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CM/ECF is the Federal Judiciary's Case Management and Electronic Case Filing System. The system gives authorized users, such as attorneys and creditors, the ability to file electronically with the court.

NextGen CM/ECF has enhanced CM/ECF in that public filers now have a single login and password for e-filing and for PACER access. Eventually all Federal Courts will convert to NextGen CM/ECF.

The requirements for access to NextGen CM/ECF courts are different than for CM/ECF courts. We are a NextGen CM/ECF Court.

To become a filing user with us, obtain a PACER account if you do not already have one.  Register for a new PACER account by using PACER’s Registration Wizard. For an existing PACER account, ensure it is an upgraded account (the login name is more than 6 characters).

If the account is not upgraded, please do so now by following:

For a New User, Submit a Registration Form - A login and password from another Federal Court (Bankruptcy or District) or attendance of ECF training at another court, may deem you eligible to receive a login and password to the Northern District of California Bankruptcy Court without additional training. If neither situation applies, our NextGen CM/ECF Training Modules will need to be completed.

For an Existing CM/ECF User, Link your CM/ECF Account with you PACER Account

  1.  Go to our CM/ECF login at https://ecf.canb.uscourts.gov, click on the link for the

    Northern District of California– Document Filing System (NextGen CM/ECF ver. 1.5.2)

     
  2.  At the login screen, log in with your PACER account credentials.  

     
  3.  Click the “Utilities” menu

     
  4. Click “Link a CM/ECF account to my PACER account”

     
  5. Enter your CM/ECF login and password

     
  6. You will be prompted to confirm the CM/ECF account being linked to the PACER account to ensure you are linking the correct accounts  

When successful, you will be sent to the welcome screen for the court. If the filing menus Bankruptcy and Adversary do not appear, try the following:  

  • Refresh your browser (F5)    
  • Clear your browser cache  (Ctrl+Shift+Delete) or for Safari (⌥Opt+ ⌘Cmd+ E)  
  • Log out, close the browser, open the browser, and log back in.

The Clerk's Office has public access computers available to view case information free of charge.

The NextGen CM/ECF system is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.