Dockets

Meticulous docketing is an important part of law practice that most lawyers don't appreciate. For many, dockets are perceived as a nuisance that allows lawyers to get paid. They are also a very useful way to track client engagement, diligent administration of a matter, and interactions with opposing counsel and others. Tracking these activities allows professionals to demonstrate their ability to clients, courts, and the regulator. In brief: the habit of docketing may save a lawyer much heartache, should a client claim malpractice.

This antiquated article from LawPro's magazine provides a common-sense description of docketing and its relevance in an age of “e-docketing”: 2005-09-tech-tip4-2.pdf.

Docketing tracks time spent on matters and provides a justification that the client will see on her or his invoice. Some cardinal rules, then, for docketing:

• a docket is a single sentence;
• independent clauses in a docket are separated with a semicolon (–>);
• dockets end with a period;
• all independent clauses in a docket begin with a verb conjugated in the past-tense;
• capitalization is reserved for the first letter of the first word in the docket and any proper noun–common nouns are not capitalized;
• refer to all people by initials, unless that person is not known to the client, but never refer to someone working with us by anything other than initials; and
• check grammar and spelling on all dockets–a client needs to see clean prose, even in dockets.

When you docket, please also make sure that your name is being associated with the time entry. Your name is tied to the value of your billable hour. You should all have time entries that default to your account.