OCA: TAMES (Texas Appeals Management and eFiling System)

TAMES - Texas Appeals Management and eFiling System

Office of Court Administration

eFiling to trial courts is continuing to grow in Texas. So far, eFiling has been implemented in 47 counties through Texas.gov, accounting for almost three-fourths of the state's population. As such, these counties also account for most of the state's court activity and most of the filings to the state's sixteen appellate courts.

Because more and more case information is available electronically, courts have a growing opportunity to engage in lightning-fast electronic transfer of information. One such opportunity lies in the appeals process, sending trial court and related information to the appropriate appellate court. Following implementation of the TAMES project, such electronic information can reach the appellate court directly from the litigants or their representatives, from the trial court, and from the court reporters.

Within the appellate court, which makes decisions in panels of three or en banc, incoming information can be disseminated instantaneously to the judge handling the case.

As judges work through their decision-making process, they reach agreement about their decision, and the TAMES software will enable electronic discussions and voting on their opinion. As a final decision nears, TAMES will help them determine if they are ready to finalize the opinion. Additionally, chief justices of each appellate court will have management tools available to assist in monitoring the pace of the work. Availability of incoming electronic documents facilitates public access to information about cases. To the extent legally permissible, case documents will be available and searchable on the appellate courts' websites.

Stakeholder Benefits

Stakeholders	Description

Appellate Courts	Justices and attorneys will have simultaneous electronic access to relevant documents. Clerks' office staff will have less data entry to perform, and less handling of paper files. An increased number of public requests for information can be handled through the web site capabilities. Mailings can be reduced through increased use of email or web site access to provide information to attorneys and parties. As paper files decrease, the need for secure, climate-controlled storage will decline, with a corresponding cost savings.

Office of Court Administration	OCA is interested in supporting the courts and public access as efficiently as possible. Improvements to the case management system and web applications will reduce the support demands of the applications.

County Government	The trial courts are increasingly involved in creating an electronic-only version of trial court records. Allowing for electronic transfer of these files will better match their business model and prevent them from creating paper documents solely for the purpose of transmitting to appellate courts.

Attorneys	Appellate attorneys are potential eFilers and are also heavy users of the appellate court web sites and their case-related information. eFiling will be a convenience for them. Enhanced web capabilities will give them greater access to valuable information.

Public	Enhanced web capabilities will improve the public’s access to information, particularly since the current application is geared toward those with some knowledge of the courts and their processes.

Case Management Vendors	Case management applications at the trial court level can supply appropriate information to the appellate courts in a standardized electronic format.

Texas.gov	Expansion of electronic filing from trial courts to appellate courts is a key part of this project.

Project Steering Committee

Adele Hedges, Chair	Chief Justice, Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Blake Hawthorne, Vice-Chair	Clerk, Supreme Court of Texas
John Dietz	Judge, 250^th District of Texas
Paul Green	Justice, Supreme Court of Texas
Casey Kennedy	Information Services Director, Office of Court Administration
Sharon Keller	Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals
Jeff Kyle	Clerk, Third Court of Appeals
Judy Miller	Certified Court Reporter
Brian Quinn	Chief Justice, Seventh Court of Appeals
Peter Vogel	Member, Judicial Committee on Information Technology
Ed Wells	Court Administrator, Harris County Criminal Courts

OCA's Work Effort

The TAMES software development effort is almost complete. Site visits and interviews were conducted with a number of courts during the fall of 2007 and spring 2008. Development of the gathered requirements continues and is expected to be complete by the end of 2010. OCA will provide training to the courts as part of the roll-out process.

The four main components of TAMES are Case Management, eFiling and Document Management, Chambers Management, and the Public Website. Planned functionality for each component includes:

Component	Functionality

Case Management	Screen Display Customization Features Docket Management Fees Collection Case Transfers Alert and Tickler Functionality Noticing Advanced Security Permissions Configurability State Bar of Texas Attorney Eligibility Verification Reports with Display Customization

eFiling and Document Management	Scanning & Image Processing Document Storage Document Generation (e.g. Notices, Judgments, Opinions) Document Indexing for Advanced Search Capability Attorney eFilings Clerk's Record eFilings Court Reporter's Record eFilings Annotation and Comment Sharing via PDF Functionality Document Publishing to Public Web

Chambers Management	Circulation of chamber documents Conference Management (Agendas, Voting. Access to Case Information) Recusal and Conflict Check Reporting Voting Reports with Display Customization

Public Website	Advanced Case Search Across Appellate Courts Advanced Document Search Across Appellate Courts Search Results Sort by Column and Export to Excel Broad Range of Case Search Filtering Options Case Mail Quick Links to View Case Detail and Documents