2019 Theme: Docketing as Knowledge
How To Maximize Your Productivity

Sharing and Integrating

The CourtAlert Case Management Solution is a great tool for managing risk by helping you docket and calendar quickly and accurately. What CourtAlert Case management also offers is using the same information for Knowledge Management purposes. This includes the following: 
Ability to research your own case work in the Inquiry Module
Searching for good writing samples or precedent documents 
Look at your statistics using an interactive dashboard 
Report on case classifications, types and industry statistics 
Report on case disposition details 

In addition, the seamless integration with iManage and NetDocuments provides "As-filed / stamped" documents to the attorneys where they would expect to see it. Also the integration with accounting, human resources, conflicts, case intake and ethical walls allows for a common language to refer to matters.

Verifying Attorneys Don't Miss Deadlines

There are two aspects of deadline management: how to calculate the deadlines and how (and how often) to communicate them to the attorneys. Too few deadline reminders, and the attorney may forget. Too many and the docketing staff becomes an annoyance. 
An email notification system warns the user if a rule is changed for a future deadline. As soon as a rule is changed (any rule change, nationwide) the rule is automatically updated, and the deadlines calculated are done with the new rule implemented. All automatic rule solutions are based on the codification of the law and regulations and therefore a deadline is proposed for all permutations (e.g. Service by Fax). An expert is still needed to weed out the irrelevant deadlines. The system should be able to default the deselection of some deadlines by court, case and for an individual event so less work is required by the docketing staff. 

Allow Event-Driven Calendaring (California Style) with Docket-Driven Calendaring (New York Style) on the Same Case

There are clear distinctions in the way docketing is handled in east and the west parts of the country. The type of information recorded is also location centric: The West Coast, as in many areas in the country, docketing/calendaring mainly means the entry of Events. The user enters an event and (typically automatically) the deadlines are calculated. Only occasionally would a user connect a docket to a PDF. The main purpose of this type of entry is calendaring and deadlines. In those scenarios, the computer system creates the docket text automatically (and the user should be able to modify it). 
For example, if a trial date is set in an order, the user enters the trial date and the system automatically calculates the future deadlines. Thereafter the system then creates a docket "Trial Date Set" and a PDF of the underlying order is attached. In New York, on the other hand, a docket is entered first, before the deadlines are calculated. The user enters a docket, attaches the PDF, and thereafter calculates and enters the relevant deadlines. The docketing department is chartered to keep the docket sheet, essentially an official history of the case, and copies of documents served on or by the firm.