1.6 Docket Control

• Library: The Virginia Lawyer: A Deskbook for Practitioners (Virginia CLE) (2022 Ed.)

1.6 DOCKET CONTROL

1.601 Monitoring Workload.

Controlling workload is a skill that attorneys refine over time. Accurately projecting the amount of time a task will take can be difficult for new attorneys, but continual assessment of workload is essential because an attorney's overarching ethical responsibility is to represent clients competently. An attorney who is too busy to handle a matter cannot represent a client competently. Accordingly, an attorney must pay close attention to his or her calendar. Each practice area will have unique challenges. For example, litigators should be aware that federal court deadlines are usually firmly enforced (particularly in the Eastern District of Virginia) and should avoid handling multiple federal cases with trial dates that are in close proximity. Other practices, such as tax practices, have predictable "crunch" times that...