Associated Press
MISSISSIPPI (AP) — Every circuit, chancery and county court across Mississippi’s 82 counties is finally part of the statewide electronic court system, completing a 20-year mission to have a uniform digital court system.
Nathan Evans, the director of the Mississippi Electronic Courts, said in a news release from the Administrative Office of the Courts, that the statewide implementation of the system marks a milestone for the judiciary.
“With both appellate courts and all 188 Chancery, Circuit and County Courts now operating on a single, centralized case management and e-filing system, we have taken a significant leap in efficiency, transparency, and access to justice for the public we serve,” Evans said.
Electronic court implementation was voluntary in trial courts until the Legislature passed HB 25 in 2020, which was signed into law, requiring local trial courts to be fully integrated with the digital system by July 2, 2021. Court leaders at the time notified state officials it would be impossible to meet the deadline and asked the Legislature to appropriate more money for the court to integrate all trial courts into the electronic system adequately.
The Legislature did not provide more money for to complete the job of training local chancery and circuit clerk employees in every corner of the state on how to use the system, but officials proceeded with the tough task.
However, the achievement means that attorneys can electronically file legal briefs in every state court, and the public can view court documents through the Mississippi Electronic Court system by subscribing to the system and paying a 20-cents per-page viewing fee. If citizens still want to view court records without paying the viewing fee, they can go to the proper courthouse and look at the legal filings on the public court terminal.
Prior to the release, it took a performance storm almost 20 years ago that involved a whiteboard in Canton, the U.S. Senate’s seniority system and a gift from the federal court for Mississippi’s electronic court system to get off the ground.
Bill Waller, Jr., an associate justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court at the time, realized that if the state’s highest court didn’t step in and provide some guidance on an electronic system, then the state could eventually have a patchwork of different programs. So, he encouraged Chief Justice James Smith to create a task force exploring electronic courts.
Justice Smith followed Waller’s advice and formed a committee of judges, court clerks and attorneys. Soon, the task force began meeting and listened to a presentation from J.T. Noblin, the clerk of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Noblin walked the task force members through how attorneys and judges used the federal electronic filing system that was in place across federal district courts in the country.
Members of the task force traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, Mississippi’s senior senator, who served as chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, to discuss the federal electronic court system. Cochran used his position as chairman of the committee to slip a provision into the federal judiciary’s appropriation bill that required the federal courts to give the Mississippi court system its federal electronic software and code for free, saving state taxpayers a large sum of money.
After the legislation passed, the wonky and technical work of actually creating a Mississippi version of the federal system began.
Federal courts deal with criminal and civil cases, similar to Mississippi’s Circuit Court system. However, the Chancery Court deals with estates, adoption, custody, divorce and questions about the Mississippi Constitution.
While the work took decades to complete, Waller hopes that ultimately the openness that comes with an electronic court can improve the public’s image of the judiciary, and make attorneys’ jobs easier.
“It’s a beautiful success story for the state,” Waller said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
(Photo of Mississippi State Supreme Court by Rogelio Solis/AP and Inside Photo of Pass Christian Municipal Court by Hunter Dawkins/The Gazebo Gazette via SuperTalk News/AP)
