The case, hearings and filings

Open the case

1. On a court matter, open Case and choose Open the case.
2. Record the suit number, the court, division and registry, the judge, the cause of action, the claim value and the day it was filed.

A matter has one live case. A transfer to another court, a change of judge or a renumbering is recorded as a move, so the case keeps its whole history.

Hearings

1. Choose List hearing, with the day, time, purpose and counsel attending. It goes into the diary and the court diary at once.
2. After the sitting, record the outcome: held, adjourned to the next date or sine die, or vacated. An adjournment records who sought it, the reason and any costs ordered.

Court, Outcomes due lists hearings that have passed with no outcome recorded, so nothing the court did goes unnoted.

Who sat

Recording the outcome of a sitting that was held or adjourned asks Who sat: the judge it was listed before unless another sat. The case's Bench tab lists each judge the case was assigned to by a change of forum and each who sat at one of its hearings, newest first, and a judge's own record lists the hearings they sat.

Filings, service and orders

• Filings by each party, with the day filed and, separately, the day served on each party.
• Service: who was served, how, when, by which bailiff, with the affidavit of service.
• Orders: the day, who made it, its terms and its document.
• Court fees, each recorded as the disbursement that recovers it on the bill.

Court fees on a filing

Recording a filing has a Court fee section. Fee paid is offered from the firm's court fees schedule for the level of the court; where no fee is set for that filing at that court, enter what the registry charged. Add the Receipt number, and turn on Record as a disbursement to carry the fee to the client's bill as the court's charge paid on their behalf. The fees themselves are kept on the filing type, under Settings, Practice, Litigation lists, Filing types.

Under the filing's fields the form says what else filing it sets in motion. A filing that must be served raises a task to serve it, due the number of days after filing that Days to serve a filing gives (seven by default, under Settings, System, General, Litigation), and a filing with a prescribed form names the form so it can be generated from the matter's documents.

Leave for a method of service

Some methods of service need the court's leave, substituted service among them. Choosing one on Record service asks for Leave granted by: the order allowing it, which is recorded first on the Orders tab. After as many failed attempts on one party as Failed service attempts before substituted service sets (two by default, C.I. 47, Order 7), the lawyer is prompted to apply for substituted service.

Orders that must be complied with

When an order is recorded, the Compliance section asks Who must comply: our client, the other side or every party, or Nobody is bound to act. Comply by may be left empty, and the period the order's kind gives is used. Where our client must comply, the firm holds a deadline for it.

On the Orders tab each order shows where compliance stands: Nothing to comply with, To comply, Complied with or Not complied with.

• Who must comply on an order's menu changes who is bound and by when. Choosing Nobody is bound to act cancels the firm's deadline.
• Record compliance records the day it was complied with, a document that shows it and a note. It meets the firm's deadline.
• An order whose day passes with no compliance recorded is marked Not complied with once, and the lawyer leading the suit is told the follow-up its kind carries, such as a penal notice or committal for contempt. The order's details show it under Where it is not complied with. If the court extends time, give the order a new day with Who must comply.

Before the conflict check clears

A matter still in enquiry, or waiting on its conflict check, is not yet one the firm may act on. Opening its case, listing a hearing, recording a filing and recording a service each ask why this is recorded before clearance, and the audit trail keeps the answer. That lets the firm record a step already taken, or an urgent one, without pretending the check is done.

A firm that records no legal work before clearance sets Legal work before conflict clearance to refuse in Settings, System, General, Practice; the forms then say so and take nothing until the matter is cleared.

Serving the other side

A filing is served on the other side. A party is never served with its own filing, and a filing of the firm's own reaches the firm's own client only with a reason, which the audit trail keeps: for example, where the client is a co-defendant to a counterclaim.

Judgments, interest and enforcement

A judgment records the Interest rate (a percentage a year), the day Interest runs from and any Interest terms. Left empty, the rate is the firm's Post-judgment interest rate under Settings, System, General, Litigation, which follows the bank rate under C.I. 52 and is 0 until the firm sets it; at 0 no interest is counted. Interest runs from the day the judgment was delivered unless a day is given, and is simple, not compounded.

The judgment's page shows its Appeal window: the deadlines the appeal rules suggest from it, linked, with the day each falls, and a note where an appeal needs leave (C.I. 19). Under What is owed today it adds up the award, the costs and the interest to today, less what enforcement has recovered, and states what is Outstanding on that day.

On Enforcement, a step that needs leave because the judgment is old names it in Leave to enforce, the order granting leave. Costs and recoveries lists what each step spent and recovered. Record a cost or recovery takes the kind, the day, the amount in the judgment's currency, a description and the receipt or return if there is one. A recovery adds to what the step has recovered and so reduces what is owed; an entry is never edited, only removed. See Judgments, appeals and enforcement.

Prosecuting authorities

The Attorney-General's Department, Police Prosecutions, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, EOCO and the Ghana Revenue Authority's prosecutors are organisations on the Parties register. Turn on Prosecuting authority on an organisation's form to offer it as the prosecutor on criminal cases; the criminal case names it as a linked party. Settings, Practice, Litigation lists, Prosecuting authorities reads those parties and adds a new one through the party form, so its offices, addresses for service and contacts are kept in one place. See Criminal matters.

Stages and the timeline

The case moves through the stages its matter type sets, such as pleadings, discovery, trial and judgment, with a history of every move. The Timeline tab shows everything on the case in order.

Across the firm

Court in the sidebar has four tabs: Schedule, the hearings across the firm by court, judge and fee earner; Cases; Outcomes due; and Adjournments, an analysis by reason and by who sought them.