Every court date and deadline, on file.

Legal docketing software is the system a law firm uses to record every court date, filing deadline and limitation date on its matters, calculate dates that run from a trigger event, and remind the responsible people before each date arrives. Its job is to make sure no date lives only in one lawyer's diary.

A docketing system has three parts: a record of each date with its source, a way to calculate dependent dates, and reminders that reach the right person. Some products also sell a maintained court-rules service that turns a trigger into a full chain of dates for a named court. That service is a separate product category.

LawAOS covers the record, the calculation and the reminders. Each matter has a deadline calculator and a limitation-date calculator, the firm-wide docket lists court dates, calculated deadlines and limitation dates, and a daily job sends reminders in-app and by email. LawAOS does not ship court rules.

Most missed dates come from a date that was known but not recorded, or recorded without anyone being reminded. A docket that the whole firm can see, with a named owner and a reminder for every entry, closes both gaps.

A source for every date

Each deadline in LawAOS keeps its source citation, so a reviewer can see where the date came from without reopening the file.

A history of changes

Hearings move. A deadline can be completed, cancelled with a reason, or adjourned with a reason, and every adjournment is kept on the record.

Limitation dates as real deadlines

The limitation-date calculator counts days, months or years from the accrual date, lets the user choose how a date that lands on a closed day moves, and stores the result as a deadline with reminders.

Overdue dates made visible

A deadline that passes without being completed is marked missed, so it shows up on the docket instead of disappearing.

Rules-based docketing services maintain the deadline rules for specific courts and update them when the rules change. LawAOS does not ship court rules, and there is no screen to add deadline rules or court holidays. The per-matter calculator previews a chain of dates from a trigger event where the firm's rules exist, and the person recording the deadline confirms it.

A litigation firm that needs a maintained court-rules service for its courts should plan to keep that service. LawAOS then holds the recorded dates, the matter context, the reminders and the history.

• Solo and small firms: one docket, one reminder run, and every date tied to a matter so nothing sits in a personal calendar.
• Growing firms: the docket tabs split court dates, calculated deadlines, limitation dates, opposing counsel and firm-defined jurisdictions, so a docketing clerk can work from one list.
• Firms with departments: ethical walls are enforced in the database on the docket, so a walled-off person does not see those entries.
• Firms with many matters: the daily job reminds on deadlines, court dates, key dates and limitation dates without anyone running it.