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Judicial Branch Announces Expansion of eFiling to include Criminal and Juvenile Cases in Lewiston and Auburn Courts
Date: 12/10/2024
The Maine Judicial Branch announced today that it is preparing to "go live" with eFileMaine for criminal cases in the Androscoggin County Unified Criminal Docket (UCD) located in the Auburn Superior and Lewiston District Courts, and juvenile cases in Lewiston District Court. The Judicial Branch expects to have eFileMaine ready in March of 2025. With the addition of criminal and juvenile cases, the implementation of Maine eCourts and eFiling will reach a significant milestone: Lewiston and Auburn courts will be the first State courts to fully implement all case types in the new electronic case management system.
Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill emphasized the significance of this implementation, stating, "The addition of criminal and juvenile case types in Lewiston and Auburn is a pivotal moment. It will allow us to accelerate our end goal of reducing paper, improving efficiencies, and eliminating antiquated systems statewide by enabling us to implement the full complement of case types in each trial court over the next couple of years."
Chief Justice Stanfill acknowledged the challenges in moving away from conventional filing. "One of the reasons we are announcing the implementation of eFiling for criminal and juvenile cases three months before our scheduled go live is that we recognize the need for additional training and support resources to assist attorneys and staff who will be transitioning from conventional filing to eFiling. We will be announcing a training schedule soon."
Attorneys and State and local government entities, except for law enforcement, will be required to use eFileMaine to electronically file documents in criminal and juvenile cases in Lewiston and Auburn courts when the system launches in March 2025. Self-represented litigants will not be required to eFile and may continue to file documents with the court as they do today.
In addition to Lewiston and Auburn courts, eFiling is currently available for all civil and family cases in the Business and Consumer Docket, Bangor courts and in Rumford, South Paris, and Farmington District Courts.
About Maine eCourts
Maine eCourts is a suite of applications and web-based tools that use Tyler Technologies' Enterprise Justice Software. The system allows for the management of court dockets and hearings, storage of digital case files, eFiling, and online payments. eFileMaine is Maines version of Tylers File & Serve platform.
To learn more about Maine eCourts, visit https://www.courts.maine.gov/ecourts/index.html. To stay informed about eFiling and other news from the Judicial Branch, sign up at: https://www.courts.maine.gov/news/signup.html.