Never miss a court date: building a deadline routine for your firm

Few things damage a firm's reputation — and a client's case — as badly as a missed hearing or filing deadline. It is also one of the most preventable failures in legal practice. Deadlines are rarely missed because they were unknown. They are missed because they lived in one person's diary, notebook or head.

A firm-wide routine makes the deadline the firm's responsibility rather than one lawyer's memory.

One calendar for the firm

Every hearing, filing deadline and limitation date belongs in a shared calendar linked to its matter — not only in personal diaries. If the responsible lawyer is ill or travelling, someone else can see what is due.

Enter the date the moment you learn it

The riskiest period for a deadline is between learning about it and recording it. Make entering the date part of the same step as reading the notice or leaving the hearing.

Record the source

Note where each date came from — the court's notice, the hearing minutes, a calculation from a served document. When dates are questioned, the source settles it quickly.

Use more than one reminder

A single reminder on the day is too late for anything that needs preparation. Set reminders at intervals that give time to act: for example, a week before, two days before and on the day for filings.

Assign a named person

Each deadline should have one responsible lawyer and, for important ones, a second person who is also notified. "The team" is not an owner.

Review the week ahead together

A short weekly review of the next two weeks' hearings and deadlines catches conflicts in the diary, gaps in preparation and dates that were never entered.

Update after every hearing

Adjournments are the most common reason a calendar goes stale. The next date should be entered before the lawyer leaves the court building, along with a short note of what happened.

Close the loop with the client

Once a date is set, tell the client. It shows the firm is on top of the matter and reduces follow-up calls.

Lexivo's calendar is shared across the firm, linked to matters, and sends reminders to the responsible lawyer — so each deadline belongs to the firm, not one diary.