Stay ahead of the docket, hearing by hearing.
A criminal docket does not wait for you to catch up. Esqase opens each case from a template with its hearing checklist attached, and holds every court date on one calendar.
Every case opens with its checklist and its dates
Write the arraignment, discovery, and motion tasks once per charge type. A matter template opens each case with that list attached, its due dates counted from the open date and held on one calendar.
Capture what only a criminal file tracks: the charges, the court, and the docket number, right on the matter.
Custom fieldsTask lists and templates
The hearing and filing checklist, reused every time.
Calendar and events
Every hearing and filing date on one calendar.
Keep discovery, signatures, and calls on one file
Discovery arrives in pieces, from more than one source. File each piece on the matter, search it by what the document says, sign the fee agreement by link, and log every call with the client.
Checklists, call records, and conflict checks.
Read the task templates docsTasks
Task lists and templates
Build the checklist a case follows from arraignment to disposition, and reuse it.
Case-type checklists
One list per charge type, reused every time.
Due dates relative to open
Deadlines that count from when the case opened.
Communication
Communication logs
Log every call and update with the client, and record the billable time on the same row.
One record, whole team
Not scattered across a phone or an inbox.
Time off the log
Record the call as billable time on the spot.
Contacts
Conflict checking
Screen the client and every other party on the matter, a co-defendant included, before you take it on.
Adverse party flagged
A party who is already a client comes back first.
Ticked before it saves
A high-priority match is acknowledged to proceed.
Set up your checklist, dates, and documents.
Browse the docsFAQs
Deadlines, checklists, discovery, signing, and conflicts.
Does Esqase calculate court deadlines for me?
No. Esqase does not calculate deadlines from a jurisdiction's rules of procedure. You set the date, typically as a task due a set time after the matter opened, and Esqase then tracks it on the task board and shows it on the firm calendar on its due date. Put the hearing itself on the calendar as an event and everyone at the firm who is on it gets one reminder at the lead time you chose.
Can a hearing checklist repeat for every new case of that type?
Yes. Build a task list template with the steps a charge type always needs, with due dates set relative to the matter's open date, then attach it to a matter template so every new case in that category opens with the same checklist running.
How do we keep discovery organized as it arrives?
File each piece against the matter as it comes in. Folders keep it organized, versions track anything reissued, and search reads what is inside a document rather than only its file name, so a detail you half remember is enough to find it later. That last part depends on your firm leaving AI document indexing on; with it off, search matches file names.
Can a client sign a fee agreement without coming into the office?
Yes. Add them as a signer on the agreement and they get a private link to review and sign from any device. Turn on Sign in order when one signature has to follow another, and the next person is invited once the one above them has signed.
Is there a record of every conversation with a client?
Communication logs keep a record of calls and emails attached to the matter, visible to anyone on the file, so the whole team has the same account of what has been discussed and when. You can record the billable time for a call straight from its log.
How do we check for a conflict with a co-defendant?
Add the co-defendant on the matter's related contacts, then run the check. A related party who already appears as a client of the firm comes back as a high-priority match, and Esqase holds the matter until you tick the acknowledgment. It surfaces what your records hold; whether that is a conflict is your call.