FLSD New CM/ECF 3.1 Features for Attorney Users

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida will upgrade the District CM/ECF Application (Release 3.1) software in May of 2008. An overview of the modifications, enhancements and new functionality available with this new release is summarized below. Information on our training classes and more detailed CM/ECF instructions can be found on our web site at: http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/CMECF/

Questions and comments regarding these changes can be directed to our ECF Help Desk at 1-888-318-2260.

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Beginning with Release 3.1 only registered attorneys, who are participating in a case, will receive one 'free look' at filed documents through the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF). Both primary and secondary e-mail addresses will continue to receive a 'free look'. Refer to the Maintaining Email Settings section for instructions on how to setup primary and secondary addresses. As noted below the text on the NEF explains this new functionality.

***NOTE TO PUBLIC ACCESS USERS*** Judicial Conference of the United States policy permits attorneys of record and parties in a case to receive one free electronic copy of all documents filed electronically if receipt is required by law or directed by the filer. PACER access fees apply to all other users. To avoid later charges, download a copy of each document during this first viewing.

The system allows a user to 'tag' cases in order to receive NEFs of filings in cases in which the user is not a participant. A user which has tagged cases will continue to receive a NEF along with a brief description of the filed document; however, the user will no longer get a 'free look'. The following message will appear when a user 'tags' a case by means of his/her primary e-mail address:

The following message will appear when a user tags a case by means of his/her secondary e-mail address:

The ‘free look’ does not apply when viewing documents in cases for which you are not a participant.

The Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) Service Center allows users to set formatting requirements for the Client Code field. Also, PACER users can say whether the Client Code should be mandatory when logging into CM/ECF. To implement these new features, PACER users should go to the PACER Service Center web site at http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov and click on Account Information.

a. PACER users now can determine whether they see billing receipts for every billable transaction. To set their billing receipt preference, PACER users should go to the PACER Service Center web site at http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov and click on Account Information.

b. The Related Transactions Query now bills only for the data that is displayed to the user. This change ensures that PACER users will not be overcharged for the results of the query.

c. PACER users now can access PDF documents for a case without first running a Docket Report. The new View a Document item on the Query menu presents the user with a single text entry field. If the user enters a document number in this field and the document is available to PACER users or to the specific

CM/ECF user, the Transaction Receipt is displayed. If the user clicks the [View Document] button, the document is displayed. This new query provides a way to access documents without first being charged to access the Docket Report.

Modifications were made to the following CM/ECF reports accessible through the PACER system:

Civil Cases Report. Users can now run the Civil Cases Report based on jurisdiction.

Criminal Cases Report. Users can now run the Criminal Cases Report based on citation code.

a. Electronic Public Access to Court-Generated Documents in Social Security Cases

Release 3.1 software has been programmed to allow remote electronic public access to any order, opinion, or judgment filed in a Social Security case on or after December 1, 2007, through the PACER system. Remote access to any other part of the case file or administrative record is restricted to case participants. This access also applies to any report and recommendation that is classified by the court as an opinion for purposes of the E-Government Act of 2002. Changes to the software were a result of pending Fed.R.Civ.P. 5.2(c)(2)(B) which went into effect on December 1, 2007.

Release 3.1 software has been programmed to limit remote access to immigration cases to comply with Rule 5.2 and will take effect immediately after the new release is available by our court. The new Immigration Nature of Suit codes (462, 463, and 465) are to be used to signify these cases in order to comply with Rule 5.2. A new Civil Cover Sheet (JS-44) will be available on our Forms page listed on our web site at www.flsd.uscourts.gov after the new Release.

A new cascading menu system allows users to navigate from one CM/ECF menu item to another by hovering over the main blue menu bar and selecting specific menu items from the cascading menus.

The full path and filename for any uploaded documents will be displayed on the Final Docket Text screen during docketing. This allows users to confirm that the proper documents have been uploaded for the docket entry.

When a user adds an attachment to a document via docketing the user must either select an attachment category or enter a description, or both before continuing.

