"Appellate Tech Update -- A New Filing Technology"

by Casey Low

As of December 17, 2004, anytime the Supreme Court of Texas requests full briefing, it will simultaneously request that all parties submit an electronic version of the briefing to the court for eventual post on the court website. Although this process currently does not replace hard copies of briefs, the hope is that one day all information will be available online for anyone to access. The required certificate of compliance and other instructions are sent by the court with any request for full briefing, and are also located on the website:

http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/ebriefs_information.htm

Online Oral Arguments

Beginning December 3, 2004, the Supreme Court of Texas began posting all subsequent recordings of oral arguments on its website for the general public to access for free. Previously the court had made tapes of the arguments, available for a nominal fee from the clerk’s office. The court plans to add these previous recordings to the website over time. Online users can access the electronic recordings by visiting the website and searching either by argument date or cause number:

http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/oralarguments/audio.asp

Click here to read the Febraury 2005 Appellate Bulletin