According to the ABA, over one-third of all legal malpractice claims are attributable to deadline and calendaring errors. As a result, automated legal calendaring systems are among the most adopted legal software systems. However, recent malpractice cases involving calendar-related errors by firms using automated systems have motivated firms to take a closer look at the risks inherent in legal calendaring and their approaches to mitigating those risks with technology. Often, after that review, they find that a lack of competence in calendaring technology has left them vulnerable, regardless of the technology they are using or how much they are paying. [Read more]

During the past three decades we have seen automated legal calendaring systems go from “nice to have” to “can’t live without” in most major law firms, as these firms took notice of several studies over several years consistently revealing that calendar-related errors were the leading cause of legal malpractice claims. So many law firms turned to automated legal calendaring to help mitigate those risks, with the added benefit of improving productivity. However, since even the best of these systems are not perfect (particularly if not used correctly), many firms were jolted by the recent major malpractice cases involving calendar related errors, and the resultant costly and embarrassing consequences. These cases were a warning to many law firms who were encouraged to take a new look at the risks they face, to rethink their approach, conduct a thorough audit of their entire calendaring and docketing process, and immediately remediate any risks identified in the audit. [Read more]