The Delaware Superior Court was the first state court to adopt
a rule (Civil Rule 107(h)) which allows parties to file briefs and appendices with the court
on hyperlinked CD-ROM disks. Under the rule, identical copies
of any brief and exhibits may be filed on CD-ROM unless otherwise
ordered by the court.
It is required that the CD-ROM include imaged or text copies of
all legal authorities cited. A single CD-ROM can store the equivalent
of 100,000 word processed pages. "When the parties are allowed
to file briefs and appendices on CD-ROM there are a number of
conveniences for the court and the litigants," said President
Judge Henry Ridgely. "The most obvious convenience is portability.
Hundreds of pages can be carried in your pocket and accessed from
any computer. Probably the most helpful benefit is time savings
for the reader," said President Judge Ridgely.
Access to citations within the brief is immediate with a double
click. The practical benefit of this technology has been recognized
in a Delaware Court of Chancery opinion. Chancellor William Chandler
thanked the parties for submitting the briefs on CD-ROM in the
case of Merck v. SmithKline Beecham saying, "It would not have
been possible to review the record and the legal arguments and
issue this decision as promptly without this high tech advantage."