Improvements Coming to PACER and CM/ECF

Beginning August 11, you may notice some changes on the PACER website. These changes will include the opportunity to upgrade your PACER account. NOTE: This upgrade is not mandatory, and your current PACER account will still function normally. However, you will need to upgrade your account in order to perform any maintenance functions outside of making a payment.

The account upgrades are a feature of the Federal Judiciary’s next generation (NextGen) Case Management/ Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system, which will allow you to use the same account for both PACER and electronic filing access. Here are some additional improvements you may notice as a result of these changes:

• You will be able to select your own username.
• You will be able to use the same username for both filing and viewing cases in courts that have converted to the NextGen CM/ECF system.
• There will be enhanced security, including a password strength meter that will help you create stronger, more secure passwords.
• There will be a new look to the Manage My Account screen.
• You will be able to store your credit card information for e-file payments in NextGen CM/ECF.
• There will be one account per user.
  • This means you will use only one account with your own individual username and password.
  • This account will remain with you, even if you move from one firm to another, or if you work individually.

The upcoming changes on August 11 will affect PAAs differently than other types of accounts. Users become owners of their PACER accounts; therefore, administrator rights have been modified. See the information below for more details:

• If you have a PAA, you will need to upgrade your account in order to perform any functions outside of making a payment.
• PAA owners will no longer:
  • Own the user’s account linked to the PAA.
  • Have access to the user’s account other than usage details. Account changes and other updates must be performed by the individual user who owns the account.
  • Be able to create new accounts.
  • Be able to activate or deactivate the account itself.
• Each user will be an account owner. A user will take this same account to a new firm, where it will be linked to that organization’s PAA.
• Both the PAA owner and the individual account owner will be able to unlink from a PAA.

During the conversion described above, the login process located at https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov will be changing. The PACER Service Center will continue to accept requests to the authentication service located at https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/check-pacer-passwd.pl temporarily, but the response will differ slightly—the session ID will be longer.

We advise automated users directing PACER authentication requests to pacer.login.uscourts.gov to have resources available the afternoon of Sunday, August 10, to test the changes. NOTE: The redirection from the old page to the new authentication program will be removed on January 1, 2015. Users will need to direct all authentication requests to https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov/csologin/login.jsf after that date.