The challenge
In most contentious practices the authoritative list of dates is a diary, and the diary belongs to a person. When that person is in court, on leave, or has left the firm, the list is still there — but nobody else can read it the way they did.
The damage is rarely a missed hearing. It is the hour spent every morning reconstructing what is due, and the client who learns a date changed because they happened to ask.
The system
- 01
The matter is the record, not the folder
Client, matter type, practice area and the fee-earners assigned are created together, so there is one place a date can belong to.
Case Management → - 02
One list the firm can read
Hearings and filing deadlines sit on a firm-wide list with stale entries flagged, rather than in a calendar invitation that leaves with the person. Linking a hearing to a specific matter is in build.
Hearings & Calendar → - 03
The outcome is recorded where it happened
The adjournment and the new date go onto the matter from a phone, in the building, rather than from memory two days later.
Hearings & Calendar → - 04
The client hears it from the record
When your team posts the new date as a case update, the client reads it in their own portal instead of phoning to ask. Surfacing hearings on the portal automatically is in build.
Client Case Portal →
What changes
- The firm's list is readable by the firm, not by one person
- A changed date reaches the client without anyone drafting an update
- Handover is reading the matter, not interviewing a colleague
- Preparation starts from what is actually due this week
