Manatee launches e-filing system.

Four years after the Florida Supreme Court gave its official blessing to electronic filing of court documents, Manatee County is now poised to become the first clerk's office in Florida to finally make it happen.

As Manatee Clerk of the Circuit Court R.B. "Chips" Shore likes to say: "The courthouse is only a click away."

On July 15, the first area at the Manatee County courts to go live with electronic filing will be criminal cases for in-house, users. State attorneys, public defenders, and probation officers will receive information on defendants electronically from central booking, and the public records will be filed online throughout the duration of the case.

Thanks to two grants from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement totaling $483,553, Shore was able to design and develop the first electronic filing of criminal records system in the state to be approved by the Supreme Court.

The online criminal justice system replaces a trip to the courthouse and flipping through paper files, taking notes, or making Xerox copies. Instead, a few clicks of a mouse and a few taps on a keyboard will light up a personal computer screen with public information available at any time of day.

By August 15, Shore said, the clerk's office will set up accounts with attorneys who are willing to pay a $25 yearly fee to use this high-tech method of filing court documents on a secure website, a charge that is intended to prevent people from misusing the system. The court system administrator will authorize the attorney's account, and a unique password will be created for each attorney.

Next up, traffic cases by October 31, followed by civil records by December 31, and then recording of documents such as mortgages, deeds, and marriage licenses on February 1, 2002.

"It's been very exciting and very interesting work," Shore said. "My goal is to have as much information as possible online for the public and attorneys in-house.

It's a big help to us in the clerk's office, too, because it reduces the traffic into the courthouse. It's the wave of the future."

But not everyone is gung ho to go high-tech, concedes Karl Youngs, general counsel for the Manatee County Clerk of Court.

"The reaction has been mixed at this point. We still have some attorneys who only have one computer in their office and others are taking advantage of all the latest technology, and I'm sure there are even some still using a typewriter." Youngs said. "There's a huge spread of differences...