Four signals, one order
Unread Client messages, pending Document Requests, stale updates, and upcoming client-facing dates, scored together.
Attention queue
Know what needs you before you open a case.
A small firm's morning starts with reconstruction: which clients messaged, which requests are overdue, who has not heard from us in three weeks, what is on the calendar this week. The answer is spread across every open file. BetterDocket's Today queue scores every Case on those signals and puts the ones that need something at the top, with the reason on the card, so the day starts with the first thing to do rather than the search for it.
The problem
Where the time goes today.
Attention triage is manual
Someone opens each matter, or each inbox, to find out what moved overnight. On a docket of forty matters that is the first hour of every day.
Quiet matters go quiet too long
The loud client gets the attention. The patient one gets forgotten until they are no longer patient, and by then the relationship has taken the damage.
Dashboards of numbers
Twelve open requests and six unread messages is a statistic, not a plan. It does not say which Case to open first or why.
How it works
Attention queue in BetterDocket.
Step by step. Each one is something the product does today.
Open Today
The Today view is a scored, ordered queue of the Cases that need you, each with a plain-English reason: an unread Client message, a Document Request past due, a Client who has not heard from you in too long, a hearing this week.
See howStart with the lead card
The one thing to do first is called out above the rest of the queue.
Act from the card
Reply to the message, post the Status Update, nudge the request, or open the Case. The signal clears when the work is done, and the queue reorders.
Work the firm-wide task list
Every open task across every Case in one list, ordered by urgency, with a per-case board of to do, in progress, and done behind it. Assign an owner and a due date.
See attention at a glance
Case icons glow when something needs you and stay quiet when nothing does, in the browser, the desktop app, and on the phone.
Ask the copilot for the briefing
The Firm copilot can brief you on your assigned Cases from the same attention signals, and draft routine actions like a reminder or a Status Update for you to approve. It reads no documents and offers no legal analysis.
See how
What you get
Included from the first Case.
A reason on every card
Not a number. “Client has not heard from you in 19 days.” “Deposition Thursday.”
Firm-wide and per-case tasks
One urgency-ordered task queue for the Firm, a board per Case, owners and due dates on each.
Filter by who is on what
Case assignments and leads let a partner see the whole Firm or just their own matters.
In your practice
Where this matters most.
Personal injury
Keep injured clients informed through every quiet stretch.
See the fitCivil litigation
Litigation your client can actually follow.
See the fitImmigration
Evidence in one list. Families informed through the wait.
See the fitBankruptcy
Get the petition packet in without chasing it.
See the fitDeliberately focused
What attention queue does not do.
BetterDocket organizes the administrative work around a matter. The legal work, and the tools you already use for it, stay where they are.
- It does not decide what is legally urgent. The signals are administrative: messages, requests, updates, and dates your Firm entered.
- It does not read documents or court dockets to find deadlines.
- It is not a reporting dashboard. It is an ordered list of what to do next.
Keep reading
Related guides
How small firms decide which matters need attention today
Stop reconstructing priorities from inboxes. An attention queue built from four signals — unread, pending, stale, upcoming — tells you where to look.
Read the guideHow to keep legal clients updated without spending hours on the phone
Post one visible status update per milestone in a place clients can check themselves — a portal — instead of returning each call. Here is the playbook.
Read the guideHow to collect documents from clients without the email chase
Make every request itemized, visible, and self-reminding: one list the client can see, uploads that land in the matter, and automatic follow-up.
Read the guideQuestions.
What puts a Case at the top of the queue?
A score built from an unread Client message, a Document Request past due, how long since the Client heard from you, and client-facing dates coming up. Each card states the reason in plain English.
Does it work across the whole firm or just my cases?
Both. Case assignments and leads let you filter the queue and the task list to your own matters or see everything the Firm has open.
Does the copilot take actions on its own?
No. It briefs you from operational Case context and drafts ordinary actions, such as a reminder, a Status Update, or a task, for a Firm Member to edit and approve. Nothing happens until someone presses the button.
Is this a dashboard?
Not in the charts-and-counts sense. Today is an ordered list of the Cases that need something from you, with the reason, so you can start working rather than start analyzing.
What does this cost?
It is included. BetterDocket is $10 per Firm plus $1 per open Case each month, prorated by day, with unlimited team members and every capability on this site. There is no add-on, module, or per-seat fee for any of it.
Start tomorrow with the first thing to do.
Every open matter scored, the ones that need you on top, the reason on each.
14 days. No card.