Are you eCourt Ready

Posted on 11242014 by beverlym

On December 1 2014 eCourt will become mandatory for the eleven circuit courts that currently have the Oregon eCourt system including the eFiling requirement Follow these steps to get ready for the mandatory transition

1 Get a credit or debit card that can be used to pay court fees online The Odyssey eFile amp Serve System (eCourt) accepts Visa MasterCard and Discover Learn more about eCourt filing fees here

2 Create an eCourt account by registering with Odyssey eFile amp Serve Donrsquot wait do it now If you need

assistance setting up your account it may be difficult to reach Technical Support on the December 1 effective date Registration is only a few steps Choose an account type enter your name contact information and e-mail address then create a password Sole practitioners should register as a ldquoFirm Administratorrdquo

3 Check your e-mail inbox for an activation link from Tylerhostnet ndash the vendor that operates Odyssey eFile amp Serve for Oregon Click on the activation link to finish creating your account

4 Login to Odyssey eFile amp Serve with your e-mail address and newly created password click on the Firm Administrator tab and set up a payment account (credit card) [Note if you are a firm member who created an individual user account this step was completed by your Firm Administrator]

5 Check your ldquotechrdquo To be an e-filer lawyers will need a scanner and PDF conversion software with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) capability More on this below

6 Sign up for one of the free one-hour training sessions on how to use Odyssey eFile amp Serve There are three classes this week and additional classes scheduled for December See the complete class listing here During the training you can ask questions If desired take the training more than once

7 Watch the Oregon eCourt Update CLE presented on November 19 2014 ndash available for Oregon lawyers to

stream or download free of charge on the Professional Liability Fund (PLF) website This CLE provides an overview of the rules and includes a question and answer session with Oregon Judicial Department staff

8 Read Chapter 21 of the Uniform Trial Court Rules ndash Filing and Service by Electronic Means ndash and the Chief Justice Orders adopting out-of-cycle amendments

9 Get an OJCIN Account (Oregon Judicial Case Information Network) OJCIN is the official website of Register of Actions and judgment records for the State of Oregon Judicial Department OJCIN includes OJIN (Oregon Judicial Information Network) OECI (Oregon eCourt Case Information Network) and ACMS (Appellate Case Management System) If you want to view case activity and access documents online you must have an OJCIN account ($3500 per month)

10 Monitor the Oregon State Bar (OSB) and PLF websites Using the discussion from the Oregon eCourt Update CLE OSB staff are preparing answers to frequently asked eCourt questions that will be posted in the near future This information will also be accessible on the PLF website

Buying a Scanner

Mac users can search for ldquotop rated scannersrdquo at MacWorld If you have Windows OS check out the online reviews at PC Magazine The Fujitsu ScanSnap ix500 was voted the best scanner of the year in 2013 by MacWorld and comes bundled with Acrobat XI Standard for Windows (You can ndash and should ndash upgrade to Acrobat XI Pro for a few more bucks See below)

Brother scanners are popular too A ldquocombordquo machine ndash combination printerscannercopier may also be a good choice depending on your needs Check the sources listed above for product reviews

When yoursquove chosen a scanner make and model use sites or apps like PriceGrabber and Google Shopper to find the best prices Include shipping costs for the best head-to-head comparison

PDF Conversion Software with OCR Capability

All documents submitted via the eCourt system must be text searchable PDFs PDF conversion software with OCR capability (Optical Character Recognition) turns your scanned documents into text searchable PDFs The free Adobe Reader software cannot do this

For PDF conversion software nothing beats Adobe Acrobat XI in this authorrsquos opinion (Get the ldquoPrordquo version for the redaction features) While it may seem that you have no choice but to subscribe to Acrobat on a monthly basis you can still purchase the product outright Call sales at 800-585-0774 for details My two cents Buy the subscription Adobe is running a 25 off sale through December 3 A subscription to Acrobat XI Pro is $1499 per month

(normally $1999) Subscriptions are locked in for one year and include all upgrades free of charge plus free telephone support If you purchase Acrobat XI Pro outright you must buy the upgrades separately Free telephone support ends in 30 days although other support options remain available

PrimoPDF and Nuance Power PDF Advanced are worth a look too but donrsquot have all the bells and whistles of Acrobat

Using Your Scanner and PDF Conversion Software with OCR Capability

Use your scanner and PDFOCR software to

Create searchable PDFs of your pleading documents for eFiling

Create searchable PDFs of attachments to pleading documents (eg a scanned copy of a Last Will and Testament attached to a petition for probate ndash a copy of the Will is eFiled with the petition the original Will must be filed conventionally)

Create searchable PDFs of signature pages or signed documents (Text on the page will be searchable signatures will not)

Note Lawyers sign eCourt documents using a conformed signature s Lawyer Name If you are eFiling a document containing signatures other than your own you must scan the signature page or the entire document

Master the Tech and Make Your Life Easier

If you arenrsquot already using a version of Word WordPerfect or OpenOffice with built-in PDF conversion upgrade now

When you convert to PDF directly from within Word WordPerfect or OpenOffice your document is automatically text searchable No need to scan

Always choose File gt Print gt to create a PDF from your word processing program Select File gt Print find the PDF printer in your printer list (Adobe PDF for example) click Print give your document a name and save it in the desired location When you create a PDF by selecting File gt Save As gt PDF or File gt Publish to PDF you are converting all the metadata in your document Additionally files that are ldquopublishedrdquo to PDF are about 80 larger than documents that are ldquoprintedrdquo to PDF

Digital pleading templates are the way to go If you are printing the body of your document on numbered pleading paper you will need to scan and OCR your documents for eFiling If you arenrsquot familiar with digital pleading templates check out these options from Microsoft [Note conform all templates to meet Oregon court rules]

Troubleshooting

Donrsquot struggle on your own Call Odyssey eFile amp Serve free technical support at 18002975377 Monday through Friday 700 am to 900 pm Central Time Tech support can help with the following issues

Browser error messages

Registering with Odyssey eFile amp Serve

Setting up payment accounts payment account troubleshooting

How to initiate a filing

How to file a document into an existing case

How to eServe parties

Use the Knowledge Base

You can find quite a bit of useful information in the Odyssey eFile amp Serve Knowledge Base which is divided into these categories Administration Court Contact eFiling eService Notifications and Support and Training

Under Administration learn about attorney management fees firm information passwords payment accounts reconciliation registration and user management Under Court Contact find telephone numbers and other contact information for Multnomah Yamhill Crook and Clatsop County Circuit Courts eFiling provides information on the

active locations for eCourt describes the filing process document status and how to create templates in the eFiling workspace Under eService read answers to commonly asked questions such as where do I find proof of service for a filing I submitted (Also see Notifications) Access the Knowledge Base here Look for this sidebar on the left side of your screen

[All Rights Reserved ndash 2014 ndash Beverly Michaelis]