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Yamhill County Circuit Court this past Monday began testing Oregon eCourt, becoming the first trial court in the state to implement the electronic case processing system and continuing a phased implementation that will include Multnomah County a year from now.

To date, Oregon eCourt has been implemented in the state鈥檚 appellate courts. Its installation in Yamhill County begins a process that eventually will include an eFiling option for attorneys and others involved in cases as well as making court documents available online. Ultimately, the system will allow people to file, serve and access documents electronically and pay fees online.

Phil Lemman, legislative communication manager for the Oregon Judicial Department鈥檚 Office of Education, Training and Outreach, says he joined former Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul De Muniz and others from the OJD Monday as the system went live in Yamhill County. Other than trainers helping court staff navigate the system, the change mostly likely went unnoticed by the public, he said.

鈥淲e鈥檙e rolling out in Yamhill County gradually, so it now involves internal operations like content management and making sure that when we scan documents they are complete and court processes and procedures,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e will then add other external components like eFiling, and we鈥檒l sit down and look at what went right and what we still need to work on.鈥�

Yamhill County court staff received three weeks of intensive training before going live Monday, according to Lemman. While there were a few questions along the way, there was minimal disruption to the court鈥檚 operations.

鈥淥ne of the reasons we picked Yamhill County is that they were the pilot court on our previous content management system, so they鈥檝e already gone through the process of changing systems and knew what to expect and how it would work out,鈥� he said.

Next up: Clackamas and Washington counties will add Oregon eCourt鈥檚 ePay system, which allows people to pay fines online. The electronic feature is expected to free overworked court staff up to handle more pressing issues.

In December, Oregon eCourt will be implemented in Crook, Jefferson and Linn counties. Crook and Jefferson counties are merged into a single district, while Linn County will test the program within a larger court system. In spring of 2013, Oregon eCourt will be implemented in Jackson County and then in Multnomah County鈥檚 civil cases.

鈥淲e have 20 people from courts throughout the state involved in designing and configuring the system, and we will present a legislative report in September so they can understand in more detail how the process went, what we are working on, and what the issues are and how we are addressing them,鈥� Lemman said.