Lignum - Matter Management Platform with Rule-Based Court Deadlines
Matter Management for a Kingston Law Firm
Designed and built a clickable matter management platform for a Kingston litigation and commercial firm: intake with conflict checks and due diligence, a full matter record, and a court deadlines list where every date is calculated from a firm-configured rule and checked by a second person.
Most of our work is under NDA. Per agreement, we can share the work but not the company details - all names and identifying information shown here have been changed.
Impact
Dashboard, intake requests, matter list, matter detail with 8 tabs and the deadlines list, plus the intake panel and the deadline calculation panel. All 18 demo matters open their own record.
Mark as checked is disabled for the person who recorded the trigger event, so every rule-based date is confirmed by someone else before anyone relies on it.
Each calculated date names its rule and version. Reply to defence moved from R-014 v4 to v5, and the deadlines list flags the date still calculated on the older version.
14 intakes across every status, 27 deadlines and hearings, 20 tasks, 10 staff users and 5 confirmed court holidays for 2026.
The Problem
Braeton Hartley's 38 attorneys and about 70 support staff ran on a paper diary kept by the litigation clerk, a shared drive with folders named by each attorney's own habit, and Outlook. Conflict checks were an email to all staff, court dates were copied into personal calendars by hand, and twice in two years the firm came within a day of missing a filing deadline calculated from the wrong service date.
Our Solution
Lignum runs a matter from the first enquiry to the closed file. Intake will not open a matter until conflicts are cleared or waived, the matter record keeps parties, court, claim number, team, documents and tasks in one place, and every court deadline is calculated from a rule the firm configures, shown with its counting steps and checked by a second person.
The Challenge: Dates and Duties That Cannot Slip
A Jamaican law firm answers to the General Legal Council, the Supreme Court's Civil Procedure Rules, the Data Protection Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act at once, and most of what it gets wrong shows up as a missed date or a matter that should never have been opened.
Conflicts Found by Whoever Read the Email
The GLC Canons require attorneys to avoid acting where there is a conflict of interest. An all-staff email reached whoever happened to read it, with no record of the search, the result or who decided it was safe to act.
Deadline Rules That Change by Amendment
Periods under the Civil Procedure Rules 2002 and in court orders change, and the way days are counted matters. A period written into code would go stale, and a date worked out by hand from the wrong service date nearly cost the firm a filing twice.
Due Diligence Only Where the Law Applies
Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, only some activities, such as property sales, handling client money and forming companies, put attorneys in the regulated sector, and the exact scope has been litigated. The firm's AML officer has to decide which matter types need client due diligence before they open.
Confidential Matters, Clients Phoning In
Client affairs must stay confidential, so restricted matters have to be invisible to anyone outside the team. At the same time clients phoned for updates and received documents by email with no record of which version they had seen.
Our Approach: From Court Rules to a Clickable Platform
Spec and Rules Research
Mapped 10 roles from partner and litigation clerk to AML officer, data protection officer and the client, 36 screens (31 for staff and 5 in a mobile-first client portal) and the data model for intakes, conflict hits, matters, parties, deadlines, rules, documents and tasks. Wrote down the rules the design follows: the Legal Profession Act and GLC Canons, the Civil Procedure Rules 2002, the Data Protection Act 2020, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2007 and the GLC's client money rules.
Clickable Demo on a Production UI Kit
Built 5 key screens on a production workspace kit: the dashboard with today's court appearances, a 14-day agenda and needs-attention list, intake requests with conflict and due diligence chips and an intake panel to approve or decline, the matter list with restricted matters, the matter detail with parties, court, deadlines, documents, tasks, client portal status and activity, and the deadlines list. Dates are calculated in the demo from the configured rules and court holidays, and actions run on local state.
What a Production Build Adds
Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for email filing, calendar sync and Word Online editing, sanctions and PEP screening, identity verification, read-only client money and time from the accounting and billing systems, and SMS, email and push notifications. Staff two-factor sign-in by role, an audit log of every conflict decision, deadline change and document release, and the remaining screens: conflict search, court calendar, documents, compliance queues, reports, settings and the client portal.
Why It Works: Every Date Shows Its Working
Rules Are Configuration, Not Code
No court period is written into Lignum. Each date shows the rule and version that produced it, the trigger event and its date, and every counting step, with weekends and confirmed court holidays skipped and roll-forward shown when a date lands on a non-working day.
A Matter Cannot Open on an Unresolved Conflict
Request approval stays disabled until a conflict search is recorded and its result is clear or waived. Each intake moves through details, conflicts, due diligence and approval, and a decline needs a reason.
The Day Starts With What Could Go Wrong
The dashboard leads with today's court appearances and a needs-attention list: overdue filings, deadlines within 3 days with no completed task, limitation dates coming up and client uploads not opened for 2 working days.
Confidentiality Built Into Every List
Restricted matters carry a padlock and appear only for their team. Client money is shown read only with its sync time from the accounting system, and sharing a privileged document with the client asks the attorney to confirm first.
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Location
Global Headquarters
21 Merchant Road, 3rd Floor, Singapore 058267
Main corporate office and leadership operations
North America Office
548 Market Street, PMB 12345, San Francisco, CA 94104
Client operations and business development
India Office
402 Shivalik Shilp II, SG Highway, Ahmedabad 380015
Engineering and delivery center
Enterprise Software Engineering - Human + AI
Contact Us
Locations
Global Headquarters
21 Merchant Road, 3rd Floor, Singapore 058267
Main corporate office and leadership operations
North America Office
548 Market Street, PMB 12345, San Francisco, CA 94104
Client operations and business development
India Office
402 Shivalik Shilp II, SG Highway, Ahmedabad 380015
Engineering and delivery center
© 2026 - Copyright. All Rights reserved Oceanlab