Norfolk court clerk bytes off ambitious goal: Paperless files

By MICHELLE WASHINGTON
The Virginian-Pilot

NORFOLK - In George Schaefer's courthouse, paper equals money.

By converting marriage license forms to a computerized document the happy couple fills out themselves, Schaefer, the circuit court clerk, estimates he saved about 60 work hours per month - which adds up to $12,000 a year.

His paper-free ambitions expand to a much grander scale. Schaefer estimates he could save $2 million on the cost of building a new courthouse if he gets rid of the volumes of paper warehoused in the circuit court.

He's on his way to doing it.

Clerks began scanning all new civil filings the first of the month. Marriage license forms went digital on the day before Valentine's Day.

Schaefer and his staff already have converted most of the land records stored at the courthouse to digital images. Marriage licenses and judg ments have been scanned into computers.

The effort included removing sensitive information such as S ocial S ecurity numbers and mothers' maiden names from documents to prevent identity theft.

Schaefer is part of the state's electronic filing study group, which aims to eliminate paper from all transactions at the courthouse. Lawyers would file lawsuits via e-mail, and j udges would sign orders using a digital pen on a laptop computer. "The driving force is we need to find a way to be more efficient with space," Schaefer said.

Court clerks save everything.

Land records back to the 1700s, records from criminal and civil cases, gun permits, and countless other pieces of paper sit in files that Schaefer has to keep track of. Throughout the building, shelves loaded with years' worth of documents tower over most of Schaefer's employees.

A computer server room " is the size of a closet as opposed to a huge room to save files," Schaefer said.

Computer storage is cheaper than conventional storage. Computer memory is measured in bytes. One of the largest measures, called a terabyte, costs less than $1,000 each and can hold more than a trillion bytes of information.

Schaefer said the 4 million images recorded for marriage licenses, judg ments, land records and other items took up a few billion bytes - just 2 percent of a terabyte.

A new courthouse is estimated to cost about $200 per square foot, Schaefer said. It would take between 5,000 and 7,000 square feet to hold those 4 million paper files, at a cost of $1 million to $1.4 million.

Schaefer pointed to other disadvantages of the paper he shuffles.

None of the files has a back up - one lit cigarette poses a hazard to the entire historical record of the city.

Only one person at a time can use them. Clerks spend work time tracking down case files or transferring them from one holding area to another. They often must transfer information from paper to the statewide court computer system anyway.

Norfolk's circuit courthouse handles more paper now than ever before; for the last two years, the volume of cases has increased more than 10 percent.

Not to mention the paper cuts.

Compare to the computer version: Off-site back up. No lost files. Multiple users can access the same file at the same time. And in the future, computerized records could make the courthouse a 24/7 operation.

"You can file up to 11:59:59" p.m., Schaefer said. "You no longer have the barrier of when the courthouse is open." The clerk's office now closes at 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer said no one would be turned away from the courthouse, even those who arrive with a handwritten complaint for a lawsuit.

"We'll scan it," he said. "Even the digital divide will never be an impediment to allowing people into the courthouse."

Those who need paper copies of documents will still get them. They also will have the option of receiving a copy via e-mail, Schaefer said.

The Norfolk federal court plans to move to an entirely electronic system by the end of this month. All new filings will be delivered and accessed electronically.

The entire federal court system is scheduled to become paperless, at least for new filings, this year. Information such as dates of birth and S ocial S ecurity numbers are to be edited out of the filings to prevent identity theft.

Schaefer hopes Norfolk will be a test state court for all-electronic filing.

At the moment, Schaefer said, online access to the court's files presents problems because of identity protection, but it may eventually be possible through a subscription service like that used for land records.

Circuit Judge Junius P. Fulton III also serves on the electronic filing study group. He pointed to the courts in Clark County, Nev., where even the computers in police cruisers are integrated with the system.

The goals are lofty, Fulton said, but that's how they should be.

"We'll move as quickly as we can, but as slow as we have to," Fulton said.

Staff writer Tim McGlone contributed to this story.