With the new docket event search functionality, users can enter one or more characters in the docket event search field during docketing to execute more precise searches when selecting an event to docket. If a user enters multiple characters in the text field, the list of events is filtered to display those events that match that character pattern.

The new Event and Menu Search utility, labeled 'Search' is available on the blue menu bar for ECF users only (not PACER users). When clicked, a user can enter text in the search box to locate an ECF menu item or an ECF dictionary event. For example, searching on the text 'dis' will pull up the following:

Civil Appeal Documents --> Appeal of Magistrate Judge Decision to District Court

Each item is a hyperlink to the corresponding menu item or event, so the user can access the menu item or event right from the search results screen.

The Attorney Lead/Notice Designation screen includes check boxes that allow the filer to specify attorney/party associations when a previously unassociated attorney is identified during docketing. The check boxes are as follows (with the second two only available if the first is selected), and are shown here:

When adding an attachment during docketing, the instructions on Step 2 were changed to:

Before proceeding to step 3, describe the document using the Category list, the Description box, or both.

The wording on the NEF was changed as follows: 'Notice will be electronically mailed:' was changed to 'Notice has been electronically mailed to' and 'Notice will be delivered by other means to:' was changed to 'Notice has not been delivered electronically to those listed below and will be provided by other means. For further assistance, please contact our Help Desk at 1-888-318-2260.'

The text 'No document attached' appears on the NEF when no document/document number exists for the docket entry or when no document is attached but a document number exists.

The output of the Associated Cases Query now displays the other court name and case number, not just the case number. The format for the other court information is the same as that used for civil cases; a bold heading followed by a blank line and then a table with the court name in the left column and the case number in the right column.

The display of associations now includes terminated associates and the associated date. The associations are sorted with pending associations listed above terminated associations.

All pending parties are now included in the Case Summary query. Previously, the consolidated plaintiff and consolidated defendant parties did not appear in the output for the Case Summary query.

A hyperlink to the Docket Report was added to the output screen for the Related Transactions query.

The Party and Attorney queries now sort by case number: first by office number, then all four digits of the year, and then case type.

The options Nature of Suit and Cause of Action were added to the Sort by list on the selection criteria screen for the Civil Cases Report. The following warning message now appears at the top of the selection criteria screen for the Civil Cases Report:

The date range fields for the Civil Cases Report are now limited to a 31 day time period. If the user changes the date range to a time period greater than 31 days, the following message will appear, and the user must change the date range: 'Warning: The date range you entered is too large. Please enter a date range no larger than 31 days. Click OK to continue.' The user will not be able to run the report until the date range entered is at most 31 days.

Judges’ names now display properly on the Criminal Cases Report. Previously, a comma was printed between the first name and the last name (e.g., John, Smith). The Criminal Cases Report now provides subtotals based on the sort criteria selected by the user. The heading of the Criminal Cases Report now displays only at the beginning of the report. Previously, the heading was displayed in various locations when the report was printed.

The Category and Event for each event are now displayed on the report output when the user selects the Full Docket Text option on the selection screen.

Previously, the word ALL was added to the end of the case number at the top of the docket sheet when the Docket Report was run for all of the defendants in a multi-defendant case. If a court chose to display the judges’ initials at the end of case numbers, and a case did not have a magistrate judge, then the display of ALL was confusing because it could have been mistaken for the initials of a magistrate judge (for example, 1:01cr02415-MLW-ALL). The report now displays the words All Defendants next to the case number if it is run for all defendants.

Users can now select natures of suit from the selection screen of the Calendar Events Report. The report was modified so that if any natures of suit are chosen, only civil cases having the associated natures of suit and meeting other selection criteria will appear on the report; no criminal cases will appear. If the user doesn't’t select any natures of suit (meaning only the blank line of the field is selected), then the report will return all civil and/or criminal cases meeting the other selection criteria. The nature of

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 7.1 and Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 12.4 state all parties must disclose corporate affiliations and interests for all parties to reference for possible conflicts of interests.

