Let’s start with the calendar, where many attorneys start their day. Many firms still rely on Outlook for daily calendaring, but Outlook is not designed to meet the special needs of attorneys.
Now imagine missing a deadline. This keeps many attorneys up at night. You know that heart-gripping moment of doubt when despite best efforts, one vital event went missing from the calendar or was rescheduled once too many times causing it to fall through the cracks?
The consequences of an unheeded deadline can be drastic, from malpractice claims, censure, loss of license in extreme circumstances, and most often causing client distress and loss of firm reputation. Focusing the lens to today’s evolving remote work environment, the long-standing concern that distance from the office increases the likelihood of errors or missed deadlines remains top of mind.
How automated court rules help attorneys meet deadlines
While common firm communication options including shared calendars, smartphone access, virtual meetings, and automated alerts from practice management software have eased the fear to an extent, there is another useful tool that largely mitigates the risk of missed deadlines, is easy to implement, and is available to your firm right now — court rules.
- Court rules are accurate, updated immediately, and available for your jurisdiction
- Automatic scheduling of appearances, tasks, and deadlines saves time and reduces errors
- As easy to use as adding one event to the calendar, with the key benefit of timelines and date calculations performed quickly and accurately
- Rescheduling is handled seamlessly with a ripple effect through all dependent events and alerts
- Instant changes available globally (PC, smartphone, tablet, email, texts, etc.)
- Value of court rules is proven by a discount on most malpractice insurance premiums
While every firm doesn’t necessarily track court dates and deadlines, those that do understand how critical being on top of shifting schedules is to mitigating risk. All firms benefit from using connected calendars that enforce best practices by standardizing the step-by-step handling of important processes.
