Electronic Filing in the Wisconsin Courts of Appeal
The Wisconsin courts of appeal recently instituted a new electronic filing requirement, and I just electronically filed my first appellate brief. The electronic filing process, while not difficult, seems to be totally superfluous, since parties are still required to file paper copies of briefs, governed by some very detailed rules. For instance, let’s just address the cover pages, leaving alone all other specifics like font, page length, justification, etc.:
The covers of the appellant’s brief shall be blue; the respondent’s, red; a combined respondent−cross−appellant’s, red with a blue divider page; a combined reply−cross−respondent’s, gray with a red divider page; a guardian ad litem’s, yellow; a person other than a party, green; the reply brief, gray; and the appendix, if separately printed, white.
Moreover, when filing in the supreme court, an appellant must file 22 copies of its brief, and serve three on each 
party, while in the court of appeals, an appellant files 10 copies, and serves three on each party.
I’m a big fan of the federal district court model, in action for many years now. That system has the state process completely beat. It’s entirely paperless and does not require any messing around with colored covers, inserts, multiple copies and other details that are traps for the unwary or the inexperienced. I had hoped that the state would move directly to such a process, since most lawyers are already familiar with the federal system.
While this new state electronic filing requirement may be a step to a completely paperless system, right now it’s just an extra hole to fall into.
Stack of paper photo courtesy iLoveButter flickr gallery under this creative commons license.
