Tag Archives: SLRs

Your Forms Library is Your Most Important Asset

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Forms and templates are the most important intellectual property owned by a law firm. We rely on them to be efficient, effective, and productive. But is that reliance misplaced?

The answer is yes, if we fail to devote the necessary time and resources to maintaining our most valuable asset.

Here are some suggestions for keeping your forms library in tip-top shape:

  • Update your forms in accordance with the annual rules cycle. Proposed changes to the UTCRs are effective on August 1 of each year. Supplementary Local Rules (SLRs) are effective February 1 unless disapproved. Set task reminders accordingly!
  • Monitor and flag out-of-cycle rule amendments by subscribing to OJD News and Media Releases.
  • Watch for Oregon State Bar CLEs and publications discussing pertinent legislative changes.
  • Use Professional Liability Fund (PLF) resources. The PLF publishes legislation alerts on the most significant changes made by the Oregon legislature. The December 2019 issue of In Brief covers updates in 13 practice areas. The PLF also offers forms, which it strives to update in accordance with the legislative cycle. Visit the PLF Forms page for more information and to view revision dates for documents pertinent to your practice. Also of interest are “Cases of Note,” included in each issue of the PLF In Brief.
  • Create a centralized forms library that limits editing rights, but grants access to all users. Capture the library as part of your backup and regularly test backup integrity.
  • Consider appointing a forms czar or committee. Establish a process for adding, updating, and dumping forms.
  • Ensure that form content is scrubbed of metadata and does not contain confidential client information. Variables – the client-specific information you will be inserting into the form to customize it – should be readily apparent. Using document assembly software like The Form Tool is the way to go.
  • Push notifications to firm members when forms in their area of practice change.
  • Ask firm leadership to stress the importance of using the centralized library versus hoarding resources on individual desktops or copying and pasting content from one client document to the next.

Start by Downloading the latest UTCR Forms

The latest forms adopted by the Uniform Trial Court Rules (UTCR) Committee and approved by the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court can be downloaded in Zip, PDF, or Word format on the Oregon Judicial Department UTCR page. These include the following, which were revised in 2019:

Request to Segregate Protected Personal Information
Request to Inspect UTCR 2.100 Segregated Information Sheet
Request to Redact Protected Personal Information from Existing Case
Motion for an Expedited Civil Jury Case Designation
Order Designating an Expedited Civil Jury Case
Request for Hearing re: Statutory Restraining Order

All Rights Reserved 2020 Beverly Michaelis

For the latest out-of-cycle UTCR amendments – effective November 2019 and January 2020, visit the Current Rules page on the OJD website.

Oregon eCourt and Arbitration

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Are Oregon arbitrators required to eFile arbitration awards and judgments? Let me answer that question with another question: were you conventionally filing awards and judgments prior to the implementation of mandatory eCourt?  If your response is yes, then odds are you must eFile.  Let’s step through the analysis with this caveat: please verify the necessity of eFiling with the OJD help desk [see endnote] or your friendly local court clerk.

What do the UTCRs say?

UTCR 13.210(5)
Within 7 days after the conclusion of the arbitration hearing, the arbitrator shall send the award to the parties without filing with the court and shall establish procedures for determining attorney fees and costs.  Result:  In a non-dissolution case, the arbitrator files nothing.  The onus is on the parties.

UTCR 13.210(6)
In dissolution cases, the arbitrator shall send the award to the parties within 7 days after the conclusion of the arbitration hearing and shall direct a party to prepare and submit a form of judgment. The arbitrator, upon request of any party, shall give the parties an opportunity to be heard on the form of judgment. The arbitrator shall then approve a form of judgment and file the award, along with the approved form of judgment, per UTCR 13.220. Result: In a dissolution case, the arbitrator becomes the “filer.”  The rule expressly states the arbitrator shall … “file the award.” If the dissolution case is in a judicial district which has implemented mandatory eCourt, the arbitrator must eFile the award in compliance with UTCR Chapter 21 (text searchable PDF, under maximum file size, etc.)

Are There Any Exceptions to UTCR 13.210(5)?  What about Local Rules?

Ah ha, grasshopper – you have learned well!  The fly in the ointment is exactly that. If the case is in a jurisdiction that has adopted Supplementary Local Rules (most have), you must follow the SLR.  If the SLR requires you, as arbitrator, to file the award or judgment, you’re stuck.  Thus my question above: did you conventionally file awards and judgments prior to the implementation of mandatory eCourt?  If yes, nothing changes except the filing method.  If you are in a jurisdiction that has implemented eCourt, you must eFile. [Double-check with the OJD help desk or your local court clerk if you are unsure.]

A list of jurisdictions with SLRs (including links to the rules) can be found on the PLF website.  Select Practice Management > Forms > Docketing & Calendaring > “State Court Rules – UTCRs and SLRs.”

What is an Example of an SLR that Requires Arbitrators to File Documents?

By imposing conditions for filing awards, Multnomah County SLR 13.085 implies that the responsibility lies with the arbitrator:
(1) The arbitrator shall not file an arbitration award with the court until the issues of attorney fees and costs have been determined. The arbitrator shall certify on the award that no issues of costs or attorney fees remain undecided upon filing of the award. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, no amended or supplemental arbitration award shall be filed, regardless of whether judgment has been entered on the original.
(2) At the conclusion of arbitration, if the arbitrator attempts to file the award with the Court without the proof of service of a copy of the decision and award upon each party as required by ORS 36.425(1), the award will not be filed and will be returned to the arbitrator.

Key Points to Remember

  • If you previously filed awards and judgments with the court, nothing has changed. Filing is still your responsibility. The only difference is how you file, and that will depend on whether the jurisdiction has implemented eCourt.
  • Read the SLRs! At the present time, Multnomah County puts the onus on arbitrators, Washington County does not.
  • Know the UTCRs.  UTCRs govern where SLRS have not been adopted.
  • Communicate with the parties.  If it is the responsibility of the parties to eFile your award or judgment, say so and cite the pertinent UTCRs.

All Rights Reserved [2015] Beverly Michaelis

Oregon Judicial Department Help Desk –
Monday through Friday 7:00 am to 6:00 pm
503-986-5582 or 1-800-922-7391
ETSDHelp@ojd.state.or.us

New Civil Case Management Rules

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On February 1, 2012, new civil case management rules went into effect in Multnomah County Circuit Court.  The new rules require:

The new civil case management process applies to cases filed on or after
February 1, 2012.  Cases filed before February 1 are not subject to the new process.

You can read more about the changes on the Professional Liability Fund Web site.  Select News, then Multnomah County – New Civil Case Management Process.