More municipal court systems going paperless

Across the country, the convenience and ease of using paperless processes behind the scenes in courthouses has caught on in a major way. Instead of taking the time to look up physical documents in cavernous file rooms and comb through them to find the required information, details of potentially decades-old cases can be pulled up with a few clicks and keystrokes.

In Texas' Parker and Tom Green Counties, going paperless with new cases – and even those closed years ago – is relatively new, but it's already proving popular with judges, lawyers and clerks alike, according to American City & County. Instead of adding even more paper files to crowded archives, Parker County is now digitizing everything new that comes into its system, while Tom Green County went back and digitized existing records as well.

Paying dividends
In both cases, the decision to go paperless – and use automated workflows and document management platforms to operate more efficiently and effectively – comes with big benefits, the report said. In Tom Green County in particular, an old file room that had become obsolete due to the implementation of the new platform was transformed into an additional courtroom to handle an ever-growing number of cases.

What's the value?
In addition to freeing up physical space, digitizing large collections of files and more efficiently processing documents means lower-level judicial systems become more effective, according to the National Center for State Courts. As a consequence of adoption, courts are put in a better position to reduce an existing backlog of cases to try, more effectively schedule future hearings and manage the flow of documents and cases throughout the overall court system.

For all these reasons and more, decision makers who are weighing adoption of a document management platform for everything from a small municipal court to an entire state judicial system would be wise to take the plunge sooner than later.