Lay out the procedural timetable from a template

Proceedings have started, and the chronology needs the procedural steps alongside the facts: the statement of defence, the reply, the rejoinder, the hearing. Most of them fall a set number of days after one date, such as the filing of the claim. A timeline template holds those steps once, so every case of the same kind starts from the same list.

Two things decide how much work is left after the import. Does the group already have a template for this kind of proceeding? And which date does the timetable run from?

Add the template to the case timeline

1. Open the case timeline and click Import (the inbox icon) in the toolbar on the left.

   

2. In the Upload panel, open the Template tab.

3. Under Template, pick the template for this kind of proceeding. The list shows the timeline templates kept in the matter's group; hover over the info icon beside a template to read its description.

4. Set Date to the day the timetable runs from, usually the filing date or the date of the procedural order.

   

5. Click Upload. Every step in the template is added to the timeline, dated its number of days after the date you chose, with the people and documents the template gives it.

6. Check each step against the court's or tribunal's actual order, and open any step whose deadline differs to correct its date. A template gives you the standard timetable; the order in the case decides the real one.

Keep the firm's templates in the group

A timeline template is a timeline saved in the group rather than in a matter. A group admin, or anyone the group lets edit its templates, sets them up once:

1. Open the group, click Library, and open Timeline templates. The list is headed Your timeline templates in the group's name.

   

2. Create a timeline for each kind of proceeding, for example "Arbitration, standard timetable", and give it a description so colleagues pick the right one.

3. Add each procedural step as an event. In a template, an event has a Date offset instead of a date: the number of days after the start date that the step falls.

   

Offsets count calendar days and cannot be negative, so build the template from the earliest date the timetable depends on.

Tips from practice

• Tag the timetable as soon as it is in. Select the imported steps and give them a tag such as "Procedure" in one go, so you can filter the facts and the timetable apart later. See change many events at once and tag events by issue.
• One template per kind of proceeding. A court case, an arbitration under a given set of rules and an expedited procedure each get their own, rather than one template you trim every time.
• Import before you add the facts. The timetable gives the chronology its frame, and the facts you add afterwards fall into place around it.

Starting from nothing? See start the chronology for a new dispute. Next, add the key events by hand.