For the past year, courts and federal agencies in the US have undergone major transformations. These entities and the legal professionals who work with them have faced significant challenges including the COVID pandemic and other catastrophes such as forest fires and severe storms.
The pandemic has had the most lasting effect on the courts and docketing. Some courts have still not reopened their doors since COVID hit in March 2020. Instead, they are holding trials (including jury trials) and other court proceedings via Zoom meeting or teleconference. One year ago, many of these courts would never have considered conducting a jury trial on Zoom, but necessity has forced them to change, and some of this “new normal” may be permanent.
In response to these massive changes in the courts, law firms have had to pivot like never before to stay on top of their dockets and court rules. Technology tools like CompuLaw have provided a veritable lifeline for firms throughout these turbulent times, providing up-to-date calendar rules and reliable, accurate deadlines so requirements were properly adhered to and appointments were not missed.
Having a superior legal docketing software tool like CompuLaw is critically important for law firms, but it is the team of people behind the technology that makes the product so indispensable. The Rules department at CompuLaw has established a wide range of checklists, systems and processes to serve clients.
The department has two components – 1) Rules Attorneys – a team of lawyers who review rules changes and provide the most accurate information to clients; and 2) a dedicated monitoring team that researches and supplies necessary information to the Rules Attorneys. Working together, these teams have created both technology-driven processes and manual procedures to produce results that meet or exceed clients’ expectations.
The CompuLaw Rules department performs a triple review. First, two attorneys review the rules individually, and then a supervisor completes a third and final review. This triple check ensures accuracy and effectively irons out any ambiguities to make the rule description perfectly clear.
The monitoring team checks in with all 50 United States, several U.S. territories and many Federal Agencies for updates on a regular basis. Relevant entities are monitored at least once a month, but often more frequently than that. In fact, since COVID, the team checks in with many courts and agencies several times per week or daily. In addition, the monitoring team follows nationwide weather patterns and holidays, tracks major storms and national events to determine how they will impact court operations, and communicates those changes to CompuLaw clients.
Cheryl Siler, Director of CompuLaw Operations at Aderant, says, “We pride ourselves on having the most accurate and comprehensive set of dates and deadlines for our law firm clients. Customers appreciate the results our teams produce because the technology is so helpful and we put so much information at their fingertips. At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, courts were scrambling and things were changing all the time. Even now as things are settling down more, there are still a lot of changes. Despite the pandemic and other challenges that arise, we will continue to work collaboratively with CompuLaw clients to make sure they have the complete, accurate information they need, when they need it.”
Learn more about CompuLaw’s exceptional rules-based docketing and calendaring here: www.www.aderant.com/solutions-calendaring-compulaw/ or email info@aderant.com to speak with a team member.
