Virginia Lawyers Weekly

As Virginia court clerks begin to make electronic case records available in their offices and even online for members of the bar, officials hope to reassure lawyers that electronic court records are no more publicly available than the old paper records.

Some lawyers have expressed concern that the digital scanning of records will lead to their clients’ private information becoming easily available to the general public. Not so, say the most tech-savvy clerks.

“It’s going to be the same public information access regime, the same law. It’s just a different medium. Get over it,” said Jack Kennedy, clerk of the Wise County Circuit Court.

Clerks like Kennedy are leading the movement to a “paperless” clerk’s office, where documents are filed and stored electronically, and all involved – including the lawyers and judges – will find what they need on a computer screen. The first step, underway now in courthouses across the commonwealth, is scanning files for computer storage.

It’s that scanning that has some lawyers worried. They think it means that anyone with Internet access is going to be reading their client’s private information online.

“People get crazy about that stuff,” said George Schaefer, the Norfolk Circuit Court Clerk. He explains that Web access is available only for members of the bar. Furthermore, he says that there are no documents available electronically that are not available already in the files in paper form.

At a recent bench-bar conference in Roanoke, questions arose about how lawyers should ask a judge to keep private information private. There was uncertainty about whether asking for a document to be “sealed” was different from asking that it not be electronically scanned.
Kennedy and Schaefer explained that everything is being scanned, but any document can be sealed electronically. If a judge orders a document sealed, the paper document is put in a sealed paper envelop. The electronic version is placed in a computer “folder” that blocks public access to that document.

“If it’s sealed in the paper file, it’s sealed on the computer. If it’s open in the paper file, it’s open on the computer,” said Shaefer.

Schaefer says that some 32 courts are now using the case imaging system provided by the Supreme Court of Virginia to make electronic copies of court documents.

In Wise County, Kennedy said that he already has terminals in the courthouse for access to case documents, and terminals are being hardwired in the commonwealth’s attorney’s offices.
Both Kennedy and Schaefer say they are installing strong protections for Web access. Only lawyers who register are allowed to use the system through the Internet. “I trust lawyers. I trust them to want to retain their law license,” said Kennedy.

The goal is quicker and easier access to information. As Kennedy said, “This is by and for lawyers to enhance judicial efficiency and the efficiency and profitability of law offices.”
In Norfolk, Schaefer explained that he is testing Web access with nine selected lawyers, making changes based on their input.

“One lawyer said that he saved at least 15 different phone calls and trips to the courthouse. He’s had [access] less than a week,” said Schaefer.

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