A significant percentage of legal malpractice claims stem from calendar and docket issues, according to data gathered by the American Bar Association (ABA). Together, the following make up roughly 25 percent of malpractice claims:

• Failure to calendar properly

• Failure to know or ascertain a deadline correctly

• Procrastination in performing services or lack or a follow-up

• Failure to react to calendar

These claims are hard to dispute: You either made a deadline or you didn't. Any firm—but small firms especially—can't afford to put themselves at risk for a malpractice suit from something so easily preventable.

Before you brush off that statement, consider that in 2015, over 440 legal malpractice claims resulted in claimants receiving over $1 million dollars in payment, according to a profile of the ABA's study of Legal Malpractice Claims from 2012 to 2015.

To combat this risk, many firms use calendaring and docketing software to provide early warnings and reminders of due dates for filings, court dates and case-related tasks and to create an audit trail for compliance and regulation review.

We've created this guide to outline what you can expect to find in calendaring and docketing software and help you understand how it fits within the larger legal software marketplace.

Here's what we'll cover:

What Is Legal Calendaring and Docketing Software?

Common Features of Legal Calendaring and Docketing Software

What Type of Buyer Are You?

Purchase Considerations

What Is Legal Calendaring and Docketing Software?

Calendaring and docketing software helps lawyers manage their files, tasks, deadlines and appointments surrounding cases and trials.

In an industry where missing deadlines has serious legal consequences, having a transparent, collaborative and redundant (i.e., a backed up or duplicated) system in place to manage calendaring and docketing is an important part of a firm's risk management strategy.

These tools automate what historically had been a very manual and tedious process surrounding case file maintenance and management.

Prior to automated calendaring and docketing software, a typical process looked something like this:

Manual Docketing Process

The dated index card is called a “tickler." Sometimes a due date on a tickler was used simply to remind the attorney to review a case and check on it's status (rather than complete a specific action item). On a recurring basis (typically once a month), office staff was responsible for reviewing the tickler box to ensure cards weren't misfiled or hadn't been overlooked.

This was how firms handled files. There was a separate, but related, process for managing schedules for appointments, court appearances and client meetings.

Now, docketing software helps firms create an automated process to manage all tasks, files and deadlines associated with cases and ensure reminders are set and schedules are accurate.

Typically, one person (or more, depending on the size of your firm) is responsible for inputting dates into the system for each case and assuring compliance with court rules and deadlines.

A separate person is responsible for managing calendars, both the individual calendars of the attorneys and shared calendars among the firm. This person reviews mail, email, faxes etc. for dates and deadlines and adds them to the appropriate schedule.

Then, the system acts to provide checks and reminders of impending due dates and case-related tasks. This not only makes the attorney and office staff more organized (and audit ready), but it promotes a better attorney-client relationship as there are less mistakes and missed deadlines.

Because the cards in the manual system were referred to as “ticklers," you may still see this term used to refer to the automated organization system in docketing software. For example, TrialWorks, is a case management software that uses a digital “tickler system."

Adding a tickler to a docket in TrialWorks

Some cloud-based systems, such as Clio, will auto-generate dates for court rules within the attorney's jurisdiction based on the “trigger" event being logged.

Adding items to the docket using “Court Rules" functionality in Clio

Calendaring and docketing tools are available as best-of-breed solutions (BoB), or as an application within a larger practice management suite.

Firms looking for highly collaborative solutions should consider cloud-based tools as they'll offer the highest degree of transparency and to-the-minute updates.

For example, if an attorney is out of the office and a paralegal receives an email about an urgent discovery item, they can update the attorney's calendar from the office. The system will alert the attorney that a new task has been added to their calendar, and the attorney can check it on their mobile device or laptop.

Maintaining strict rules and protocol around calendaring and docketing is crucial for risk management and ensuring compliance with regulations. This includes workflows dictating who adds tasks and due dates, that there are “read" receipts in the system for when the attorney receives them, that there is a saved history of when auto-generated reminders for deadlines were sent out and of course when the task was completed along with relevant documentation.

Common Features of Calendaring & Docketing Software

Expect to see some or all of the following capabilities as you evaluate calendaring and docketing software:

What Type of Buyer Are You?

According to 2016 U.S. lawyer demographic research by the ABA (highlighted in this infographic by PracticePanther), 75 percent of attorneys in the private sector work for small firms with 20 or fewer practicing attorneys. Of that, 49 percent work at solo practices.

Below is how your calendaring and docketing needs should break down across your size of business:

Solo practice (one attorney): Look for email integration with a shared calendar tool, task management and matter management (i.e., BoB calendaring and docketing will suffice).

Small practice (two to 20 attorneys): Everything for the solo attorney plus look for case management software that includes calendaring and docketing and document management.

Midsize practice (21 - 50 attorneys): Everything for the small practice, and in addition look for time keeping and a legal billing solution.

Large law firm (more than 50 attorneys): Large law firms will need a comprehensive practice management solution, often one geared toward their specific practice area (see below).

Purchase Considerations

Our last legal management software user report found that the number one function law firms automate with software is calendar and docketing. Based on the percentage of malpractice claims resulting from calendar and docket issues, it's not hard to see why.

However, the specific calendar and docket needs of your firm may vary based on your practice area. Common case-related calendar and docket tasks for different practice areas include:

Litigation:

Court filings, court dates and appearances, pleading deadlines, discovery dates and opposing party deadlines.  * Patent, copyright or trademark: Deadlines for filing applications, dates of annuity and maintenance payments.

• Real estate: Deadlines for contracts, loans, inspection dates, closing dates and lien notification dates.

• Corporate/commercial: Annual meetings and deadlines for tax returns, financial statements and regulatory filings.