How do I keep track of court deadlines in a law firm?

Q&A • Court deadlines

How do I keep track of court deadlines in a law firm?

A missed deadline can mean losing a right and the lawyer's liability. That is why court deadlines are tracked centrally, tied to the case, with automatic alerts. Below are the concrete steps.

Short answer

  1. Keep all court deadlines in a centralized calendar, tied to the case.
  2. Record the deadline as soon as you learn the time and court, not from memory.
  3. Set alerts a few days before each deadline, not only on the day itself.
  4. Calculate procedural deadlines (appeal, defence) from the communication date.
  5. Use one shared calendar, seen by lawyers and the secretariat.

Steps for a no-missed-deadline system

  1. Record each deadline in the case as soon as you receive the summons or communication.
  2. Calculate procedural deadlines from the act's communication date, per the procedure code.
  3. Enable multiple alerts (7/3/1 days) to the responsible lawyer and the secretariat.
  4. Review the shared calendar at the start of each week and confirm each deadline is prepared.

What the law says (briefly)

  • Procedural deadlines are counted in free days, per art. 181 of the Civil Procedure Code.
  • An appeal is filed within 30 days of the judgment's communication, unless the law says otherwise.
  • Missing a procedural deadline triggers forfeiture of that right (art. 185).

Practical example

Example: the judgment in a commercial dispute is communicated on 3 March. The lawyer has 30 days to file an appeal. The lawyer enters the due date in the firm's calendar, and in-app alerts remind them in advance. The appeal is filed on time, with no risk of forfeiture.

Common mistakes

  • Keeping deadlines in separate personal diaries, with no shared firm calendar.
  • Computing the deadline wrong because you start from the ruling date, not the communication date.
  • Relying on a single alert, on the deadline day, when it is already too late to prepare.

How 4lawyers helps

  • A shared court-deadline calendar, tied to each case and to the responsible lawyer.
  • In-app alerts before deadlines, for the lawyer and the secretariat.
  • Sync with portal.just.ro for cases in Romanian courts.

See also