Turning on court rules and following courts

Court rules let Esqase calculate a matter's court dates for you. You tell Esqase what happened in the case, such as the day papers were served, and it works out the dates that follow from the rules of the court the case is in, with the rule behind each date. This page covers the one-time setup: getting court rules turned on, accepting the terms, choosing the courts your firm follows and their rule sets, and the defaults every matter starts from.

A "rule set" is a court's timing rules, written up by Esqase so dates can be calculated from them (for example, a court's rules of civil procedure). Each rule set is published in numbered versions, and every date it produces carries a citation to the rule it comes from.

Before you begin

• Esqase support turns court rules on for your firm. There is no switch for it in your settings. Until it is on, court rules do not appear in your settings or on your matters. If you open the court rules settings page from a link before then, it reads Court rules are not turned on for your firm, followed by Esqase support turns court rules on for each firm. Email support@esqase.com and tell us which courts your firm files in. Click Contact Esqase support to start that email.
• Once court rules are on, open Settings and choose the Court rules card in the Firm group, described as Choose the courts your firm follows and how court dates reach calendars and tasks. The same page is Court rules in the firm settings sidebar, below Automation.
• Your role needs View access for Court rules to open the page. Without it, the card and the sidebar entry are hidden and a link to the page shows No access. Making changes needs more:
  • Create to follow a court and to add a court closure;
  • Update to accept the terms, change the defaults and the reminders, choose a court's rule sets, set the default court, and edit a custom court;
  • Delete to remove a court or a closure.
• Firm owners and administrators have all of these by default. Attorneys and staff can view the page but not change it. The Court rules and Court dates permissions sit together in the Courts group of the permission grid. See Roles and permissions.

Accept the court rules terms

Before anyone at your firm can follow a court or calculate court dates, an owner or administrator accepts the court rules terms, once, for the whole firm.

1. Open Settings, then Court rules. Until the terms are accepted, the page shows only the Before your firm uses court rules card: An owner or administrator accepts these terms once for the whole firm. Everyone at the firm can use court rules after that.
2. Read the terms. They say that Esqase calculates court dates from the rules and holiday calendars it has on file for each court and shows the rule set, the version and the date it was last verified next to every date it calculates; that local rules, judges' orders and case-specific orders can change or override those dates; and that your firm remains responsible for its deadlines. The exact wording is in the disclaimer section of How court date calculations work.
3. Click Accept and continue. You will see Court rules terms accepted, and the rest of the page appears.

Only members whose role can update court rules see the card. Everyone else sees Waiting for an administrator to accept the court rules terms. An owner or administrator accepts them once from this page, and then your firm can follow courts and use their rules.

A tour of the page

Once the terms are accepted, the page has six sections, top to bottom:

1. Followed courts: The courts your firm files in. Matters choose their court from this list, and each court uses the rule sets you turn on for it.
2. Defaults: how court dates reach calendars and task lists, and what happens when the rules change.
3. Reminders: the reminders every new court date starts with, and the hour they are sent.
4. Court closures: days a followed court is closed, or open, that its published calendar does not show yet.
5. Court catalogue: every court and rule set Esqase publishes, with a preview of the dates each rule set calculates.
6. Request a court: how to ask for a court or rule set that is not in the catalogue.

A member who can only view the page sees the same sections, with the add and remove buttons hidden and the settings locked.

Follow a court

Follow each court your firm files in, so that matters can pick it as their court.

1. In Followed courts, click Add court. The Add court dialog opens: Follow a court from the Esqase catalogue, or add a custom court your firm keeps itself.
2. In Court, start typing the name of the court, its city or its state. Each court in the list shows its jurisdiction and level. Courts your firm already follows are not offered. If nothing matches, the list reads No courts match. Ask Esqase support to add yours.
3. Under Rule sets, Esqase lists the rule sets it has published for that court. Under each name, a line shows its scope, the court or jurisdiction it belongs to, its version and the date Esqase last verified it. All of them start ticked; untick any your firm does not use. If there are none yet, you see Esqase has not published rule sets for this court yet. You can still follow it and turn rule sets on later.
4. If you leave more than one rule set ticked, choose the Default rule set: Matters in this court start with this rule set.
5. Leave Default court on to make this the court new matters start with: New matters start with the default court. Your firm has one default at a time. It starts on when your firm has no default court yet.
6. Click Add court. You will see Court added, and the court joins the table.

