> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rhetoric.law/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Court filing

Filing is the process of delivering documents to a court to initiate or further
a case.

Most courts in the United States accept documents electronically instead of
requiring someone to physically bring paper to a courthouse. This is called
**electronic filing**, or **efiling**. This guide explains how efiling works as
a system: the participants involved, the vocabulary used, and the path a
document takes from a filer's computer to a judge's docket. It is written to
give you a mental model of the domain, independent of any particular vendor or
product.

## The benefits of efiling

Courts historically required filings to be delivered in person or by mail: paper
documents, physically stamped by a court clerk, then routed into a paper case
file. Efiling replaces that with a digital equivalent: a filer submits a
document electronically, a clerk (or an automated process) reviews it, and if
accepted, it is added to the official electronic case record. Most U.S. state
and federal courts now mandate efiling for attorneys, and offer it as an option
for self-represented litigants.

The introduction of efiling means that filings can happen at any hour, and
litigants can avoid the hassle and expense of going to a courthouse in person to
deliver documents.

## The shape of a filing

Instead of thinking of efiling as "uploading a PDF," it helps to think of
it as **submitting an envelope**. An envelope is a package that contains
everything a court needs to process one filing event:

* One or more **documents** (usually a lead document plus optional
  attachments)
* The **case** the filing belongs to; either an existing case, or
  instructions to open a new one
* The **parties** involved, and which one is doing the filing
* Metadata describing what kind of filing this is (a motion, a complaint, an
  answer, and so on)
* Optionally, payment information to cover any court fees

The court's system evaluates the whole envelope together. It can be
accepted, rejected, or sent back for correction as a unit, even though it
may contain several documents.

## The participants

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="The court">
    The judicial body, and its clerk's office, that owns the official case
    record. The court defines what filings it will accept, what they cost, and
    reviews each submission before it becomes part of the case.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The electronic filing manager">
    The **electronic filing manager (EFM)**: the court's software that receives
    envelopes, applies business rules, and updates the official case management
    system. Most courts license this software from a vendor, though some build
    it themselves.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The electronic filing service provider">
    An **electronic filing service provider (EFSP)**: a web application, often
    third-party, that filers use to prepare and submit envelopes to the EFM. An
    EFSP is effectively the on-ramp between a filer and the court.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The filer">
    The attorney, self-represented litigant, or filing agent submitting the
    document; the person actually trying to get something in front of a judge.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

Filers rarely talk to a court's EFM directly. Instead, they use an EFSP,
which handles the technical details of assembling and transmitting a
correctly formatted envelope. Courts typically certify one or more EFSPs
before allowing them to submit filings, which is why not every filing tool
works with every court.

## A shared language

Different courts use different EFM vendors, but most U.S. efiling systems are
built on a shared standard: **ECF (Electronic Court Filing)**, defined by OASIS
as part of the LegalXML family of specifications. ECF defines a common XML
vocabulary for envelopes, cases, parties, and documents, so that EFSPs don't
need a completely bespoke integration for every court. In practice, vendors
still add their own extensions and quirks on top of ECF, but the core concepts
(envelope, case, party, document, filing code) are consistent across most court
efiling systems you will encounter.

## Explore further

Choose one of the topics below to learn more about it.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="The filing lifecycle" href="/guides/primer/lifecycle">
    What actually happens, step by step, between hitting submit and a document
    landing on the docket.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Service of process" href="/guides/primer/service">
    How other parties in a case find out that something was filed.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Filing fees" href="/guides/primer/fees">
    How courts charge for filings, and how those fees get collected
    electronically.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>