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Practice operations agent

Deadline docketing

Every court notice, order and filing read the day it arrives, with each deadline worked out under your rules and queued for the docketing clerk to confirm before it reaches the calendar.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
The review screen for Deadline docketing: four items, three done, and one (Two readings) waiting for the responsible attorney, who is asked: Service reads as mail or e-filing. Docket the earlier date, Oct 16?
How it works

Deadlines counted by your rules, then confirmed by your clerk.

Here’s a typical run, step by step: what automation handles, what the agent does, and the calls that stay with your team.

The workflow for Deadline docketing, in 5 steps. It starts with “A filing lands” and ends with “On the calendar, confirmed”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
Deadline docketingA typical run
Starts withA filing landsA counterclaim in Harlow v. Pellam Logistics arrives in the e-filing inbox on Sept 25.
Automation: Takes the case number off the e-filing notice, matches 25-cv-0930 to the open matter and saves the filing to its folder.
~8h/mo

Step 1 of 5Match it to the matter

  • Automation

    Takes the case number off the e-filing notice, matches 25-cv-0930 to the open matter and saves the filing to its folder.

    A case number is an exact key to one open matter.

Reads
  • E-filing inbox
Writes
  • Document store

~8 hours a month back

The agent: Reads the counterclaim for what it is, when it was filed and how it was served, and sees the certificate lists both mail and e-filing.
~18h/mo

Step 2 of 5Read the filing

  • The agent

    Reads the counterclaim for what it is, when it was filed and how it was served, and sees the certificate lists both mail and e-filing.

    The service method hides in a certificate on the last page, worded differently by every sender.

Reads
  • Document store
Writes
  • Docket queue

~18 hours a month back

The agent: Counts the answer date under your court rules, adds the firm’s own earlier dates, and finds mail service gives Oct 19, e-filing Oct 16.
~20h/mo

Step 3 of 5Work out the dates

  • The agent

    Counts the answer date under your court rules, adds the firm’s own earlier dates, and finds mail service gives Oct 19, e-filing Oct 16.

    Court days, holidays and service extensions stack up. Working out a date means reading the rule, not adding days.

Reads
  • Court rules
  • Docket calendar
Writes
  • Docket queue

~20 hours a month back

Where teams differAn internal date a few days ahead of each court date is standard. Some firms set two: one for the draft, one for review.

IfYour team: Says whether service counts as mailed or e-filed, which sets the answer due on Oct 16 or Oct 19.
~2h/mo

Step 4 of 5Settle the reading

  • Your teamIf a date reads two ways

    Says whether service counts as mailed or e-filed, which sets the answer due on Oct 16 or Oct 19.

    Which rule applies to a contested date is a legal judgment, and a missed answer lands on the attorney.

Reads
  • Docket queue
Writes
  • Docket queue

~2 hours a month back

Where teams differWhen a date reads two ways, most firms docket the earlier one until the attorney decides. Some calendar both.

Your team: The docketing clerk checks the answer date and both reminders against the filing, and confirms them.
Automation: Adds the confirmed dates to the matter calendar with their rule, trigger and source, and sets the reminders for the team.
~12h/mo

Step 5 of 5Confirm and calendar

  • Your team

    The docketing clerk checks the answer date and both reminders against the filing, and confirms them.

    A deadline on the calendar is a promise to the court. A clerk checks each one before it counts.

  • Automation

    Adds the confirmed dates to the matter calendar with their rule, trigger and source, and sets the reminders for the team.

    A confirmed date and your reminder rules are all the calendar needs.

Reads
  • Docket queue
Writes
  • Docket calendar

~12 hours a month back

Ends withOn the calendar, confirmedThe answer date and two reminders on the matter calendar, each with its rule and the source document.
Total~60h/mo

What changes

Clerks stop counting days by hand on every notice. They confirm dates that arrive already worked out, and the attorney is asked only about the ones that read two ways.

