Electronic submission required

Learn about what types of filings may or must be filed electronically.

Overview

The Appeals Court requires that certain filings be made electronically through the electronic filing system, eFileMA.com. The categories of mandatory e-filings are listed below. Any other document may be e-filed voluntarily by the attorney or party. The Appeals Court encourages all attorneys and self-represented litigants in public, partially impounded, and impounded cases to e-file every document submitted to the court. See Appeals Court Rule 13.0: Electronic filing.

Types of filings that must be e-filed by an attorney

Type of filing	E-filing requirement
All filings in criminal panel cases	All documents in public and partially impounded criminal panel cases (on the court’s “P” docket) must be e-filed.
Briefs and appendices in civil panel cases	All briefs and appendices in public and partially impounded civil panel cases must be e-filed. [Note: please verify the docket-letter designation for civil panel cases; the current published page references the “P” docket, which is the criminal-panel designation.]
All docketing statements	All docketing statements in public and partially impounded civil and criminal panel cases must be e-filed, pursuant to M.A.C. Rule 10.0.
All motions and letters filed after panel assignment	After the Appeals Court assigns a case to a panel of justices for consideration on the merits, with or without oral argument, all subsequent filings in the case must be e-filed. This requirement applies in all public and partially impounded civil and criminal panel cases.
All filings on the single justice docket	All documents in public and partially impounded single justice cases (on the court’s “J” docket) must be e-filed.
Impounded documents	Impounded documents may be e-filed through eFileMA.com, but there is no requirement to e-file an impounded document.

Creating searchable PDFs

For instructions on creating searchable PDF documents, see Electronic Filing at the Appeals Court.