The table shows each court with its Jurisdiction, Level, Time zone and Rule sets, the default rule set first. A Default badge marks your firm's default court, and a Custom badge marks a custom court.

Add a custom court

A custom court is for a court that is not in the Esqase catalogue yet, when you still want to record its court dates.

1. In the Add court dialog, turn on Custom court: For a court that is not in the catalogue yet. You set its time zone and holiday calendar, and Esqase rule sets are not available for it.
2. Enter the Court name.
3. Choose the Time zone: Court dates are counted in this time zone. It starts at your firm's time zone.
4. Choose a Holiday calendar: Days on this calendar are treated as days the court is closed. If none of the calendars fits, choose No holiday calendar (weekends only).
5. Set Default court as you need, then click Add court.

To change a custom court later, open the three-dot menu at the end of its row, choose Edit, make your changes in Edit court, and click Save changes. You will see Court updated.

Choose the rule sets for a court

Each court from the catalogue can have several rule sets, for example the court's rules of procedure and its local rules. Choose which ones your firm uses, their order, and the one new matters start with.

1. On the court's row, click Rule sets. The dialog, titled with the court's name, reads Turn on the rule sets this court uses, drag them into their order of precedence and pick the one new matters start with.
2. Tick the rule sets your firm uses for this court. A rule set you untick is left out when someone applies court rules to a matter in this court.
3. Drag the rows by their handles to put them in order. When someone applies court rules to a matter, the rule sets your firm turned on are listed first, in this order.
4. In the Default column, choose the rule set new matters start with. Only a ticked rule set can be the default.
5. Click Save rule sets. You will see Rule sets updated.

If Esqase stops offering a rule set for this court, the dialog says so, for example One rule set is no longer offered for this court and will be removed when you save.

Change the default court

Your firm's default court is the one the new-matter wizard starts with.

1. Open the three-dot menu at the end of a court's row.
2. Choose Set as default. The court that was the default before loses its Default badge.

To leave your firm with no default court, choose Remove as default on the default court's menu instead.

Remove a court

1. Open the three-dot menu at the end of the court's row and choose Remove.
2. In Remove this court?, read the warning: the court leaves your firm's list, with its rule sets and closures.
3. Click Remove court.

A court that any matter still uses cannot be removed, archived matters included. Esqase tells you Matters use this court, so it can't be removed. Change the court on those matters first. To move a matter to another court, see Working with court dates. A court you remove can be followed again later.

Set your firm's defaults

The Defaults section decides How court dates reach calendars and task lists, and what happens when the rules change. These are starting points: Members can adjust each application on the Court dates tab of a matter.

1. Put court dates on the calendar (on to start with): Each court date becomes an all-day event, marked as free time, in the court's time zone. A hearing or trial that has a time becomes a timed entry instead.
2. Add a task for each court date (off to start with): The task is due on the court date and completing it marks the date as done.
3. Whose calendar: The responsible attorney (to start with) or The member who applies the rules. Court dates go on this member's default calendar. The member applying the rules can change it each time. When a matter has no responsible attorney, the member applying the rules is used.
4. When the rules change: what happens to the open court dates on your matters when Esqase publishes a new version of a rule set or a court's holiday calendar changes.
   • Review changes first (to start with): When Esqase updates a rule set or a court calendar changes, the new dates wait on the Court dates tab until a member accepts or rejects them. When a member recalculates, they always see the changes before confirming.
   • Apply changes automatically: Future dates that nobody has changed by hand move straight away. Overridden, completed, vacated and past dates never move on their own. An open date that was changed by hand or has already passed gets its new date for review instead.
5. Notify when Esqase updates a rule set (on to start with): firm owners and members whose role can view court rules get a Court rules updated notification when a rule set your firm follows, or uses on a matter, has a new version.
6. Click Save changes. You will see Court settings updated.

