LEGAL
When I was practicing law, calculating legal deadlines - to both produce and submit documents to the court - was a source of relentless anxiety. After all, there's very little recourse if you miss a court deadline or show up unprepared.
But no matter how careful my calculations and research, there was always that niggling fear that something might have been missed - whether that was an unaccounted court holiday or a newly established rule. As a result, even when I was physically away from the office and off the job, my thoughts drifted back to work.
I am sure I am not alone in this.
Here's what I wish my employer had: Firm Central with Deadline Assistant. Its practice mananagement at its best with a built in legal date calculator. For lawyers who do have access to the legal date calculator, life is remarkably easier. They can put away their calculators, statutes, and rule books, and let Firm Central calculate and calendar every deadline for them. What used to take as much as a couple of hours can now be completed in a fraction of the time.
A Trusted Legal Date Calculator Failsafe
Most importantly, you have more peace of mind knowing that every legal deadline is calculated correctly because Firm Central Deadline Assistant takes into accounts holidays, weekends, and rule changes. That's because Deadline Assistant is powered by Westlaw attorney editors who are continuously checking and rechecking rule sets for every level of the judicial system -right down to the local courthouse and judge.
This is especially useful when you have a case that's taking you into new legal territory where you don't know what you don't know. You can rest assured knowing Deadline Assistant is filling in the gaps that you may have missed on your own. It even includes the citations that outline the legalities behind deadlines. It's no wonder many legal malpractice providers give discounts to law firms with this software.
Doing Justice to Due Dates
But even if you know a court deadline, you'll still miss it if you haven't accomplished the tasks to meet it. That's why Firm Central Deadline Assistant allows you to set up custom rules that list the “do” dates - when you need to accomplish tasks to meet your court or client due dates. So when the legal deadline is populated, all of the deadlines for the matter team tasks to meet it will be too.
For instance, if you need to draft a brief for a client review two weeks before the court deadline, you can set up a custom rule in Deadline Assistant to remind you to both begin and complete the project. Furthermore, it allows your coworkers who are associated with the matter to update tasks and add notes as well.
Your Legal Project Management System
In essence, Firm Central Deadline Assistant is like a project management system that automatically sets up a step-by-step workflow to guide every matter from start to finish:
If you want more peace of mind and more time to focus on legal strategy instead of stressing about manual legal deadline calculations, it's worth exploring Firm Central with Deadline Assistant.
About the author
Ben Head is a lawyer and a product specialist for Practice Management Solutions at Thomson Reuters where he helps firms simplify their business management and resolve workflow inefficiencies with Firm Central. He received his J.D. from the Hamline School of Law and has a bachelor's in Finance from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.
Read a skeptical lawyer's review of Firm Central and their thoughts on how it actually does make your job as an attorney easier.
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