts." It maintains web pages relevant to electronic filing.
Integrated Justice
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/legalxml-intjustice/
Across the United States, efforts are under way to unify XML standards within the justice community through the use of the Global Justice XML Data Model, sponsored by the federal Office of Justice Programs. The OASIS/LegalXML Integrated Justice TC is focused on defining XML standards for all justice community transactions using this data model.
For California courts, the emergence of XML standards for justice community data interchange could be extremely important. If one accepts the following arguments, then the need for an alternative approach seems obvious:
- Most existing California integrated justice systems (IJSs) are nearing the end of their useful life because they are based on now out-of-date technologies;
- Court requirements generally receive lowest priority in countywide IJS projects; and
- Traditional countywide IJS projects are too costly, risk-intensive, and time-consuming to provide a viable alternative for most courts in today's budget environment.
The XML data interchange standards that the Integrated Justice Workgroup hopes to produce could provide a means for court CMSs to exchange data with the discrete systems of local and state law enforcement agencies. Courts could then focus their development and acquisition efforts on court-specific applications.
