Law Firm Case Management
Cases, hearing dates that move, documents per matter and fees billed per hearing — without the diary being the only source of truth.
A practice is held together by a diary and a clerk. The cause list is checked, dates are noted, a matter is adjourned and the new date is written over the old one, and tomorrow's file is found the night before. It functions, often for decades, because the clerk is good. It fails on the day the clerk is unwell, or when two matters in different courts land on the same morning and nobody notices until it is too late.
What gets built is scoped to how your chambers actually works: a record per matter with its parties, court, stage and hearing history, documents attached to the matter rather than stacked on a shelf, and a view of tomorrow and next week that does not depend on one person's handwriting. It will not read the cause list for you unless that is specifically scoped, and it will not reduce adjournments.
What it fixes
- Hearing dates in a diary, so a clash between two courts on the same morning is spotted by luck
- Adjourned dates overwritten, leaving no history of how a matter has actually progressed
- Documents filed physically per case, with no record of which annexures were filed and when
- An unclear fee position — what was agreed, what has been billed per hearing, and what the client has actually paid
- A junior taking over a matter and needing a verbal briefing because nothing about the case sits in one place
- Client calls asking for a status update that nobody can answer without opening the file
What gets built
A starting point, not a fixed list. The build is scoped to your own process before anything is written.
Matter file
Case number, court and bench, parties on both sides, opposing counsel, cause of action, present stage and the advocate responsible — one place instead of a cover page and a memory.
Hearing diary
Every date recorded with what happened and the next date, so adjournments build a history rather than erase one, with tomorrow and this week visible per advocate and per court.
Clash and reminder view
Dates across all matters in one calendar, with same-day conflicts surfaced and reminders ahead of a hearing rather than on the morning of it.
Documents per matter
Pleadings, annexures, orders and correspondence attached to the case with dates and versions, searchable, and visible only to those who should see them.
Fees and billing
Whichever basis you actually use — per hearing, per matter, retainer or a mix — with what was agreed, what is billed, what is received and what is outstanding per client.
Access and confidentiality
Rights set per user so a clerk, a junior and a partner see different things, with a log of who opened or changed a document. In a practice this is a professional obligation rather than a convenience.
Who this is for
Individual advocates with a substantial board, and chambers of roughly two to thirty lawyers with clerks, where matters run across more than one court and the diary has become a risk. Particularly relevant to litigation practices with frequent hearing dates. A practice with a dozen live matters is served perfectly well by a diary. It is not a substitute for a clerk's judgement, it files nothing with any court, and it carries no responsibility for a missed date — the reminders help, the diligence remains yours.
Questions
Can it pull hearing dates from the court's cause list automatically?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on the court. Some case information systems publish in a form that can be read; others do not, and formats change without notice. Where it is possible we scope it as separate work and say plainly that it needs ongoing maintenance. Where it is not, dates are entered by the clerk — still a considerable improvement on a diary.
Our fee arrangements are all different. Will that fit?
It should, but only if described properly during scoping. Per-hearing, per-matter, retainer and success-linked arrangements each model differently, and a billing design built for one of them does not stretch to the others gracefully. This deserves an hour of conversation before any code is written.
Is it safe to keep client documents in software?
That depends on decisions you should make deliberately rather than accept as defaults: where it is hosted, who holds access, how backups are taken and tested, and which users can view which matters. For some practices a local server is the right answer and we will say so. If confidentiality is a concern worth raising, it is worth designing around, and that conversation belongs at the start.
Tell us how your practice runs.
We scope it first — what it takes, how long, what it costs. No obligation.