Set the reminders every court date starts with

The Reminders section: Each court date starts with these reminders unless its rule sets its own. Members can change the reminders on any date.

1. Each row is a number of Days before the court date. The text beside it reads, for example, 7 days before, 1 day before or On the day (for 0). The ladder starts as 30, 14, 7 and 1 days before, and on the day.
2. Click Add reminder to add a row, up to eight in all. To take one away, click the delete button at the end of its row. Each row needs a different whole number of days, from 0 to 365.
3. Choose Send reminders at, the hour reminders go out, In your firm's time zone. It starts at 7:00 AM.
4. Click Save changes. You will see Court date reminders updated.

With every row removed, the section reads No reminders. Court dates still show on the calendar and on the Court dates tab. How and when reminders are sent, and who receives them, is covered in Working with court dates.

Record court closures

Court closures are Days a followed court is closed, or open, that its published calendar does not show yet. New court dates count around them. Use them when a court announces a closure before Esqase has published it.

1. Click Add closure. The button appears once your firm follows at least one court. The Add closure dialog reads Record a day a followed court is closed, or open on a day its calendar lists as a holiday.
2. Choose the Court and the Date, and enter a Name, such as the reason the court is closed.
3. Choose the Effect:
   • Court closed: Court dates never land on this day and counting skips it where the rules say so. Then choose Closed for: The whole day, or From a time of day with the time in Closes at.
   • Court open: Court dates can land on this day even if the court calendar lists it as a holiday.
4. Click Add closure. You will see Closure added.

The table lists each closure's Court, Date, Name and Effect, for example Court closed, Court open or Closed from 1:00 PM. To delete one, open its three-dot menu, choose Remove, and confirm Remove closure in Remove this closure?. You will see Closure removed.

Browse the catalogue and preview a rule set

The Court catalogue lists Every court and rule set Esqase publishes. Preview a rule set to see the dates it calculates, then follow the court above to use it on your matters.

• Search it with the Search courts, cities or states box.
• Each row shows the court with its jurisdiction, its Level, its Rule sets (each with its scope, version and verification date) and Court verified, the date Esqase last verified the court's details.
• A Followed badge marks the courts your firm follows. A court with no rule sets yet reads None published yet.

To see what a rule set calculates before you rely on it:

1. Click Preview next to the rule set. A panel opens with the rule set's name and Pick a sample date to see the dates these rules calculate. Nothing is saved.
2. In What starts the clock, choose the trigger, the event that starts the clock, and enter its date.
3. Fill in anything else the trigger asks for: a Time, a Service method (choose Not served if no service is involved), Served from, a hearing date, or questions that are particular to the trigger.
4. Click Calculate dates.
5. Read the results. The top lines give the version used, the time zone the dates are in, and whether your firm's closures were included. Each date shows its citation, a badge (Calculated, Typical, Check this date or Enter by hand), a sentence explaining it, and Show calculation with the step-by-step working. The badges are explained in How court date calculations work.

The preview works for any court in the catalogue, including courts your firm does not follow yet.

Request a court

If your firm needs a court or a rule set that is not in the catalogue, email support@esqase.com with the court and the kind of cases you file there. The Request a court section at the bottom of the page gives the same address.

Common questions

Can we turn court rules on ourselves? No. Esqase support turns court rules on for each firm. Email support@esqase.com and say which courts your firm files in.

Who can accept the terms? Anyone whose role can update court rules. By default, that is firm owners and administrators.

Why is a rule set missing when I apply court rules to a matter? Your firm may have unticked it for that court. Someone who can update court rules can tick it again under Rule sets on the court's row.

Does changing the defaults or the reminders change the court dates we already have? No. They are the starting point for court dates added from then on. Each existing court date keeps its own reminders, which you can change on the matter's Court dates tab.

What happens if court rules are turned off for our firm? Court dates already on your matters stay, with their calendar entries, tasks and reminders, and members can still complete, change and review them. Nobody can apply or recalculate court rules, add new court dates or add court forms until court rules are on again, and this settings page shows the not turned on message.

Related

• Applying court rules to a matter
• Working with court dates
• How court date calculations work
• Roles and permissions
• Notifications