Connectivity refers to the phase of the ECR Program that provided judges and Law, Safety, and Justice partner agencies throughout King County with access to the electronic court record via the King County Wide Area Network (WAN). During this phase, the electronic record replaced the paper record as the official version of the court record.

Members of the Washington State Bar Association must complete 45 hours of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) every three years. The King County Clerk offers one-hour eFiling application CLE demonstrations for lawyers and legal practitioners as well as a ten hour CLE workshop covering the principal functions of the Clerk’s Office services.

Core ECR is the Clerk’s office internal electronic court records management system.  Creation and implementation of Core ECR was the first phase of the ECR Program. E-filed and scanned documents are committed, indexed, processed and maintained by Core ECR.

There are two courts of limited jurisdiction in Washington: district courts and municipal courts. District courts are county courts serving defined county territories.  Municipal courts are created by and serve cities and towns.  Courts of limited jurisdiction are responsible for: misdemeanor criminal cases; traffic, non-traffic, and parking infractions; domestic violence protection orders; civil actions of $75,000 or less; and small claims up to $5,000.

The Department of Judicial Administration is also known as the Superior Court Clerk’s Office and the County Clerk’s Office. DJA serves as a customer service office of the Superior Court and manages all records of Superior Court cases. DJA also manages receipt, disbursement, and trust accounting of all fees, fines, and payments made in Superior Court cases.

The ECR Master Plan is a 1998 document that guided the development of the ECR Program in King County. Similar to a strategic plan, the Master Plan set the mission, vision, goals, and strategies for the ECR Program.

ECR Online is an online application that allows public access to Superior Court documents. ECR Online is a fee-based application, and online access is limited by King County Local Rule 31 to adult criminal, civil (no protection orders), and most probate cases. See www.kingcounty.gov/courts/clerk/access-records/ECR-online for more information.

The Electronic Court Records (ECR) Program is a multi-phased project first envisioned in the early 1990s. The ECR Program is the process by which King County Superior Court began using an electronic court record.

The ECR Viewer enables the Superior Court case document retrieval and viewer application used by the public in the Clerk’s office, judicial officers from the bench and in chambers, court staff and King County’s “Law, Safety and Justice” agencies connected to the King County Wide Area Network (WAN).

The eFiling application allows users to submit document files electronically to the clerk’s office to start a new case and file into an existing case, or to e-serve e-filed documents upon agreement, and submit judicial officers’ working copies and document to the Ex Parte/Probate department electronically via the Clerk. See: www.kingcounty.gov/courts/clerk/documents/efiling.

ECR refers to the Superior Court’s Electronic Court Record, which is the official court record as allowed by RCW 36.23.065.

eWorking copies include any documents in support of or in opposition to a proceeding that has been electronically submitted via the eFiling application.  For more information, see the King County Superior Court local rules for working copies requirements, and the eWorking copies web page at www.kingcounty.gov/courts/clerk/documents/eWC.

Located on the Puget Sound in Washington State, and covering 2,134 square miles, King County is home to more that 1.9 million people and ranks as the 14^th most populous county in the United States. See: www.kingcounty.gov/ for more information about King County and King County government.

Consistent with state court rules, local courts in Washington are authorized to make and amend local court rules. For example, King County Local Rule 30 mandates e-filing for attorneys per authorization by Washington State General Rule 30. See www.kingcounty.gov/courts/clerk/rules for more information.

Law, Safety, and Justice agencies are those partner agencies connected to the Department of Judicial Administration via the King County Wide Area Network (WAN). They include the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Office of Public Defenders, the Sheriff’s Office, District Court, and the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention.

Standards for electronic court filing have been developed primarily through efforts of the Oasis Legal XML Electronic Court Filing Technical Committee. During the ECR Program, DJA supported an employee representative’s active involvement in the development of the standards and participation on the technical committee. For additional information see www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=legalxml-courtfiling.

Washington State Superior Courts are trial courts of general jurisdiction. Superior Courts are responsible for: civil matters involving more than $300, unlawful detainers and injunctions; felony criminal cases; misdemeanor criminal cases not otherwise provided for by law; family legal disputes, including dissolutions, child support, adoptions, parentage, and domestic-violence protection matters; probate and guardianship matters; juvenile offender matters; juvenile dependencies, including abused and neglected children, children in need of services, at-risk youth, and truancies; and mental illness and involuntary commitment matters. In 2010, over 75,000 new cases were filed in the King County Superior Court. See www.kingcounty.gov/courts/SuperiorCourt.

The Superior Court Clerk in King County is appointed by a majority of the Superior Court Judges and, per King County Charter 350.20.20, serves as the director of the Department of Judicial Administration.

Superior Court Judges are elected to four year terms. To qualify, a person must be an attorney admitted to practice in Washington. King County has 53 Superior Court Judges. See: www.kingcounty.gov/courts/SuperiorCourt/judges.

Use Cases are developmental tools used during the establishment of the ECR Program. Each Use Case describes a specific work process or functionality. Use Cases were used to clarify DJA’s needs as the technical architecture for the ECR Program was developed.