Avoid Missing Deadlines by Using the Triple Play
| Publication year | 2011 |
| Pages | 2 |
| Citation | Vol. 24 No. 2 Pg. 2 |
Vol. 24, No. 2. Avoid Missing Deadlines by Using the Triple Play
Volume 24 No. 2
Mar/Apr 2011
Have you ever experienced that sick, sinking feeling that comes from realizing you just blew an important deadline or hearing date? The kind where you felt like losing your lunch because you just messed up a case? Badly? If so, you are apparently not alone. The 2010 Annual Report of the Office of Professional Conduct reports that a surprisingly high percentage of OPC complaints are the result of attorneys missing court appearances. See Billy L. Walker, Utah State Bar, Office of Professional Conduct, Annual Report: August 2010, at 18, available at http://www.utahbar.org/opc/Assets/2009_2010_annualreport.pdf.
Luckily, this is a problem we can all fix. By implementing the triple play in your practice, you can make yourself your client's star player instead of his ethics (or malpractice) respondent. The solution can be easy and does not take much time.
To start with, you must recognize and pay attention to deadlines as they roll into your office. These deadlines take various forms, including complaints, scheduling orders, motions, notices of hearings, offers with acceptance deadlines, and so forth. Do not ignore these. Do not promise yourself you will get to them later. Do not let them pile up in your "in" box. Even if you don't deal with the substance of the document, immediately deal with the deadlines.
The triple play begins with the obvious: entering the applicable deadline on a calendar. I used to use a paper calendar, but now I use Outlook to help stay organized. The type of calendar is unimportant, but it is imperative that you have one and that you use it.
In addition to a calendar entry, each of my deadlines gets entered onto my "to do" list with a "high priority" tag. Again, I used to maintain a paper "to do" list with highlights to call my attention to important deadlines. I now use the "tasks" feature in Outlook. Outlook allows me to easily view my tasks by date, by client, or by priority. Each of my cases or client matters has at least one task (sometimes as simple as "follow up"), and I try to make sure every legal deadline has a high-priority task assigned to it. I often also give myself one-week reminder tasks to alert myself to upcoming deadlines.
The third part of the...
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