Speaking as a guy who makes his living looking at court documents, the announcement this month that people now can view Dallas County District Court records via the Internet was huge. There will be no need to schlep down to the basement of the civil courts building and wait for a clerk to get a document for me; I can access filings from where I’m writing this blog post. While it doesn’t match the federal court system, where just about every unsealed document filed in any court can be viewed, it’s getting there, says Dallas County District Clerk Gary Fitzsimmons. “This is phase one. We have more than 13 million records that are available online from the felony courts, the civil district courts and the family district courts.” Not all of the courts have had their files put online yet, but Fitzsimmons expects that will happen by fall. Many of his clerks are working weekends to convert courts to an electronic operation. And Fitzsimmons strongly urges lawyers to file pleadings electronically whenever possible because his clerks put a higher priority on them. “If you file by paper it’s going to get slower and slower and slower,” he says of the line in his office.
--- John Council
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