Single most important technology for a solo attorney
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When asked what's the most important function of practice management software for a solo attorney, ChatGPT responded:
"Tracking deadlines is often considered the single most important function for a solo attorney. Missing deadlines can have severe consequences for a case, including legal penalties, loss of rights, or damage to client relationships. Thus, ensuring timely management of deadlines is critical for maintaining professionalism, meeting legal obligations, and providing effective representation."
Backpedling, stress and extra work
Well, that's all pretty obvious to any attorney, but it is still worth emphasizing. Like any other established system, your main deadline tracker is not perfect. A simple oversight or unanticipated glitch could lead to a missed deadline and all sorts of backpedaling, avoidable stress, extra work, and misfortune.
Your technology might not fail, but what about a human error, such as selecting the right day of the month, but in the wrong month or year? What about a transposition of numbers or being interrupted before clicking Save? What if your paper calendar vanishes?
Do you have two independent deadline trackers?
If you make a habit of entering this same vital information in two separate places, you are protected by the backup. Two independent methods are vital to ensure that you meet your deadlines.
Your practice management system probably shows you deadlines in multiple ways. They appear on your calendar, obviously. They may appear in a view of upcoming events, filtered for deadlines. And they may show up in the related records of each matter you are working on. Yet all of these places are still within a single, fallible system.
Don’t be sandbagged by a single point of failure!
Set up a redundant deadline tracker
As your second, redundant deadline tracker, consider either a paper method or an independent reminder app on your phone. There is no one solution that is ideal for everyone. We vary so much in how our brains work. A principle to guide your selection is:
What will be most likely to grab your attention?
Are you in the habit of dismissing things that ping and bong on your phone, often without thinking? Then one of the To Do phone apps, such as Todoist, Any.do or Apple Reminders- excellent for many people – might not work for you. Perhaps a separate paper calendar devoted exclusively to deadlines would be better. You would need to make checking it part of your daily routine, but also avoid having it too conspicuous and annoying all day long.
Email reminders
If you consistently inspect all your incoming emails, you might consider using an appointment service that sends email reminders. You schedule each deadline as an appointment in your account. Two free services are Setmore and Appointlet. They can be set to send email reminders days before an event.
Don’t miss a deadline!
Your practice management system serves as your go-to place for all your deadlines. You might even have supercharged your deadline management with LawToolBox, the leading legal deadline service. Nevertheless, for safety's sake, make sure you have a redundant method as well.
