You’ve prepared your firm by attending a webinar on eFiling in Los Angeles, carefully reviewed the resources on eFiling in LA, and trained key filers in your law office on the requirements and process.
You successfully file your document. Congrats! Now what?
Here’s what you need to know about the eFiling process after you click submit, and what you’ll need to do next.
Court-side steps
When your electronically filed document reaches the court, it will be reviewed by the clerk, checking to make sure that all the requirements have been met. Once it is accepted, the document will be automatically uploaded to the court’s case management system. From here court staff and judicial officers can electronically view the case documents without printing or maintaining a physical court file.
Documents will not be printed, and it is the electronic record that is the official court record, as set forth in Government Code 68150(a).
Turnaround time for filed-endorsed copies depends on the type of document, but the court anticipates that many filings will be processed within 24 hours. Proposed orders, writs, abstracts, and other documents requiring further action by the court will likely take longer than 24 hours to process.
Accessing returned documents
Next, be on the lookout for your conformed copies. You’ll receive an email when your filing has been accepted with a link to download your returned documents or you can retrieve them any time afterward from your One Legal portal.
As the filing party, you will be able to view the documents you submitted immediately through your One Legal portal. All other parties will be able to view a document upon acceptance on public terminals located at any Los Angeles County courthouse. This is because a document is not considered filed until it is accepted by the court.
File stamp
With eFiled documents, look for a filing stamp “ribbon” appearing on the top of the first page of the returned document. This will indicate that it has been accepted by the court, just as a filing stamp does now.
New filings
If you’re filing a brand-new case, you will see the assigned case number and judicial assignment listed on the top of the first page of the returned document upon acceptance.
Certified copies
Need a certified copy of your document? Request from the Court’s records unit by mail or in person. In the future, the Court will be certifying documents electronically.
Judicial review
Judicial Officers will continue to consider all documents, regardless of method of submission. eFilings will be reviewed via the case management system, but any original documents that are not eFiled will still be considered.
The Court is sharing more information every day about the process of eFiling in Los Angeles. Check back on this blog weekly for more tips and tricks for the transition to electronic court filing in your firm.
