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Attorney Case Opening

Electronic civil case opening allows attorneys to open and file most civil cases via CM/ECF by populating information from the Civil Cover Sheet. Please ensure that you meet the following requirements before opening cases in CM/ECF:

  • The attorney has a valid CM/ECF login and password for the District of New Jersey;
  • The attorney has the ability to pay filing fees online via credit card through pay.gov (unless no fee is required);
  • The attorney is a member of the District of New Jersey bar.

 

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS:

 

Step 1:  Review the Attorney Case Opening Guide and Guide to Searching and Entering Parties, and

Step 2:  If you do not see the attorney case opening links in CM/ECF, log out, clear your browser by clearing the browser cache and deleting all temporary files before reaching out to the helpdesk.

 Help-Desk Information:

Attorney Case Opening Procedures & References:

  • Review the Attorney Case Opening Guide before opening a new case electronically, to assist with case opening and to avoid common case opening errors.
  • Review the Guide to Searching and Entering Parties to assist with proper techniques and tips for enting party names into the CM/ECF database. 
  • A Civil Cover Sheet (JS-44) must be filed as an attachment with every initial pleading.
  • Enter Party Information in UPPERCASE LETTERS
  • Do NOT select the ALL PLAINTIFFS or ALL DEFENDANTS option when choosing who the pleading is being filed against
  • Do NOT add address information to the docket for any parties.
  • Do NOT add a Demand amount.
  • Diversity Disclosure Statements should be filed using the event Diversity Disclosure Statement, not as an attachment to the initial pleading.
  • Corporate Disclosure Statements should be filed using the event Corporate Disclosure Statement, not as an attachment to the initial pleading. 

 

Attorney Case Opening Sample Workflows