Tip #282 - Use Automated Procedure to Send Email Reminder of Upcoming Statute of Limitations

When properly configured, SmartAdvocate will automatically populate the Statute of Limitations (SOL) for your cases.

There are several ways staff can see those upcoming SOLs (e.g., schedule a report of upcoming SOLs, configure the Critical Deadlines panel on your MySmartAdvocate Page to show upcoming SOLs, have the SOLs pushed to Outlook as appointments, etc.).

Currently, SmartAdvocate does not give a “pop up” warning of the SOL deadline. However, you can configure an Automated Procedure (AP) to send you (or staff) an email within a predetermined number of days before the expiration of the SOL.

Here’s How To Set Up The AP:

1. Go to Admin > Automated Procedure Management

2. Click the “Add New Procedure” button (top left of the page)

3. On the resulting screen, give the AP a name. You can leave the box for “Enable only for open cases” checked, and you do not need to enter a Procedure Group (leave the “Enabled” check box in the top right corner of the page un-checked until you are ready to activate the AP)

4. Next, click the “Add New Scope” button. You will want to use a scope so that this AP will apply to only cases in certain Statuses.  In this example we will select the “Pre-Litigation” statuses as the scope, i.e., our AP will only send the notification if the case is in one of the Pre-Litigation statuses and the SOL has not been marked completed.

5. Next, click the “Add New Trigger” button. We will select “SOL Added” as the trigger.

6. Select SOL type from the drop-down list and select SOL (unless the type “SOL” was renamed in your system. In which case, select the appropriate SOL name).

7. Next, click the “Add New Action” button.

8. Click the drop down for Action Type and select “Send Email.”

9. Complete the following steps on the Action Detail Page (see screen shot below with examples of items “a” thru “i”).

    

   a. Add the following text to the Action Name “Send SOL reminder” (see example in screen shot below).

   b. Enter 10 in the Days field (in this example we want the email reminder to go out 10 days before the due date of the SOL. You can choose the number of days, hours, and minutes you prefer).

   c. Click the drop down below the Days field and select “Before.” To the right of that field select “Trigger Item Due Date” (see examples in screen shot below).

   d. Click the “From” button and select Attorney in the Case Role list (in this example the email reminder will indicate it is coming from the attorney. You can choose a different Case Role if you wish, or you can select a specific firm staff). Click the “from” button to populate the From field before clicking the OK button.

   e. Click the “To” button and select “All Case Staff.” In this example the email reminder will be sent to all staff assigned to the case.

   f. Change the email priority to High.

   g. Enter an appropriate subject line for the email (e.g., WARNING!! Upcoming Statute of Limitations!).

   h. Enter an appropriate message for the email body.

   i. Click the “Save” button on the bottom right corner of the page.

10. The complete AP should look something like the screen shot below.

11. To activate the AP, right-click on its name and select “Enable Procedure.”

In our example, an email will be sent to all staff assigned to the case 10 days before the expiration of the Statute of Limitations.