  • 2steps automated
  • 2steps for the agent
  • 2calls kept with your team

Pick any step to see what happens there and why it sits in that lane.

What it could be worth

~60 hours a month back

$36,000 a year in time

For a litigation group receiving around 300 notices and orders a month, at $50 an hour. We work out yours from your own volumes before you sign.

Let’s build your agent
What we customize with you

One proven agent, plugged into how you work.

Every team does this job a little differently, so we set these five with the people who do it today. We’ve done this in dozens of businesses, so we know where teams usually differ and ask about those first.

The agent

Same for every client
  • Follows the same proven steps
  • A person on every exception
  • Every decision logged
  • Tested on your past work first
  • Never puts a date on the calendar without the clerk
  1. Your systems

    Where the work comes in, and where the result goes.

    For this agentNotices from your e-filing inbox, deadlines into your docketing calendar.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentThe court rules you practice under, and the firm’s own internal dates ahead of each one.

  3. Your team

    Who signs off, and who covers when they’re away.

    For this agentThe docketing clerk for every date, the responsible attorney when a date is unclear.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentCalendar entries for the matter team, email for the weekly look-ahead.

  5. Your output

    What it hands back, in the format you already use.

    For this agentA confirmed deadline with its rule, its trigger and the source document.

Opening new matters and reviewing prebills are their own agents in this catalog. Which rule applies to a contested date stays with your attorneys.

What you get

The agent, and everything that keeps it working.

  • The agentRunning on your systems, under your rules.
  • The review screenWhere the exceptions land for your docketing clerks and attorneys.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past court notices and filings, run through it and checked against the number.
  • The runbookHow it works, what to check, and what to do if it stops.
  • 30 days of tuningAfter it goes live, through a full month of your real court notices and filings.
The number we agree

Hours a week your docketing team spends reading notices and entering dates. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.

How we get there

Live in 3 to 6 weeks. About seven hours of your time.

We do the building. Your side: access, three months of docketed notices and the dates your clerks entered, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and three months of docketed notices and the dates your clerks entered.

  2. Weeks 1 to 2

    We connect your systems and set it up.

    You, 1 hour. Walk us through your rules.

  3. Weeks 2 to 4

    We test it on your past court notices and filings.

    You, 1 hour. Review what it flagged.

  4. Weeks 3 to 6

    It runs beside your team, then goes live.

    You, 1¼ hours. Work from the review screen.

Then 30 days of tuning, with a short check-in each week, about two hours of yours. At day 30 we show you the number and hand everything over.

After it’s live

It keeps running whether or not we stay.

  • It runs in your accounts

    Your cloud, your systems, and an AI account in your name, billed by the provider at their rates.

  • Changes in the first 30 days are included

    A new rule, a changed limit, someone new signing off. That’s what tuning is for.

  • After that, your call

    Your team edits the rulebook, the care plan covers it, or a bigger change is quoted first.

Questions

About this agent.

Does it replace our docketing clerks?
No. It does the reading and the date math, and your clerk confirms every deadline before it reaches the calendar.
Which court rules does it know?
The ones you practice under, set in the rulebook with your docketing team and checked against the dates they already entered.
Our process isn’t quite like this. Will it still work?
That’s the usual case. The job looks the same in most businesses, but the details never do. We map how your team does it today, then set the rules, systems and approvals to match. That’s what most of the 3 to 6 weeks are for.
How do we agree the number?
Together, before any work starts. For this agent it’s the hours a week your docketing team spends reading notices and entering dates. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.
What does it cost to run once it’s live?
Hosting and AI, paid straight to the providers, not through us. It usually runs 5x to 25x cheaper than doing the same work by hand, and we work out your figure from your real volumes before you sign.

Want every deadline docketed the day the notice lands?

Tell us how your team handles court notices and filings today. We’ll show you this agent on examples like yours, and whether it fits the fixed price.

New to Switchboard Agents? How it works, what’s included, and what it costs.
  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
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