The following new events allow parties to search and select from a dbase of corporations and affiliates to assist in providing this information. For complete corporate disclosure filing instructions, please refer to our attorney training manual p. 35:

In Maintain Your Account >E-mail Information, after the user enters an e-mail address in the proper format (a@b.c), the main options for that e-mail address appear.

To add additional cases to the list for this e-mail address, the user must select Additional Cases from the Additional Options drop down list. Then, the user can select Add from the Additional Cases to Receive NEFs drop down list that appears.

When the user enters a case number, if there is more than one case for the year and number entered, a pop-up window appears. The user is prompted to select the correct case from the list in the pop-up window. If the case number entered in the Enter case number field is not a valid case, a pop-up window appears stating such.

Once the user selects the appropriate case number, the case is added to the Additional Cases to Receive NEFs list. The user can add as many cases to the list as desired. To remove a case from the list, the user must select Remove from the Additional Cases to Receive NEFs drop down list and then click on the appropriate case number. A [Remove from List] button appears, allowing the user to remove the case from the list.

There are two delivery methods for receiving NEFs: individual and summary. The delivery method of choice is selected for all the cases in the user’s list. However, if the user wants to receive the opposite method of delivery for one or some cases, the user should select Delivery Method Exceptions from the Additional Options drop down list. If the user then selects Add from the Delivery Method Exceptions drop down list that appears, the user can select the case(s) to add for the other delivery method.

To add and configure additional e-mail addresses, the user should click the [Add Additional E-mail Address] button, which causes the Secondary E-mail Addresses field to appear.

If the user enters a valid e-mail address, the e-mail settings options appear for modification, which works the same as for the primary e-mail address. The user can change the format, delivery method, and active settings; add additional cases, remove cases; and set delivery method exceptions for the secondary e-mail address. For all attorney users, the Active checkbox is available only for additional e-mail addresses.

Cross-Document Hyperlinks

IMPORTANT NOTE: Including cross-document hyperlinks is an optional feature and is not required to file a document in CM/ECF. Instructions for creating cross-document hyperlinks using WordPerfect 11 or higher, or Microsoft Word 2002 or higher, are provided. Please be advised that the cross-document hyperlink can be broken if the document containing the hyperlink is modified or deleted during the clerk’s office quality control process. If this happens, the clerk’s office is unable to repair the hyperlink. Due to the “optional” nature of this feature and the complexities involved, the Clerk’s Office Help Desk personnel are unable to provide substantial support, and therefore will refer all users with cross-document hyperlink inquiries to these instructions.

CM/ECF users can now file a document that includes a hyperlink to a previously filed document. The hyperlink can be to a document in the same case, to a document in another case in the same U.S. District Court, or to a document in another U.S. District Court’s CM/ECF system.

Details about this new functionality:

• The hyperlink, as set by the filer, may link to the start of the document or to a specific page in the document.

• A filer can submit a document that includes a hyperlink to a document that is being filed in the same docketing transaction with the primary document (i.e., a Memorandum in Support of Summary Judgment may have a hyperlink to an attached document that is part of the same docketing transaction).

• Immediately after a document is filed in CM/ECF, that document will be available to be linked as a hyperlink in a subsequently filed document.

• A user cannot establish a hyperlink to a restricted document unless the user has the right to access that restricted document.

Things to remember about cross-document hyperlinks:

• This functionality has been tested and works properly with Corel WordPerfect 11 or higher and Microsoft Word 2002 or higher. Hyperlinks added to documents created in other word processing programs may not function properly once the documents are converted to PDF format.

• A WordPerfect document containing hyperlinks must be converted to PDF using the Publish to PDF feature in WordPerfect.

• A Microsoft Word document containing hyperlinks must be converted to PDF using the Adobe Acrobat application.

• The CM/ECF application will not verify the validity of URLs included as hyperlinks within documents filed in CM/ECF.

• Any document that includes a hyperlink must also include a description of the standard citation to the hyperlinked material. The hyperlink is a convenience, not a citation replacement.

• The changes for Release 3.1 only pertain to hyperlinks to CM/ECF documents. The ability to file a document with a hyperlink to any external URL (i.e., Westlaw, Lexis) is not affected by the new cross-document hyperlink functionality.

