Mississippi Electronic Courts Director Nathan Evans receives Chief Justice Award

Mississippi Electronic Courts Director Nathan Evans of Gluckstadt, second from right, holds the 2025 Chief Justice Award. Chief Justice Mike Randolph is at right. Pictured at left are children Braden and Addison, and wife Megan Evans  holding their youngest child, Lily.

Mississippi Electronic Courts Director Nathan Evans of Gluckstadt is the recipient of the 2025 Chief Justice Award.

               Evans was honored days after he and a team of Mississippi Electronic Courts staff under his supervision completed statewide implementation of the electronic filing and case management system. Chief Justice Mike Randolph announced to applause at the Mississippi Bar Convention that as of June 30, every Circuit, County and Chancery Court in Mississippi uses the electronic filing system known as MEC.

Chief Justice Mike Randolph, at right, presents the Chief Justice Award to Nathan Evans on July 11 at the Mississippi Bar Convention in Destin, Fla.

               The annual Chief Justice Award recognizes individuals whose actions significantly impact the law, the administration of justice, and the people of the State of Mississippi. Chief Justice Randolph selected Evans in recognition of his leadership in implementing the MEC system statewide.  Chief Justice Randolph presented the award to Evans on July 11 at the Mississippi Bar Convention in Destin, Fla.

               Chief Justice Randolph said that Evans “has demonstrated exceptional technical ability, planning skills, management and leadership in 10 years of work with MEC.”

               Evans called completion of the statewide MEC system an historic milestone and “a significant leap in efficiency, transparency, and access to justice for the public we serve.”

                “This achievement would not have been possible without the extraordinary dedication and cooperation of so many,” Evans said. “I am also deeply grateful to the clerks, judges, court administrators, and all staff across every court who embraced the change, provided critical feedback, and worked alongside us through each phase of the process....This has truly been a collective effort, and the success belongs to all of us.”

Nathan Evans, at left, addresses the Mississippi Bar Convention on July 11 after receiving the Chief Justice Award for his work supervising completion of Mississippi Electronic Court, the statewide electronic filing system. Looking on are Chief Justice Mike Randolph, outgoing Mississippi Bar President Meade Mitchell and incoming Bar President Rhea Tannehill.

               Evans thanked his 13-member staff of analysts, programmers, trainers and customer service representatives. “They do the lion’s share of the work. I just make sure we keep moving. I couldn’t have done it without them. I have a very talented and hard-working staff at MEC.”

               He thanked Chief Justice Randolph and Administrative Office of Courts Director Katharine Surkin. MEC is a division of the Administrative Office of Courts.

               Evans also recognized his predecessors at MEC. “A lot of work was done before I arrived.”

               Evans  joined MEC in March 2015 as a law student intern while pursuing a law degree at Mississippi College School of Law. In December 2015, when he earned his Juris Doctorate, he became lead business and legal analyst for MEC. He became director of MEC in April 2018.

               Chief Justice Randolph said that former Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. laid the groundwork for MEC and oversaw its implementation until he retired from the Supreme Court in 2019. Chief Justice Randolph and former Chief Justice Waller recognized former Madison County Chancery Clerk Arthur Johnston for his leadership in helping secure permission to adapt the source code of the electronic filing system used by federal district courts, and his work with members of his staff figuring out how to convert the federal e-filing system to one that would handle the very different filings of Chancery Court. Johnston later became clerk of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Former Justice Waller also recognized Chancellor Cynthia Brewer of Madison as one of two 11^th District Chancellors who were the first in Mississippi to use electronic filing in MEC.

               Chief Justice Randolph said that electronic filing took away the race to the courthouse to file documents under court-ordered deadlines. He recalled one afternoon during his private law practice when a client called to say that a document was due to be filed in Lexington by 5 p.m. He flew from Hattiesburg to Lexington, and the court clerk met him at a small airport to accept the document for filing. “Now you can just sit down at your computer and get it done,” he said.

               The MEC system is a comprehensive, internet-based electronic document filing and case management system. Judges and attorneys can file and view documents 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Remote electronic access to dockets and documents is efficient for judges, lawyers and litigants, and makes court records more accessible to the public.