News Release

Supreme Court Launches Mandatory eFiling

Court publishes amended rules, FAQs for mandatory electronic filing beginning September 1.
Sep 1, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO—The Supreme Court of California today launched mandatory eFiling and published amended rules and other resources to support expansion of its electronic filing system.

The court adopted a phased approach to implementing eFiling, which started July 10 and was initially voluntary. The amended rules released today reduce the related number of paper copies required for civil and criminal filings to one.

“The launch of mandatory eFiling marks a major milestone for the Supreme Court,” said Jorge Navarrete, Court Administrator and Clerk of the Court. “This more technologically advanced system of filing petitions benefits everyone involved—attorneys, the public and the court—resulting in increased efficiency and cost savings.”

Documents that now must be submitted through the eFiling system include: petitions for review; answers to petitions for review; replies to answers; all other applications, motions, and correspondence in connection to the aforementioned documents in civil and criminal proceedings; and all documents in capital cases. E-filing is not mandatory for self-represented litigants.

The Supreme Court Rules Regarding Electronic Filing govern the implementation of the court’s electronic filing system.

Today’s amendments to the rules concern these topics:

• Rule 5. Submission of paper copies of electronically filed documents
• Rule 9. Service
• Rule 10. Format and size of electronically filed documents

The Supreme Court eFiling web page now includes links and frequently asked questions to assist users with technical questions and electronic document preparation.

The Supreme Court of California uses the ImageSoft TrueFiling system, which is also used by five California Courts of Appeal Districts. All six districts will be on the system by November 2017.