Do courts have to use the electronic case filing portion of CM/ECF?
No. Courts may choose to use only the case management portion of the new software and continue as a paper only operation. The Electronic Case Filing (ECF) portion is optional. There are multiple ways that courts can use the ECF capabilities. They can scan documents received in paper form or they can permit filing of documents in electronic form. Scanning may be needed as a supplemental process to convert documents that cannot be obtained in electronic form.