Effective October 15, 2010, the St. Clair County Circuit Clerk began an electronic filing pilot program. The e-filing process will be phased in over several months starting with CH cases and gradually expanding to all non-criminal case types. L cases will be next and likely phased in December. Training for attorneys and paralegals wishing to utilize electronic filing will be held December 8, 2010, from 11-12, in the St. Clair County Board Room. This training is sponsored in part by the St. Clair County Bar Association so attorneys will receive 1 hour of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit. The training is free of charge. Local rules for e-filing will be available for distribution at that time.
There is no extra charge for e-filing beyond the current filing fees, but attorney suspense accounts are required for an attorney or firm to electronically file a document which has a statutory filing fee. Filing fees will be deducted from these accounts as documents are e-filed. Government agencies exempt from filing fees will not be required to have suspense accounts. Documents without a filing fee can be filed electronically without a suspense account. A letter has gone out to all attorneys explaining how they can submit a letter of intent to participate to Deputy Clerk Jean Brown who will provide them with subsequent information and instructions about setting up an account. Attorneys and firms will be required to maintain sufficient funds in the account which can be monitored on our website using an assigned password.
E-filing is not mandatory like the federal system, so paper pleadings and documents will still be accepted. E-service is not part of the pilot program, but will be available in later upgrades.
The St. Clair County Circuit Clerk’s E-Filing system utilizes i2file, a web-based service in use in DuPage, McHenry, and Will counties in Illinois. Attorneys and paralegals can go to www.i2file.net to see the attorney registration process and a user manual. Please attend the training on December 8 for further information or contact Circuit Clerk Kahalah A. Dixon at kahalah.dixon@co.st-clair.il.us .
Please review the E-Filing Local Rules.
Go to www.i2file.net to register for e-filing.