• Access to any hyperlinked document from within the original document will incur a PACER fee.

Creating Hyperlinks to Documents Already in the CM/ECF System

A file can be linked to another document in any database in the federal courts – District, Bankruptcy, and/or Appellate. To create a link between a document being filed in CM/ECF and a document that already exists in CM/ECF, follow the steps for either WordPerfect or Microsoft.

NOTE: Users should not copy hyperlinks from NEFs. The document hyperlink in NEFs contain special information that allows them to provide one “free look” to qualified recipients of the NEF. Instead of copying hyperlinks in NEFs, users should run a report in CM/ECF, such as the Docket Report, and copy the document number hyperlink from the report.

Using WordPerfect 11 or Higher

1. Access CM/ECF and run the docket report for the case that contains the document you want to link to.

2. Locate the document among the docket entries.

3. Copy the URL of the document to the clipboard. To do this, hover over the document link and click the right mouse button. Select Copy Shortcut (Internet Explorer or Netscape) or Copy Link Location (Firefox or Mozilla) from the selection list.

4. Open WordPerfect and locate the document to which the hyperlink should be added.

5. Click Tools on the toolbar and select Hyperlink from the drop-down list.

6. The Hyperlink Properties dialog box opens. Paste the URL into the Document/ Macro field (by clicking the right mouse button and selecting Paste or by using the CTRL + V command). You can append to the URL a citation to a specific page number within the document, if desired. To do this, type ?page=<page number> at the end of the URL. Click OK and the dialog box will close. The hyperlink text now is underlined indicating a hyperlink has been created.

7. Save the word processing document.

8. To convert the WordPerfect document to PDF format, click File on the toolbar, select Publish to and then PDF (or Publish to PDF depending on the version of WordPerfect you are using). Navigate, if necessary, to store the PDF document in a local directory. DO NOT PRINT A WORDPERFECT DOCUMENT TO ADOBE PDF WRITER. You must use Publish to PDF if the document contains a hyperlink. Printing to PDF is permitted if the document does not contain hyperlinks.

9. Docket an event in CM/ECF and add the PDF to the docket entry as usual.

Using Microsoft Word 2002 or Higher

1. Access CM/ECF and run the docket report for the case that contains the document you want to link to.

2. Locate the document among the docket entries.

4. Open Microsoft Word and locate the document to which the hyperlink should be added. In the document, highlight the citation text for which you wish to create the hyperlink.

5. Click Insert on the toolbar and select Hyperlink from the drop-down list.

6. The Insert Hyperlink window opens. Paste the URL in the Address field (by clicking the right mouse button and selecting Paste or by using the CTRL + V command). The URL of the CM/ECF document is pasted (displays) in the address field. You can append to the URL a citation to a specific page number within the document, if desired. To do this type ?page=<page number> at the end of the URL. Click the OK button and the dialog box will close. The hyperlink text now is underlined indicating a hyperlink has been created.

7. Save and close the word processing document.

8. To convert the Microsoft Word document to PDF format, the Adobe Acrobat application must be used. NOTE: If the document is open when the next step is executed an error message is returned. The Microsoft Word file must be closed before converting it to PDF.

9. Open the Adobe Acrobat application. Click on File in the toolbar and select Create PDF and then From File…

10. A navigation window opens. Navigate, if necessary, to the directory/folder where the Word document is stored. Select the document and click Open.

11. A series of windows open as the document is converted. When the conversion is completed, the document is displayed in an Adobe Acrobat window. NOTE: The hyperlink is converted automatically.

12. Close the Adobe file. Respond Yes to the save changes message and store the PDF document in the appropriate directory/file.

13. Docket an event in CM/ECF and upload the PDF file to the docket entry as usual.

Creating Hyperlinks between Documents Filed in the Same Event

It is possible to link two or more documents to be filed in the same event (i.e., you can create a hyperlink in the main document to an attachment) even when those documents were not filed previously in CM/ECF. To link documents being filed in the same docket event, follow the steps for either WordPerfect or Microsoft.

