The Importance of Docketing

Why do lawyers docket? What is its purpose? Has the act of docketing run its course for modern law firms? For the purposes of this article, for a lawyer to “docket” it means to input a record of their activities completed for the client along with the time it takes to complete the activity (later multiplied by an hourly rate for billing purposes). Whether doing it by hand, manually inputting into a spreadsheet, or using a legal management software like Cosmolex or Clio, docketing is crucial in the billing process and ultimately the conversion of legal activity into the earning of money both for the firm and the individual lawyer.