How to keep track of matters across several courts

Author and publisher: Law Tarazoo Technologies LLP · Published 14 October 2026

The problem

An advocate in practice rarely appears in one court. A typical week can include a district court, the High Court, a consumer commission and a tribunal. Each forum has its own website, its own numbering and its own way of publishing cause lists.

Dates are missed not because advocates are careless but because the information is spread over five systems and checked by hand.

Rule one: one diary

Keep every matter in one diary, whatever the forum. A paper diary, a spreadsheet or an app – what matters is that there is one place to look. Two diaries means one of them is out of date.

For each matter, record at least: the forum and bench, the case number, the CNR or filing number where there is one, the parties, the client, and the next date with its purpose.

Rule two: know the official source for each forum

District and subordinate courts – the eCourts portal, searched by CNR where possible.
High Courts – the High Court's own website and, for many courts, the eCourts High Court services.
Supreme Court – the Supreme Court's own website.
NCLT and NCLAT – their own websites, by bench and filing or case number.
DRT and DRAT – the DRT portal, by tribunal and case number.
Consumer commissions – the commission's own case status system.

Rule three: a fixed daily routine

A short routine, done every day, beats a long one done when there is time.

Evening: check the next day's cause lists, including supplementary lists, for every forum you are listed in.
Evening: confirm next dates for matters heard that day. Courts update dates after they rise.
Morning: check supplementary lists again and brief juniors and clerks.
Weekly: look at advance lists and the matters with no next date recorded.

Rule four: watch for matters with no date

The most dangerous matter is the one with no next date in your diary. It may have been adjourned sine die, transferred, or simply not updated. Make a habit of listing every matter without a date once a week and checking each one at source.

Rule five: share the diary with the team

If a junior attends a matter, the date they bring back must reach the diary the same day. If a clerk checks the list, the senior must see what the clerk saw. A diary that only one person can update becomes a bottleneck.

Decide who updates what, and check that it happened.

Rule six: keep clients informed

Clients ask the same question every week: what happened, and when is the next date? A short note after each hearing saves many calls. Keep a record of what you told the client and when.

Rule seven: keep orders with the matter

Download every order the day it is uploaded and keep it with the matter, not in a downloads folder. Note the operative direction in one line in your diary – reply in four weeks, stay continued, list after vacation. When the next date comes, you should not need to open the PDF to know what the court expects.

Compliance dates set by an order are as important as hearing dates. Put them in the diary as their own entries, with a reminder a few days before.

A note on juniors and clerks

In many chambers the evening check is done by a clerk or the youngest junior. That is fine, but the method must not live only in one person's head. Write down which sites are checked, in what order, and what is to be done when a matter is missing from a list. When that person is unwell or leaves, the next person can follow the same steps from the first day.

Where an app helps

The routine above works on paper. Its weakness is the checking: one forum at a time, one matter at a time, every evening.

Case Diary was built for this. You add matters from the forums you appear in – by CNR, case number or party name – into one diary. The app checks the record daily, alerts you when a date changes or an order is uploaded, and sends a morning cause list by 7 am where the forum publishes one. Team members see the same diary.

It does not replace the official source. It saves you the rounds. See which courts and tribunals are covered, from live data, on our courts covered page.