Maryland Rule 1-311

An amendment to Rule 1-311 went into effect on January 1st.  The amendment requires that all pleadings filed electronically with an electronic signature must include the attorney’s client protection fund number.

I cannot find the amended version of this new rule online.  I highly doubt Judge Barbera will drive down to your office to compel compliance.  But it would be a smart idea to comply now.  At some point, someone will argue that the pleading was not valid without the lawyer’s client security trust fund number.  Do you win that battle?  Yes. But you lose even when you won; when you are fighting a fight that should not have been fought in the first place.  I also don’t want the clerk’s office to call and scream at me.  It never pays to make those people mad.

Rule 1-311 is the rule that requires an attorney’s signature on every pleading.