The Brief - July 2012

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Vol. 8, No. 7                                                                                                                       July 2012

Moving 2012-07
Moving? Changing Firms?
Whether you or the entire firm are moving to a new office, remember to keep your information updated with the Clerk’s Office, including your preferred email address. The accuracy of the attorney address database depends on your timely updates and what you put into the system. This impacts regular mail, minute entries and other notices from the Clerk and Court. Changes to attorney contact information can be made on the Clerk’s website at http://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/address_change_form.asp. You should also contact the Clerk’s Office if you notice a former employee’s documents are still being sent to your firm.  
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Fileroom 2012-07
ECR to Double Over Two Years
The Clerk’s Office recently started its largest-ever scanning project. A records management and information technology company will scan and convert over 337,000 court case files into 56 million electronic images for storage in the Clerk’s electronic court record (ECR). The project will take over 24 months, eliminating almost 8,500 square feet of files and file shelving and double the size of the Office’s electronic records repository. The conversion of these records will achieve many key records management objectives for the office: Improve faster access to the records for the staff and the public; improve security of the records; reduce liability of the Clerk’s Office due to elimination of accidental damage and lost or misplaced documents; and improve long-term storage and physical space strategy for the Office’s growth and the millions of records it manages. Stay tuned to The Brief for project updates.
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ECR Online 2012-07
ECR Milestones
Ten years ago the Clerk’s Office started digitizing all paper records in adult case-type Superior Court cases. Paper documents in cases that originated in 2002 went through a time-intensive dual process to scan and maintain the digital image and keep the paper record in a physical case file.
Five years ago, effective 1/1/07, the Arizona Supreme Court designated the electronic court record as the official record in the Superior Court in Maricopa County. This designation recognized the security and dependability of the ECR and allowed the Clerk’s Office to destroy the paper, thus reclaiming much-needed space for an increasing number of filings. Multiple quality assurance checks and improving technology allow the Clerk’s Office to maintain the electronic record more reliably and faster than the standards for paper.
This year the Clerk’s Office was recognized with an innovation award from the National Association of Counties for the ECR Online, which makes public records in individual cases available over the internet to parties and their attorneys.
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