Southern District of Indiana to Begin Pilot Program

Indianapolis, Indiana – The Southern District of Indiana is beginning a pilot program that will allow active hyperlinks to be included within e-filed and court-issued documents. Hyperlinks will allow immediate access by the reader to the referenced materials, i.e., case management and electronic court filing system (“CM/ECF”) filings, case and statute citations, attachments, and exhibits.

During the initial phase of the pilot program, the court will be issuing a limited number of entries and orders containing hyperlinks. The hyperlinks may be page-specific. For instance, an order may contain a hyperlink to a specific page of a specific affidavit, which will be accessible with one click. Access to court-issued documents will continue to be available via the Notice of Electronic Filing (“NEF”) email system.

The next, and most important, phase of the pilot program will involve a small group of attorneys e-filing documents with hyperlinks. When utilized by attorneys, hyperlinks in briefs and other court filings will provide quick, easy, and pinpoint access to particular sections of a case, or to specific filings in the court’s record, adding another level of persuasion to their writing. Hyperlinking will also be a great benefit to the court, allowing members of the judiciary and their staff to quickly and easily review case-supporting materials.

Once this pilot program has been tested and meets the court’s expectations, detailed information will be available for all attorneys to use in future filings.

If you have questions about this process, they may be directed to the court’s ECF Administrator, Jordan Davison, at jordan_davison@insd.uscourts.gov.

Practice Tip: Even though attorneys can utilize the one “free look” to the e-filed documents associated with the NEF, accessing other CM/ECF hyperlinked documents contained within the main document will be subject to normal PACER fees, and any hyperlinks to Westlaw or LexisNexis citations will require attorneys to login to those services.