Using WordPerfect 11 or Higher

1. Create the secondary WordPerfect document(s) – the attachment – to which the main document will be linked. Publish the secondary document(s) to PDF. To convert the WordPerfect document to PDF format, click File on the toolbar, select Publish to and then PDF (or Publish to PDF depending on the version of WordPerfect you are using). Navigate, if necessary, to store the PDF document in a local directory. DO NOT PRINT A WORDPERFECT DOCUMENT TO ADOBE PDF WRITER. You must use Publish to PDF if the document contains a hyperlink. Printing to PDF is permitted if the document does not contain hyperlinks.

2. Create/open the main document (i.e., the document that will have the hyperlink to the secondary document).

3. With the main WordPerfect document open, select the text in the main document that will be displayed as the hyperlink. Click Tools on the toolbar and select Hyperlink from the drop-down selection list. The Hyperlink Properties box is displayed.

4. Click the Folder icon next to the Document/Macro field.

5. Navigate to the folder that contains the secondary document (attachment document) to be linked. Highlight the file and click the Select button. NOTE: The file selected as the link must be in .pdf format.

6. You can append to the file name a citation to a specific page number within the document, if desired. To do this type ?page=<page number> at the end of the URL.

7. Click OK in the Hyperlink Properties box. The hyperlink text will be underlined.

8. Save the main WordPerfect document.

9. Publish the document to PDF. To convert the WordPerfect document to PDF format, click File on the toolbar, select Publish to and then PDF (or Publish to PDF depending on the version of WordPerfect you are using). Navigate, if necessary, to store the PDF document in a local directory. DO NOT PRINT A WORDPERFECT DOCUMENT TO ADOBE PDF WRITER. You must use Publish to PDF if the document contains a hyperlink. Printing to PDF is permitted if the document does not contain hyperlinks.

10. Docket an event in CM/ECF and upload the main document and attachments as usual.

Using Microsoft Word 2002 or Higher

1. Create the secondary Microsoft Word document(s) – the attachment – to which the main document will be linked. To convert the Microsoft Word document to PDF format, the Adobe Acrobat application must be used. NOTE: If the document is open when the next step is executed an error message is returned. The Microsoft Word file must be closed before converting it to PDF. Open the Adobe Acrobat application. Click on File in the toolbar and select Create PDF and then From File… A navigation window opens. Navigate, if necessary, to the directory/folder where the Word document is stored. Select the document and click the Open button. A series of windows open as the document is converted. When the conversion is completed, the document is displayed in an Adobe Acrobat window. NOTE: The hyperlink is converted automatically. Once the file has been successfully converted to PDF, save the document and close Adobe Acrobat.

2. Create/open the main document (i.e., the document that will have the hyperlink to the secondary document).

3. With the main Microsoft Word document open, select the text in the main document that will be displayed as the hyperlink. Click Insert on the toolbar and select Hyperlink from the drop-down selection list.yperHypklfkals

4. Navigate to the folder that contains the secondary document (attachment document) to be linked. Highlight the file and click the OK button. NOTE: The file selected as the link must be in .pdf format.

5. The name of the selected file displays in the Address field. You can append to the file name a citation to a specific page number within the document, if desired. To do this type ?page=<page number> at the end of the URL.

6. Click the OK button and the dialog box will close. The hyperlink text will be underlined.

7. Save the Word document. Publish the document to PDF using Adobe Acrobat.

8. Docket an event in CM/ECF and upload the main document and attachments as usual.

Accessing Documents via Hyperlinks in Other Documents

Accessing documents via a cross-document hyperlink works the same as when documents are accessed via a document number hyperlink in a report or query.

If the user clicks on a hyperlink to a CM/ECF document but has not logged in to a CM/ECF server, a PACER login screen is presented before the document can be displayed. Once the user has logged in to a CM/ECF server as a PACER user, this login ID will provide access to documents on other CM/ECF servers for the duration of the browser session or until the user logs out of the CMECF application. The billing receipt and confirmation will be displayed to users logged in with a PACER account before the document can be displayed.