Interview with Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza
Travis County District Clerk
 Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza Travis County District has only offered eFiling since June, 2006, but already, it boasts the second highest number of eFiling transactions in the state. Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza shares how her office has made eFiling work for them and their customers.
Q. When did Travis County get started with eFiling?
A. Although we've been working behind the scenes on eFiling for almost 3 years, the initial pilot program didn't start until January, 2006. After just 6 months, we felt confident about our readiness to expand the effort throughout the county. eFiling went into full production in Travis County in June, 2006.
Q. What do you believe are the benefits of an eFiling system?
A. First, we are able to eliminate the paper involved with traditional court filing. This not only saves the environment, but storage needs are significantly reduced. More importantly, documents that are eFiled can be processed in an average of 19 minutes, compared with 38 hours using the manual method. In fact, customers will typically receive a confirmation call from us the same day or for documents filed lated in the afternoon, early the following morning. Everyone is happy when the system provides greater efficiencies.
Q. That's an impressive response time! What factors do you attribute for your quick turnaround?
A. My staff is cross-trained, which means everyone is qualified and able to handle eFiling documents, not just a select few in the office. As a result, everyone gets involved when the peak period hits during the day. We also check the system regularly – every 15 minutes – so that documents continue to move through the system.
Q. We hear that Judge Dietz, Travis County District Judge, has mandated eFiling in selected case types. Can you provide some information on this?
A. Yes. In March, 2007, Judge Dietz signed an order mandating eFiling for all Asbestos Related Injuries, Home Equity Foreclosures, and Negligence (where it is the lead cause of action) cases filed in the county. We recently alerted lawyers involved in these types of cases and as a result, expect the volume of transactions to really increase starting this month.
Congratulations to Amalia and her staff for their successful eFiling launch!
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