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| © 2007 Larry D. Moore. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 https://bit.ly/343Giyq |
A couple of weeks back we learned that retired Texas District Court Judge James Mehaffy, Jr. had passed away.
I had the honor of knowing and working with the Judge and visiting his court in Beaumont, Texas. In the early 1990’s the NCSC had both the Court Technology Laboratory and Courtroom 21 projects running in Williamsburg. Judge Mehaffy brought a team from his court that was planning on how to deal with a very large and complex series of civil trials. At the time the plan was to convert the jury assembly room of the courthouse into a courtroom to handle the large number of lawyers who would be present.
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Then, during our discussion, the subject of E-Filing was broached. Judge Mehaffy said that not only were they planning on it but, one of the participants representing a medical supply company in their region of Texas was going to do it. This was before the Internet was widely available.
Continuing, here are some additional details on Judge Mehaffy's actions from our friend, Ms. Kendall Collins Smith via her LinkedIn page:
“The 58th District Court in Texas was overwhelmed with paper from asbestos cases and Judge Mehaffy's vision was to implement electronic filing that mirrored the Texas Rules of Procedure (including service of documents on the case parties). He worked closely with members of the Jefferson County Bar and found a group of entrepreneurs that developed the very first e-filing system, LAWPlus. I had the honor to work for that company and enjoyed my time with Judge Mehaffy as his vision ultimately changed the way court filings were managed for the country (LAWPlus eventually became LexisNexis File & Serve, now File & ServeXpress).”
His formal obituary is located at: https://broussards1889.com/obituary/james-jim-william-mehaffy-jr/
Judge Mehaffy was a true visionary. He left the world a better place. Rest in peace, your honor.
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