Deadline and advance reminder

A deadline is a fixed date — an advance reminder is a planned warning before the date. This distinction is fundamental in legal work: the lawsuit must be filed by June 14, but the brief must be written by June 12. The termination notice period ends on September 30, but whoever starts writing on September 30 is too late.

In LEGALinhouse every deadline carries one configurable advance reminder. For long contracts with long termination notice periods it is typically set early — for example 90 days before the date — so the decision has time to mature.

Daily notifications

Every advance reminder creates a notification on the day it triggers, for the responsible employee. The notification does not disappear but stays open until it is actively acknowledged or the deadline is completed. Daily morning digest plus in-app marker next to every affected matter.

What happens when someone is on holiday?

Every deadline can have a coverage assignment. If an advance reminder triggers and the primary owner is not active in the system, the notification automatically goes to the assigned coverage. No one needs to reassign their deadlines individually two weeks before vacation.

Where deadlines come from

Deadlines arise in LEGALinhouse from many sources — and all end up in the same calendar, with the same warning logic:

  • Manually: Whoever notes an appointment creates a deadline with an advance reminder.
  • From contracts: Termination and renewal dates are calculated automatically (see contract management).
  • From authority letters: Incoming letters are checked by the AI for deadlines (e.g. response periods, opposition windows). Suggestion in the inbox; acceptance by the employee.
  • From court dates: Hearing dates, response deadlines, appeal periods.
  • From receivables: Dunning level transitions, statute of limitations.

Calendar integration

Deadlines should be visible where you already look. LEGALinhouse exports the deadline calendar as a standard calendar feed that integrates into common calendar applications (read-only subscription). So deadlines and advance reminders sit in the same calendar as your meetings — without anyone having to copy them manually.

The source of truth stays in the system: whoever completes a deadline does so in LEGALinhouse, not in the calendar — otherwise the audit trail falls apart.

Escalation and coverage

A deadline still open one day before the date escalates: an additional notification goes to the primary owner and the coverage. A missed deadline is logged in the audit log as missed — not hidden. If a deadline is deliberately allowed to lapse (termination intentionally not declared), this is documented with reasoning. So afterwards it is traceable whether it was a decision or an oversight.