Electronic filling and tigher federal building security

I attended electronic filling training for the Southern District of West Virginia yesterday. The training itself wasn’t too hard. The shock was the tightened security.

They took my cell phone and kept it until I left the building. I ended up having to remove my belt and shoes. I hadn’t been to the federal courthouse for about a year and a half, and I was unprepared for security screening as tight as airport security. I was told I could keep my phone if I were a lawyer.

Electronic filing is coming fast. It is mandatory in the Northern District of West Virginia. It is optional in the Southern District of WV for now.

I look for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to move to electronic filling in the near future and mandate a timetable for the local courts to move to electronic filling.