Effective May 1, 2007, the Oregon Supreme Court amended ORAP 9.17 to require that a party filing a brief on the merits in the Supreme Court also email to the court an electronic copy of the brief in portable document format (PDF). The electronic copy is in addition to filing paper copies. ORAP 9.17(5) applies to any brief on the merits filed after May 1, 2007.
The requirement applies to intervenors and amicus curiae but exempts a party confined in a state institution and not represented by counsel. Any other party who lacks the technology to comply with the amendments may move for relief from the requirement.
As to briefs containing confidential information, a party filing an original and a redacted brief under ORAP 5.95 (“Briefs Containing Confidential Material”) should email a PDF version of each.
The new requirement is part of a State of Oregon Law Library project to create a searchable, digital brief bank. The initial project is limited to Supreme Court merits briefs. It will expand as we move to new applications for electronic document management and filing -- presently in the preliminary planning stages.
The interim amendment provides a specific email address (briefs@ojd.state.or.us) and requires using the case name and Supreme Court case number. Parties must include PDF copies of the excerpt of record and appendices, unless the party lacks the technology to convert those materials to PDF. Conversion programs include
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commercial programs for a fee like those offered by Adobe (which includes the free Acrobat Reader), and
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open source and other freeware, such as that at OpenOffice.org, which works with various platforms.
You can find other resources on the internet. We do not endorse any particular product.
If you have questions, please email briefs@ojd.state.or.us.