Deadline and Calendar Control System
A legal operations project for a small civil litigation firm.
Sample project: designed and built independently for a small civil litigation firm scenario, using Clio Manage and Google Workspace.
4 verified dates
calendared in Clio with reminders
6 dates tracked
in one register with a live status
14, 7, 3, 1
day reminders before each date
1 rule
no verification, no calendar entry
The situation
At Alder & Finch LLP, deadlines are reported at intake, mentioned in emails and saved in personal calendars. A date can be known by one person and missed by the team, and a date reported by a client can be treated as a deadline before anyone checks the letter, order or notice it came from.
Reported dates are not checked against a source document
Reminders live in personal calendars, not one shared one
No one can see at a glance which dates are unverified or overdue
Nobody owns the escalation when a date is close
Reviews happen when someone remembers
My approach
1
Map the path
From a reported date to a verified, calendared deadline.
2
Build the register
One place for every reported date, with a live status.
3
Put verified dates in Clio
Linked to the matter, with reminders and an owner.
4
Set the rules
Verification, reminders, escalation and a weekly review.
How a reported date becomes a verified deadline
What I built
| Deliverable | What it does |
|---|---|
| Deadline workflow map | The path from a reported date to a verified, calendared, reminded deadline |
| Deadline register (Google Sheets) | Every reported date with its source, verifier and owner, and a live status: Unverified, Verified not calendared, On track, Due within 7 days, Overdue or Completed |
| Clio calendar entries | Verified dates only, linked to the matter, named [DEADLINE] or [HEARING], with reminders at 14, 7, 3 and 1 days |
| Deadline control rules | Verification, reminders, escalation and a 15-minute weekly review |
The build
The path from a reported date to a verified, reminded deadline.
One register for every reported date, with a status that updates itself.
Verified dates only, linked to the matter, with reminders.
Seven rules for verification, reminders, escalation and review.
Three design decisions
No verification, no calendar entry
The Northline date stays unverified and off the calendar until someone checks it against its source.
Status is calculated, not typed
The register works out each date’s status from its verification, calendar and due date columns.
Escalation has a clock
An unverified date older than two business days, and any overdue date, goes to the attorney.
How success would be measured
Share of deadlines verified before they’re calendared
Share with two or more reminders
Unverified dates older than two business days
What I would do next
Run it on live matters for 30 days, review the register every Monday, and adjust the reminder defaults to the way the attorneys work.
Want help making sure no deadline slip through your firm?
Tell me where matters slow down. I’ll reply personally.
All names, matters and data in this project are sample data.