NMI courts go high-tech with filing system

DAYTON, Ohio—(Business Wire)—Electronic filing continues to expand well beyond the continental borders of the United States. The Superior Court of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands today affirmed this with the selection of the LexisNexis(R) File & Serve electronic filing and service system. LexisNexis U.S. is a leading provider of information and services solutions.

As part of the agreement, File & Serve will be used in civil cases with the Superior Court, which is located in Saipan, Rota and Tinian. Following this initial implementation, the electronic filing service will be expanded to include cases with the Northern Mariana Islands Supreme Court.

File & Serve provides automated docketing and real-time online access to filed documents. The service also provides links to legal citations through the Lexis(R) service from directly within the application, giving the court and attorneys a more convenient approach to researching their cases. Attorneys further benefit with the elimination of the physical delivery of documents to the court and opposing counsel.

“We are very pleased to be implementing LexisNexis File & Serve to improve docket management,” said Associate Justice John A. Manglona of the Northern Mariana Islands Supreme Court. “It is important for us to remain on the forefront of technology in order to provide the courts and our constituents in the legal community with the best service available.”

One of the benefits of File & Serve is the 24/7 availability. Due to the remote location of the Commonwealth, there is a significant disparity with time zones in other parts of the U.S.—as much as a nine-hour difference with the East Coast. With File & Serve, that time difference becomes a non-issue. The 24/7 availability not only benefits the court and attorneys within the Northern Mariana Islands, but also those who reside in other parts of the U.S. or even in other countries, such as China, Australia and the Philippines.

“Bringing the benefits of e-filing to the Northern Mariana Islands represents another great opportunity for File & Serve to expand globally,” said Michele Vivona, vice president and general manager, LexisNexis Litigation Services. “In addition to our U.S.-based projects, we also have an active project in Canada as well, and several courts in other countries have expressed interest.”

This importance of File & Serve expansion outside the United States was further emphasized by Robin Castro, vice president, LexisNexis File & Serve. “We are actively exploring international opportunities for electronic filing and service. Most recently we met with judicial officials from countries in Asia and Europe,” said Castro.

File & Serve is used in jurisdictions in 26 states and has recorded well over one million cases since its inception. Today, there are nearly 70,000 judges, clerks, attorneys and other legal professionals nationwide who have been registered to use File & Serve. For large and small law firms in these jurisdictions, the service is now available as part of LexisNexis Litigation Services, the company’s overarching offering of complete litigation solutions.

LexisNexis (www.lexisnexis.com) is a leading provider of information and services solutions, including its flagship Web-based Lexis and Nexis research services, to a wide range of professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting and academic markets. A member of Reed Elsevier Group, the company does business in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide.

In the United States, LexisNexis offers its customers total practice solutions comprised of an extensive range of online and print legal, regulatory, news and business information products, tools, customized Web applications and critical filing services that help legal professionals achieve excellence in the business and practice of law.