External User and Attorney Training                             Court Training    

If you have any questions, email Gordon_Huey@mssd.uscourts.gov

What is CM/ECF?

CM/ECF stands for Case Management / Electronic Case Filing - and it is the new way the U.S. Courts are doing business. Why make this change? The old ICMS system utilizes a database management system that is no longer supported. Also, this change allows the courts, and attorneys, to take advantage of lower operating costs, less storage room, and higher efficiency. 

Starting in 2005, any document filed in a case will be filed using the CM/ECF application through the Internet. Attorneys will be issued logins and passwords, and will be able to login to the ECF website, and will file their documents in Portable Document Format (PDF). One of the benefits of the PDF format is that the document is unchangeable. The filing can still be viewed and printed, just not edited in any way. When a document is filed by either party, all parties get a Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF), which is in the form of an email. The NEF contains a link to the document filed, and the attorney only needs to click on the link within 15 days to receive a free viewing of the document. The attorney is able to print out a copy of the document at that time. Viewing of docketed case information on the CM/ECF system will be done much the way the old system is currently viewed. Training on the CM/ECF system will be provided by the courts.