No trees were harmed in the handling of this appeal

Mark your calendars: The end of old-fashioned paper appeals in Texas just might be in sight. Carl Reynolds, administrative director of the State Office of Court Administration, says that by March of next year, the Texas Appeals Management and E-Filing System (TAMES) should be up and running. This is a bit different than the e-filing system many courts now use. Not only can lawyers file petitions for review and briefs via computer, the system also will move the entire appellate process to computers. That includes records and transcripts transferred from trial courts to appellate courts, the draft opinions appellate judges circulate between chambers and, of course, the final decisions of appellate courts. There will be no need to read an appellate decision on a piece of paper, unless a lawyer wants to for old time’s sake. “You could handle it completely digitally if you chose to,’’ Reynolds says of appeals in the future.
-- John Council