Internet Court Documents Business Plan Leave a comment

eDocFile offers electronic filing systems for state court judges. Each year, the US court system receives approximately 90 million cases and 1,000,000 legal documents. States are unable to keep up with the flood of criminal and civil cases. However, the number and complexity of federal court filings continues to increase year after year. Additionally, more judges and judicial officials are being added to the court system to handle these cases.

A surprising amount of the judicial process is not automated, much less integrated. It is urgent that a cost-effective and integrated digital solution be developed using available technology. eDocFile presents a digital solution capable of transforming law practice. It uses an online system that is simple, cost-effective, easy to use, and can integrate with legacy technology. eDocFile provides more than just the ability to send documents backwards and forwards. It acts as a digital bridge between the electronic worlds of the court and the law firm’s electronic world. It’s law firms and courts exchanging and accessing all case data, not just documents.

E-Filing allows courts instant access to court documents. Instead of having to call the archives and request that a document be located, copied, and then delivered, E-Filing allows courts to instantly access court documents. Judges can access documents from their computers. Court documents can be archived electronically, making them easily accessible and saving millions of dollars in the process. Attorneys can access docket information and schedules online, pay filing fees and instantly download court documents. They can also view case documents, exhibits and track the work done by opposing counsel.

Courts and law firms both benefit from efficiency. Efficiency comes from being in a position to instantly access information, communicate with others, and transact business from any PC. eDocFile allows for the seamless flow of information between two parties in an easy-to-use and cost-effective way.

If electronic filing is so great, why aren’t we all using it? Many small projects have been launched in the United States. Most of them have failed, been cancelled, or are now considered’requirements for future systems’. None have produced enough efficiency gains for courts to justify funding the necessary infrastructure.

The primary problems relate to the technology. While electronic filing components have been around for a while, they are still not standardised, difficult to integrate, insufficient support and training, as well as high software and hardware costs. In the past few years, personal computer technology’s power has increased significantly and its costs have fallen. From more than $1,000 per megabyte when early computers were made, to just five cents per million today, data storage costs have fallen. This price is dropping by about 50% every year. Only a few years ago there was no universal communications network, with standard protocols and interfaces, available to link our systems together.

Even today, security and scalability issues on the Internet have not been completely resolved. eDocFile is able to solve these issues and provide a unified e-filing/document management system for both national and state courts. As we transform from a small player to the most prominent legal Internet portal, we will gain brand recognition and market share. We also generate sustainable revenue streams that will finance growth and the development of new products.

1.1 Mission

We are here to listen to customers’ needs and provide solutions that meet their specific requirements. We will use Web technology to be the best provider of electronic filing systems that are secure and easy to use for courts and judicial administrations.

eDocFile aims to provide small and medium sized courts with the ability to automate filing and document management by using a Web-based extranet. In these jurisdictions, lawyers can electronically file documents with courts from the comfort of their private workspace. This allows courts and judges to manage cases and dockets more efficiently as well as reduce costs. eDocFile combines both electronic filing and document administration in one Web-based extranet. This provides clients, lawyers and courts, with the best system for litigation management. There are minimal hardware and software restrictions, and you have the largest choice of technological features.

1.2 Objectives

eDocFile objectives will evolve in a three-phase concurrent development cycle.

LearningKnowing your customer, the products and the competitors is crucial for success. This cycle requires planning, research, and development. This phase has the following objectives:

• Become experts on the legal market and have a database of competitors, market analysis, and customer needs before beta version of extranet is completed.
• Have beta version ready within three months of capital creation.
• Establish trusting working relationships with courts systems by meeting with decision-makers and creating a plan for mutual success based upon reliability, trust, and service.
• Support, services and products can be pledged by May Year 1 in support of EDocFile’s launch in August Year 1.

Earning

eDocFile will be a market leader in sales, marketing, customer support, execution and continuous learning. This will help to generate new customers and encourage growth.

• Establishing brand awareness and brand recognition that positions eDocFile as the market leader for safe, simple and reliable Web based electronic filing system between lawyers and courts.
• Many target courts don’t have a complete computer management system. Our Web-based extranet system lets our customers manage their files and internal document management.
• Market metrics can be used to assess market penetration success. They include market presence in the top fifteen legal markets of the country, market shares, customer satisfaction ratings, click through traffic, and market share. eDocFile will aim to increase this number semi-annually, until it reaches market dominance.
• Beginning to generate positive cash flow by year two

Returning

Balancing long-term sustainability and profitability with short-term necessities and change will the Achilles heel of many Internet companies. Therefore, we believe that with a policy of returning or giving back to the community (employees, customers and shareholders) eDocFile will ensure apportionment of resources without excessive waste and redundancy. This cycle has these objectives:

• Develop a mission that reflects the founders’ values, while giving a mandate for culture creation. This will help attract and retain top talent.
• Develop a comprehensive holistic internal structure that is responsive to market demands and rapid change. This model is based upon the notion of “a continuous learning organisation” (with the training and marketing functionality binding all the organizations).
• Develop value-added features that will help eDocFile grow from a niche site to become the top legal portal on Web by 2006. This means that you need to create features that are action-oriented.

eDocFile will succeed if it has a focused and balanced approach to product development that keeps the customer in mind. It also has innovative employees who are enthusiastic and creative.

1.3 Keys To Success

These are the keys to your success in this industry:

Marketing:

• Branding.
• Constructing trust between courts, eDocFile and other parties to create barriers for entry by competitors
• Building credibility

Simplicity:

• A system that is easy to use.