Client-visible by choice
Mark the dates the Client should see. Internal deadlines stay with the team.
Dates and scheduling
The current date, in front of the client, always.
When a hearing is continued, a closing slides, or a mediation gets scheduled, the news travels by a round of phone calls, and someone is always left holding the old date. BetterDocket keeps Key Dates on the Case, lets you choose which ones the Client sees, and changes a moved date everywhere at once. Clients share the blocks when they are free, so scheduling the deposition stops being a phone-tag exercise.
The problem
Where the time goes today.
Moved dates generate call rounds
A continuance means calling every client on the matter, and a business client with three stakeholders triples the work. Miss one and they hear the old date from their agent, or show up to an empty courtroom.
Scheduling is phone tag
Finding a deposition slot that works for the client means three voicemails and two emails. Calendar integrations promise to fix it and bring their own setup, permissions, and sync failures.
Dates live apart from the work
The hearing is on a calendar. The tasks that have to happen before it are on a list. The client's question about it is in an inbox. Nothing connects them.
How it works
Dates and scheduling in BetterDocket.
Step by step. Each one is something the product does today.
Add Key Dates to the Case
The hearing, the inspection deadline, the biometrics appointment, the 341 meeting. Each is a categorized Key Date on the matter, and you choose which ones the Client sees.
See howChange a moved date once
Edit the Key Date and every Client on the Case sees the new one in their portal. Post a one-line Status Update if you want the change in the updates feed too.
Ask clients when they are free
Clients share availability blocks from the portal. No Google or Outlook connection on either side; the client picks the afternoons that work and you see them on the Case.
See everything on one calendar
Key Dates and client availability appear together in month and list views, color-coded by participant, for one Case or across the Firm.
Let upcoming dates surface to the team
Client-facing dates coming up this week feed into your Today queue, so a deposition on Thursday raises the Case before Thursday.
See howAttach the follow-ups to the phase
Workstream templates can schedule the emails, calls, and requests that go with moving a phase. Reschedule or cancel any of them from the Case.
What you get
Included from the first Case.
Availability without integration
Clients share when they are free; nothing to authorize, nothing to sync, nothing to break.
One calendar view
Dates and availability in the same month and list views, color-coded by who they belong to.
Dates feed the attention queue
Upcoming client-facing dates are one of the signals that rank your Today queue.
In your practice
Where this matters most.
Real estate
Every closing date, contingency, and document in one place.
See the fitCivil litigation
Litigation your client can actually follow.
See the fitFamily law
Fewer “any news?” calls in every divorce and custody matter.
See the fitBankruptcy
Get the petition packet in without chasing it.
See the fitDeliberately focused
What dates and scheduling 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 sync with Google Calendar, Outlook, or iCal, and it does not read the court's docket. Key Dates are the ones you enter.
- It does not book appointments or send calendar invitations. Availability tells you when the client is free; you confirm the time.
- It does not compute deadlines from rules of procedure.
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 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 guideWhat is a client portal for law firms — and what it isn't
A client portal is a private page where a client sees their case: status, next steps, messages, and requests. What it does, what it isn't, what to look for.
Read the guideQuestions.
What happens when a hearing date moves?
Edit the Key Date once. Every Client on the Case sees the new date in the portal and the Firm's related tasks stay attached to the matter. Post a one-line Status Update if you want it in the updates feed too.
Do clients have to connect their calendar?
No. Clients share availability blocks directly in the portal. There is no calendar integration on either side, which is why there is nothing to set up or to break.
Can I keep some dates internal?
Yes. Each Key Date is marked client-visible or not. Internal deadlines and the team's related tasks stay with the Firm.
Does BetterDocket calculate deadlines?
No. It carries the dates your Firm enters and makes them visible to the right people. Rule-based deadline calculation and docketing stay in the tools you use today.
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.
Put the next date where the client will see it.
Change it once when it moves. Collect availability without a sync.
14 days. No card.