Alexandria’s Clerk of the Court just launched an e-filing system for non-attorneys representing themselves in civil and criminal case filings.
Clerk Greg Parks launched the portal on July 20, reversing a decades-long practice where only Virginia attorneys have been able to file cases and look at court records remotely. The new system allows people who aren’t lawyers to register in the court’s e-filing portal and file documents via the Virginia Judiciary eFiling System.
“The process is very simple,” Parks told ALXnow on Wednesday, July 29. “You have to register with us, because the Virginia Code requires that in order to run an e-file system, we have to know who you are when you’re filing into it, so first you have to register with a photo ID, and then we send you a link and you go into the system.”
According to Parks’ office:
Go to the registration portal, enter all required information, and upload a copy of a government-issued photo identification. Once your registration is approved you will receive an email that includes the link to the Alexandria eFile Portal, where you may submit documents electronically … Once your submission has been reviewed, you will receive an email from the Clerk’s Office staff either confirming the filing of your documents or requesting more information. If you do not respond to an email requesting more information within 2 business days, the submission will be deleted and not filed with the court.
Other localities that allow e-filing through the Virginia Judiciary eFiling System include Fairfax County and Richmond.
Parks said he felt that there was a major deficiency in the old system, and hopes the new one will be well used.
“It’s designed to be easy and straightforward to use,” Parks said. “We have about 40 registered users so far, and we had our first e-filing [Wednesday], actually, because it takes a little while to figure out how to use the system.”
