As a paralegal, you’ve got enough on your plate as it is, so is it any wonder that when the deadlines are short and the nights in the office are long, you could end up missing a small, but important detail in your county’s document filing process? Rejections can be caused by even the smallest missed detail, especially when every county jurisdiction seems to have its own court filing regulations, each unique in its own subtle ways.

Unfortunately, those slip-ups eat up your time in the form of combing through your document filing rules, resubmitting the documents, crossing your fingers—and maybe a few hours on the phone with the county clerk, too, if you’re especially unlucky. Court filing rejections waste your time, put more work on your plate, and distract you from the hard work you and your fellow back office are doing to make sure cases get won.

But don’t worry—the legal experts at MyFileRunner are here with some tips to help you navigate local court-specific eFile rules and ensure a smooth, error-free filing process.

Tips for Better Court Document Procedures

From keeping up-to-date with court-specific filing requirements to handling the sting of rejection, let’s take a look at what you can do to make the filing process smoother:

Stay updated on court-specific eFiling rules.

eFiling is easier and faster than hand-delivering physical documents yourself or via courier, but different jurisdictions have their own unique rules for it. Break one, and you’ll likely have to resubmit your documents. These rules can vary from one jurisdiction to another—it can feel like each county is its own little fiefdom where the clerk of courts sets their own rules just for fun.

They don’t, of course—but it certainly can feel that way sometimes.
Keep an organized log of the court filing regulations specific to the jurisdictions you’re filing in. Taking a little bit of time for research, especially if you find yourself having to file documents in a different county, can save you a lot of time in the long run.

But you don’t always have that kind of time, do you? Don’t worry, there’s a solution for that, too:

Use eFiling platforms that know your jurisdiction.

Some eFiling tools and services are designed to support compatibility with court-specific rules in your state, reducing the chances of errors putting you on the phone with the clerk and wasting more of your time. Just make sure to check if an eFiling platform’s service areas include the jurisdictions you file in. For example, MyFileRunner’s self-service and full-service eFiling solutions have been designed to support filing in most jurisdictions across Texas, California, and Illinois.

Conduct thorough reviews of your documents.

Before submission, double-check your entries for accuracy, consistency, and adherence to court-specific eFiling rules. Get a second set of eyes on your documents, too—a new perspective can catch details you can’t and that alone can be enough to save you hours responding to a court filing rejection!

Prepare for court filing rejections.

You can do all you can to prevent it, but rejections happen to even the best of us. You might have missed an important eFiling rule, the document might not have been prepared for upload properly, the appropriate copy fees might not have been accounted for, or an attorney might have just put the wrong information on the court document somewhere. Even GOATs like Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and LeBron James didn’t make every shot they threw. When a rejection does happen—hopefully less often—here’s what to do:

• Immediately review the document to pinpoint specific errors.
• Fix the simplest errors first.
• Use a checklist to ensure you’ve covered all necessary criteria before resubmission.
• Get a second set of eyes and/or use your eFiling platform for error checking.

Keep a line open to the clerks.

When you do receive a rejection, the clearer your communication lines with the clerks are, the sooner you can get clarification on filing requirements and fix the problems. Especially if the reasons for rejection are unclear, talking to the clerk for clarification can help you avoid similar rejections in the future.

Keep your documents secure and confidential.

The attorney-client relationship is built on a foundation of trust, and it’s your job to make sure that foundation stays stable. You have high standards to meet for court filing security and confidentiality. Meet them by:

• Using encrypted eFiling systems that ensure data remains secure during transfer. Login credentials are stored at the state level and shared across all eFiling platforms operating in your state, so make sure your passwords are strong. If you want to be especially secure, abide by NIST’s most recent password guidelines. NIST standards for cybersecurity are the gold standard, with many being used by defense contractors to protect sensitive military data.
• Properly cover up any sensitive information that does not need public disclosure with digital redaction tools, which do a better job ensuring full protection against court filing security risks while also taking less time and doing the job more accurately than a manual process could.

Preventing court filing errors, maintaining compliance with court-specific filing rules, and ensuring security and confidentiality is a lot of work, but the more effectively you do it, the less time and effort it will take.
But what if that’s still too much time and effort spent on filing documents while other necessary work for winning cases piles up on your desk?
That’s where we come in.

Save Time and Put Your Effort Where It Matters with MFR

eFiling doesn’t have to be a chore, and it doesn’t have to take up the precious little time you have to spend on other, more high-value tasks to win cases for your firm’s clients. Take back your time and do your part to win cases with MyFileRunner’s self-service and full-service e-filing services.

With our mastery of court filing regulations and requirements across California, Texas, and Illinois, we get it done fast and right so you don’t have to! Sign up and get started now:

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