E-filing in the Supreme Judicial Court Clerk's Office for the Commonwealth

The following information has been prepared by the clerk's office to provide basic information to guide you through the registration process for eFileMA. Please read all of the information carefully to avoid e-filing mistakes that could prevent you from filing electronically. E-filing is not yet mandatory, but highly encouraged.

The clerk's office offers guides to filing cases to the full court, and a guide for attorneys and people representing themselves in court. Those guides are linked under the "Related" tab.

Getting started

• Before e-filing, please review SJC Rule 1:25, the "Massachusetts Rules of Electronic Filing," in addition to the Massachusetts Rules of Appellate Procedure (effective March 1, 2019).
• All attorneys and self-represented parties are eligible to e-file in any case (civil or criminal).
• The SJC Clerk's Office now accepts all materials through electronic filing, including impounded materials.
• You may e-file DAR and FAR applications; no paper copy is required.
• After you e-file a brief in a full court case, the clerk's office will notify you to file a limited number of paper copies.  If you e-file motions, letters, status reports and other similar documents, no paper is required.

Registering for e-filing
You will need to register with the e-filing vendor, Tyler Technologies ("Tyler"). Tyler offers user guides and FAQs. 

• Please note that sole practitioner attorneys, and attorneys working for non-firm entities such as in-house counsel for corporations must still register as a "firm."
• Tyler charges $22 as a convenience fee. The envelope has a maximum total size of 35 MB. If you need to submit appendices in multiple envelopes, you may set up and use a waiver account to waive the filing fee for additional envelopes within the same filing.
• There is no convenience fee charged in criminal cases for indigent defendants or defendants represented by court-appointed counsel. You may set up and use a waiver account for these cases; choose "waiver" in the fee section before you submit your envelope.

E-filing guidelines

• Cover letters/entry forms are not necessary in the SJC and should not be included as part of your filing.
• Please note that by registering for eFileMA you have consented to receipt of notices and e-filed documents through email only. Please make sure that your email address remains current.
• The clerk's office has provided a checklist guide to assist in the e-filing process.
• Before submitting a FAR application, make sure to include the Appeals Court case number in the lower court case number field, enter the correct Appeals Court case number, attach the Appeals Court decision, and attach a certificate of service.
• You do not need to send a courtesy copy of an FAR/DAR application to the Appeals Court. The assignment of a DAR/FAR docket number by the Supreme Judicial Court triggers automatic notice of the filing and the DAR/FAR docket entry's creation to the Appeals Court.