With E-filing the file-size matters

Today I had the opportunity to talk with the Deputy Clerk of one of the federal courts in Louisiana about e-filing.  All of our federal trial courts now have e-filing, and the Eastern District announced mandatory e-filing effective the beginning of this year.  Even though e-filing was just introduced in the EDLA in April of last year, already 60% of the filings in active cases are being done electronically.

One interesting thing that I learned was that apparently a lot of lawyers are still creating their PDFs by scanning them, instead of simply 'capturing the text' as a print file and doing the conversion that way.  I asked the Deputy Clerk why this was happening.  He said that probably a lot of lawyers like to see their signature on the document so when they create a pleading to be filed electronically they follow this process:

1. Print out word processing document
2. Physically sign the last page where the signature line is
3. Scan the document back in to create a PDF
4. Upload the resulting PDF into the e-filing system

This is not optimal, and can actually lead to problems.  In fact, about two hours after talking to the Deputy Clerk I got a call from an attorney who wanted me to help him with an e-filing problem he was having with a court outside of Louisiana.  His problem, as it turned out, was caused by creating a PDF via scanning.

The problem with creating a PDF via scanning (as opposed to 'text capture') is that it creates a PDF that has a larger file size.  My attorney friend not only was scanning his documents, but also had the scanner set to create a 'grayscale' file, instead of a black and white file.  When I say 'he' had the scanner set to grayscale I really mean 'his IT department' had it set that way.  Most attorneys don't want (and shouldn't have) to bother with stuff like scanner settings.

The problem that he encountered as he tried to file his bloated PDF was that it exceeded the 2 MB file size limit that his court imposed.  Two of the documents that he was trying to file were simple 4 page affidavits.  When I looked at them each one was over 2 MBs in size.  That's WAY too big!

So, if you're stuck on the idea of scanning then make sure that you (or your IT department) sets the scanner you will be using to the following settings: 200 to 300 dpi (no greater), and black & white (not grayscale, and DEFINITELY not color).  One problem with making this the default setting is that many law firms now use large copy machines that double as scanners (e.g. an HP digital sender that emails the recipient a PDF through the firm's network).  Some of the people who use that copier from time to time are going to WANT color PDFs, or even grayscale. So there may be a fight about what the default setting should be.  And the default setting may not be easily changed on some of those machines.

The best solution to this situation is to learn how to simply convert your Word or Wordperfect files to PDF.  The latest versions of these programs, I think, allow the creation of PDF documents.  If you don't have a word processing program that is natively capable of creating PDFs there are free programs like CutePDF that allow you to create them easily (basically by creating a 'virtual printer' that you select so that the output, instead of being paper, is a PDF file).  The best way is to by a full copy of Acrobat (approx: $299), which may seem expensive until you botch a last minute e-filing and wind up spending five times what the program costs trying to make your document conform to the technical requirements of the court's computer system.

Remember, you don't need to affix your actual scrawly signature to a piece of paper in order to 'sign' your pleading.  The courts that allow e-filing presume that a slash followed by your typewritten name is sufficient to constitute a 'signature.'  Actually, though, the authentication aspect of your signature is accomplished by virtue of your login when you file.  A password protected login is, in the world of computers, the (vastly superior) equivalent of your unreadable scrawl.  But, for some reason, this simple concept eludes even the most brilliant lawyers.

One last observation: for some documents you are going to have to scan them to create a PDF.  For example, the affidavits that my friend needed were not going to be simply 'captured' from a word processing document because the affiant actually needed to sign the document.  So, in that case, it would be necessary to know how to create a PDF by scanning it.