Status update templates
Reusable notes for the situations your practice hits every week, searchable from inside any Case.
Status updates
Say it once. Let the portal repeat it.
The expensive part of keeping clients informed is not the information. It is the delivery: the returned call, the email drafted from scratch, the second explanation for the spouse. BetterDocket turns a status update into one action: pick a template, adjust a sentence, post. It lands at the top of every Client's portal and in their updates feed, and BetterDocket tells you when a client has not heard from you in too long.
The problem
Where the time goes today.
Updates are written from scratch
“Discovery is underway, nothing is needed from you” gets typed a hundred times a year, slightly differently each time, by whoever picked up the phone.
Silence reads as neglect
During a records wait or a government backlog the case is moving, but the client sees nothing. Some conclude they have been forgotten. A few start looking for another lawyer.
Nobody tracks who was told
On a matter with several clients, one hears the news and the others call. There is no record of who read what, so the update gets delivered three times by phone.
How it works
Status updates in BetterDocket.
Step by step. Each one is something the product does today.
Keep your firm's standard updates as templates
“Filed, waiting on the court.” “Records requested; providers take 30 to 45 days.” Write them once as Status Update templates in a searchable picker, and let anyone on the team use them.
Post in one click
Open the Case, pick the template, change the date or the detail, and post. It appears at the top of the portal for every Client on the Case and in the updates feed they can scroll back through.
See howMove the phase and let the explanation follow
Phases carry a plain-English explanation your Firm writes once. Advancing a matter from Pleadings to Discovery changes what every client reads without a separate message.
See who has actually read it
Per-client read receipts show which Clients on a multi-client matter have seen the update, so you know whether the spouse still needs a call.
Get flagged before the client calls
Stale-update detection watches every open Case and raises the ones whose Clients have gone too long without hearing from you into your Today queue, with the reason on the card.
See howLet the copilot draft it
Type a sentence like “tell the client the hearing moved to the 14th” and the Firm copilot drafts the Status Update from your Case context. Nothing posts until you approve it.
See how
What you get
Included from the first Case.
Updates feed
Every update the Firm has posted, newest first, in one place the client can reread at midnight instead of calling in the morning.
Email and in-app notification
Clients hear about a new update by email, through a durable outbox that records failures instead of swallowing them. Every notification deep-links to the exact screen.
Stale-update detection
BetterDocket flags the Clients who have not heard from you in too long, so the quiet stretch gets an update before it becomes a phone call.
In your practice
Where this matters most.
Personal injury
Keep injured clients informed through every quiet stretch.
See the fitImmigration
Evidence in one list. Families informed through the wait.
See the fitFamily law
Fewer “any news?” calls in every divorce and custody matter.
See the fitEmployment law
Keep first-time clients oriented through the agency wait.
See the fitDeliberately focused
What status updates 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 send mass marketing messages or newsletters. Status Updates go to the Clients on one Case.
- It does not write the update for you unprompted. Templates are yours; the copilot drafts only from your sentence and only for your approval.
- It does not text clients. Delivery is email plus the portal; see our guide on email, portal, and texting for why.
Keep reading
Related guides
How 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 family law firms reduce "any news?" calls
Family law clients call because the case is their life and they can't see it. Visible status, plain-English phases, and milestone updates stop the loop.
Read the guideEmail vs. portal vs. texting for law firm client communication
Texting is fast but unmanageable; email is universal but untrackable; a portal is where case communication should live. How the three actually divide.
Read the guideQuestions.
How long does posting an update take?
Open the Case, pick a template, adjust a detail, post. Most updates take under a minute, and the same update reaches every Client on the matter at once.
Will clients be notified?
Yes. Each Client receives an email through a durable outbox, and the update appears at the top of their portal and in the updates feed. Notifications deep-link to the exact screen.
How do I know which clients I have neglected?
Stale-update detection scores every open Case by how long it has been since the Client heard from you and raises the overdue ones into your Today queue with a plain-English reason.
Can the copilot post updates on its own?
No. The Firm copilot drafts a Status Update from a sentence you type and your Case's operational context. A Firm Member edits and approves it before anything is posted.
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.
Replace the returned call with one posted update.
Templates, a feed the client can reread, and a flag when it has been too long.
14 days. No card.