By Jessica R. Alexander, J.D., M.L.S., Reference Librarian
The 14th Court of Appeals, Houston, has just implemented online access to briefs. Dates of inclusion are not apparent from the website. In the meantime, this is an important addition to their existing search utilities.
I have published a piece before on simultaneously searching Texas courts using Google scholar since the court system itself has never instituted cross-court searching. This new access by the 14th Court probably grows out of the fact that attorneys have been filing petitions and briefs online. Beginning January 1, 2012, attorneys in civil cases will be required to file all petitions and briefs through Texas.gov e-Filing for Courts. This requirement does not extend uniformly to the trial courts, so be sure refer to the official page of each trial court to find out if it participates in the Texas.gov efiling program.
There will be more information to come on these developments. One question to be answered is whether the ProDoc eFiling service will continue to be an option for filing in Texas Courts.