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United States District Court
Northern District of Illinois
219 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

What is CM/ECF?

The Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF) system is a comprehensive case management system that allows courts to maintain electronic case files and offer electronic filing over the Internet. Courts can make all case information immediately available electronically through the Internet. 

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Why Electronic Case Files?

Judges, court staff, and the public now have the capability to access electronic docket information, case management data and legal research materials. As most documents are now initially created first in electronic form, the federal courts can further reduce the reliance on paper records by establishing electronic case file systems. These systems should enhance the accuracy, management and security of records, reduce delays in the flow of information and achieve cost savings for the judiciary, the bar and litigants.

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What are the benefits and features of using CM/ECF?

There are a number of significant benefits and features:

  • Registered attorneys can file documents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

  • Reduction of paper, photocopy, postage and courier costs.

  • Full case information is available immediately to attorneys, parties, and the general public through the Internet. This includes the ability to view the full text of all filed documents, other than the few types excluded from from e-filing by the court's procedural guide line.

  • Attorneys on the system receive email notices electronically in CM/ECF cases. This greatly speeds delivery and eliminates the costs to both the court and attorneys of handling and mailing paper notices.

  • Multiple parties can view the same case files simultaneously.

  • Since CM/ECF uses Internet standard software, the out-of-pocket cost of participation for attorneys is typically very low.

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What is the cost for using CM/ECF?

There is no additional fee associated with the filing aspect of the CM/ECF system The Judicial Conference of the United States approved an Internet access fee of $.08 ($.07 before January 1, 2005) per page. This access fee applies to information retrieved through the system for all users. Attorneys of record and parties in a case (including pro se litigants) receive one free electronic copy of all documents filed electronically, if receipt is required by law or directed by the filer. No fee is owed until an account holder accrues charges of more than $10 in a calendar year.

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How do I get Help?

For help using PACER, consult the PACER Service Center web site at http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov, send email to the PACER Service Center at pacer@psc.uscourts.gov or call (800) 676-6856 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Central Time.

For help in e-filing, consult the training section of the court's e-filing website, or call the court's e-filing help desk at (312) 846-8727 between 8:15 AM and 5:00 PM.

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How are electronic documents served?

The CM/ECF system generates a Notice of Electronic Filing -- an email message containing a hyperlink to the document filed -- whenever a document is filed with the court. For e-filing users, this notice constitutes service.

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What am I charged for in CM/ECF?

Public users of the CM/ECF system are charged 8 cents per page for the results of a search on case specific information. Examples of case specific information are the docket sheet, and the PDF copies of filed documents. Public users are not charged for filing documents using CM/ECF or for viewing calendar information. There is a cap of $2.40 (30 pages) for a single document or case specific report including docket sheets. Each attachment in CM/ECF is considered a separate document. Therefore the cap will apply to each attachment over 30 pages separately.

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What constitutes a page in CM/ECF for billing purposes?

Billable pages are calculated in two ways in CM/ECF. A formula is used to determine the number of pages for an HTML formatted report. Any information extracted from the CM/ECF database, such as the data used to create a docket sheet, is billed using a formula based on the number of bytes extracted. For a PDF document, the actual number of pages are counted to determine the number of billable pages.

For report data retrieved from the CM/ECF system that is printed, the print job will not always match the number of pages billed. The number of pages printed is dependent on individual printer and browser settings. All users are charged equally for the same information regardless of the browser settings or printer configurations. A transaction receipt and the Review Billing History option are provided in each court site for reviewing charges. Also, Review Transaction History is available on this site in Account Information for reviewing transactions from all courts. The transactions are updated on the PACER Web Site by the middle of each month.

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How do I get my free copy of newly filed documents?

Each attorney of record in a case (including pro se litigants) will receive an email message containing a hyperlink to a document that has been filed. One free look is available to each attorney of record. Attorneys are able to list multiple email addresses for their filer login (under "Utilities") so that interested parties can be notified of filings as well. However, the free look will only apply to the email recipient for each attorney's email account who accesses the document first. This does not affect the other attorneys of record from receiving their free look. All other recipients will receive the PACER Login screen and will be charged to view the document. For example, attorneys of record in a case are A, B and C. A has added his secretary and paralegal to his email account so they receive email notifications as well. Attorney B has added four additional attorneys to her email account. Attorney C has no additional email addresses in his email account. The first person to view the document in Attorney A's group will receive the free look. The same applies to Attorney B's group. Attorney C receives the free look since he is the only recipient. The hyperlink to access the document will expire after the earlier of these two events: the first use or 15 days. Any time that same hyperlink is accessed after it has expired, the user will be asked for a PACER login and will be charged to view the document. All users are advised to print or save the document during the initial viewing period in order to avoid future charges.

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How do I start receiving email notices from CM/ECF?

See "Maintaining Your e-Filing Account" in the tutorial section of this site.

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The electronic notice I received has a link to the docket sheet. Am I charged to view the docket sheet?

The fee is applied for accessing a docket sheet and any documents accessed from the link on the docket sheet.

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