The Practice Resource Center of The Florida Bar recognizes that one of the most frequent causes of attorney discipline is poor calendaring, resulting in missed filings and court appearances, overlooked client appointments, and sloppy, rushed work. We can point you towards a variety of computerized docketing solutions that provide calendaring, automatic “ticklers”, case planning, group scheduling, sophisticated report options, and more.

Most practice management software programs offer robust calendaring capabilities. Some even include built-in court rule deadlines or have integrations with products like LawToolBox which automates rule-driven deadlines and case management driven deadlines. The Florida Bar Member Benefits: Practice Resources page lists discounts offered by a number of practice management programs such as Clio, Cosmolex, Rocket Matter, PracticePanther, MyCase, and more.

• LawToolBox  is a cloud-based, centralized deadline management system used by attorneys and paralegals that calculates court rule-based deadlines based on the state and federal court rules of procedure for each state. It emails weekly “deadline” & “calendar reports” by paralegal, attorney, client, department or firm (noting “done” status or each deadline), and sends email reminders for each deadline. When the courts change their rules, LawToolBox calculators and case deadlines are automatically updated to reflect those rule changes.

We do suggest computerized docketing where at all possible, since it is easier, more reliable, and generally offers features that simply can’t be duplicated in a manual system, like keyword searches or automatic ticklers. In addition, many malpractice carriers offer discounts to attorneys who used computerized docketing. Check with yours to see if a switch could save you money.

VIEWS AND CONCLUSIONS EXPRESSED IN ARTICLES HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS AND NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF FLORIDA BAR STAFF, OFFICIALS, OR BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FLORIDA BAR.