Harrison Deputy Circuit Clerk Lori Thomas demonstrates how the staff scans legal briefs as part of a pilot program to make all court documents available electronically.
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Legal briefs could be available at the click of a mouse by next summer in Harrison and surrounding counties under an electronic filing program being implemented by the state Supreme Court.
Harrison, Marion, Lewis and Upshur counties are among 14 participating in the pilot program, which ultimately will encompass all documents filed at the circuit court level, officials say.
“We’re e-filing civil cases in Marion County,” said Matt Arrowood, director of circuit clerk services for the Supreme Court. “Hopefully by the first of the year, we’re going to start e-filing all case types, excluding criminal.
“We just went live in Jefferson County at the beginning of this month,” Arrowood added. “It’s just civil case types with a select group of attorneys.”
The program kicked off last December in the Marion County Circuit Clerk’s Office when a local attorney filed a suit electronically.
The circuit clerk’s offices in Marion and Jefferson counties have scanned millions of documents already, Arrowood said.
Their counterparts in Harrison and Lewis counties have started scanning documents, while the Upshur County Circuit Clerk’s Office has been scanning briefs for a few years…
