Family Workflows

This article outlines some example workflows for Family Law matters. Since every law firm and jurisdiction may be a little different, we encourage you to edit these workflows based on your own preferences or jurisdictional requirements.

If you are new to Smokeball and Workflows, we recommend that you first learn how to create a workflow. It is easy to assign tasks to an attorney responsible, person assisting, or specific staff members.

Below are some of the workflows you can create for Family Law matters. 

Scheduling Order with set Dates

Scheduling Order based off Trial Date

Deposition

Response to Discovery Served on Our Client

Scheduling Order with Set Dates

Some jurisdictions issue scheduling orders with firm dates given for deadlines. If that is the case for you, we recommend using the workflow below. You will assign the due dates to the task upon applying the workflow.

As these tasks are deadlines, we recommend duplicating each task so that one can go to the Attorney Responsible and one task to the Person Assisting. Link the duplicate task to the original task’s due date so that you only need to enter the date once per deadline. The sample below shows how to do this.

Task Name 

Due When 

Comments 

Deadline for joinder of additional parties or amendments to pleadings 

No due date 

 Due date to be assigned upon applying the workflow 

Deadline for joinder of additional parties or amendments to pleadings – copy for person assisting 

On due date of Deadline for joinder of additional parties or amendments to pleadings 

 

Deadline for Witness and Expert Lists 

No due date 

 

Due date to be assigned upon applying the workflow 

Deadline for Witness and Expert Lists – copy for person assisting 

On due date of Deadline for Witness and Expert Lists 

 

Deadline for Discovery to be completed 

No due date 

Due date to be assigned upon applying the workflow 

Deadline for Discovery to be completed – copy for person assisting 

On due date of Deadline for Discovery to be completed 

 

Deadline for Motions to be filed 

No due date 

Due date to be assigned upon applying the workflow 

Deadline for Motions to be filed – copy for person assisting 

On due date of Deadline for Motions to be filed 

 

Deadline for Trial Brief 

No due date 

Due date to be assigned upon applying the workflow 

Deadline for Trial Brief – copy for person assisting 

On due date of Deadline for Trial Brief 

 

 

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Scheduling Order based off Trial Date

Some jurisdictions issue scheduling orders with firm dates given for deadlines. If that is the case for you, we recommend that you use the workflow below. You will assign the Trial Date upon applying the workflow which will then calculate the dates for the other tasks.

As these tasks are deadlines, we recommend duplicating each task so that one can go to the Attorney Responsible and one task to the Person Assisting. Note that task duplication is not depicted below, as this scheduling order shows different deadlines. Remember to use these samples as guidelines while customizing them for your firm.

Task Name 

Due When 

Comments 

Trial Date 

No due date 

Due date to be assigned upon applying the workflow 

Deadline for Written Discovery 

120 Days before Trial Date 

 

Deadline for Witness List 

180 Days before Trial Date 

 

Deadline for Expert List 

150 Days before Trial Date 

 

Deadline for Deposition of Witnesses 

90 Days before Trial Date 

 

Deadline for Deposition of Experts 

60 Days before Trial Date 

 

Deadline for Motions to be filed 

45 Days before Trial Date 

 

Deadline for Pretrial Conference 

30 Days before Trial Date 

 

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Deposition

This is a workflow you can apply when you set the calendar date for a deposition.

Task Name 

Due Date 

Comments 

Deposition Date 

No due date 

 Assign the date upon applying the workflow 

Prepare questions for deposition 

3 weeks before Deposition Date 

  

Get Court Reporter for deposition 

2 weeks before Deposition Date 

  

Assign location for deposition 

10 days before Deposition Date 

  

Confirm deposition with all attendees 

3 days before Deposition Date 

Confirm Discovery Request has not been received or incomplete 

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Response to Discovery Served on Our Client

Task Name 

Due Date 

Comments 

Our response to discovery due 

No Due Date 

Assign the date upon applying the workflow 

Send discovery to client 

On the date this workflow is applied to a matter 

 Can attach a template for a letter explaining Discovery process to client 

Check in with client re discovery 

2 weeks before Our response to discovery due 

  

Get all discovery and draft responses 

1 week before Our response to discovery due 

  

Finalize responses and get client signatures 

3 working days before Our response to discovery due 

  

Send Discovery to Opposing Counsel 

On Finalize responses and get client signatures is Completed 

 

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Did You Know

You can also download .txt files of each sample workflow described in the article above and import them into Smokeball

 

 

 

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