LawToolBox FAQs

Feb 21, 2025
Knowledge

How To

LawToolBox & LEAP FAQ

Why should we use LawToolBox?

Missed deadlines are a common cause of malpractice claims against lawyers in Canada. Using LawToolBox to manage deadlines will protect against this risk. Most law firms manually calculate deadlines and add to calendars one-at-a-time. Instead, they can reduce the risk of a missed deadline by calculating based on court rules with links to authorities.

What rulesets come with my subscription to LEAP?

This link provides a list of LawToolBox rulesets that come with a LEAP subscription: LawToolBox Rulesets Published

Which groups of users need LawToolBox?

Typical Rules-Based Calendaring Practice Areas:

Litigation/Court Rules > Lawyers and Legal Practitioners that need Court Rules Calendaring
Estate Administration
Bankruptcy
Trademark
Regulatory
Administrative
Family Law

Practice areas where there are virtual no deadlines or calendaring

Business formation
Trusts and estates
Mergers and acquisitions

When should rules-based calendaring be used?

If your organization answers YES to any of the below question, you should consider using rules-based calendaring.

Is the law firm staff manually calculating deadlines from a checklist?
Are they entering deadline into calendars and sending calendar invites one-at-a-time?
How does the law firm find out about and implement the court's rule changes?

How do I install the Software?

No software is installed anywhere. Activation of the app is via the LEAP Marketplace. See How to Activate LawToolBox section below.

Are there Deadlines for all Provincial and Federal Courts?

Rulesets are available for both provincial and federal courts.

Are Court Holidays included in deadline calculations?

The calculation of some deadline must exclude “court days” which are defined as weekends and holidays. In federal court different holidays can apply to deadlines calculated “going forward” in time in contrast to deadlines calculated “going back” in time. Many provinces and jurisdictions recognize their own holidays. Deadlines that land on weekends or court holidays are rolled off to the next day and display the original due date.

How are deadlines calculated?

Deadlines are calculated in court days or calendar days based on rules of procedure.

Do I need to update deadlines where changes are made by the courts?

Users will be notified of rules changes automatically. Notifications will appear within the LEAP notifications centre and on the matter.

What are the key features of LawToolBox?

LawToolBox combines rules-based calendaring with case specific deadlines and events.
Rules-based docketing:
When you enter a “trigger date” like the date of trial the software instantly calculates deadlines based on the rules of civil procedure and other statutes (this concept is also described as: deadline calculators, calendaring rules and deadlines, court rules calendaring).
Deadlines are calculated in court days or calendar days based on rules of procedure.
Court Holidays:
The calculation of some deadline must exclude “court days” which are defined as weekends and court holidays. In federal court different holidays can apply to deadlines calculated “going forward” in time in contrast to deadlines calculated “going back” in time. Many provinces and jurisdictions recognize their own holidays.
Deadlines that land on Saturdays/Sundays and court holidays are rolled to the next business day and display the original due date.
Roll off Weekends & Court Holidays:
When a deadline is calculated in calendar days it can sometimes land on a weekend or court holiday, our software then tells it whether to “roll” that deadline forward and backwards to the “next” business day.
Where mail rules apply, the user is asked to select the method of service before determining the deadline.
Mail Rule:
This is a common term used to describe that 3 days are added to the deadline when the trigger pleading is served by mail (there are many versions of this that add different numbers of days depending on whether the legal paper was served by fax, electronically, by hand, etc.).
When a Trial Date, hearing or other date is rescheduled, all the deadlines automatically update in calendars. The typical trial date can be continued on average 2-3 times in a litigation. The software can handle moving deadlines that land in the future to their new date if the lawyer says to move the deadline.

Can deadlines be edited?

Deadlines calculated by LawToolBox in LEAP are added to the LEAP matter record and the Outlook calendar. Users can edit the deadlines from either location and then add additional team members to those deadlines. All future edits to those deadlines will be visible to all added members.
When rules change, LEAP shows a notification from LawToolBox in the alerts section of LEAP so that an end user can accept, ignore or snooze the alert for a deadline in the matter where the rule change applies.

How to Activate LawToolBox

LawToolBox can be activated easily through the LEAP Marketplace.

From the LEAP Matter List, click the LEAP Menu > Marketplace.

The LEAP Marketplace window will open.
Click the LawToolBox icon.
Click Enable.
You will be prompted to confirm the primary contact, which will include the name and email address

Ensure these details are correct.
Accept the Terms & Conditions by ticking the checkbox and then click Next.
Log into your LEAP account to authenticate the integration.

This step only needs to be done once.
Once authenticated, the LawToolBox app will launch and be accessible from the Calendar & Tasks tab within all matters.

Creating Deadlines in Existing Matters

Creating deadlines in your LEAP matter is quick and easy with LawToolBox. Follow these instructions to add deadlines to the relevant LEAP matter and your Outlook calendar so you never miss a deadline.

Open the matter.
Click the Calendar & Tasks tab.
Click the LawToolBox.

The LawToolBox window will open.
Select the relevant Rulesetfrom the Select Ruleset dropdown by either scrolling through or entering the name of the Ruleset in the blank text box.

Select the relevant Trigger by either scrolling through or entering the name of the Trigger in the blank text box.
Enter the Date.
You may also be prompted to select the Service Method, if applicable, which will automatically add the relevant number of days depending on the service method selected.
Once the relevant Trigger has been selected, type in any relevant notes for the hearing or other notes for the Trigger.
Click Get Deadlines and all of the Deadlines associated with the nominated Trigger will be displayed.
Three options are available from here:
- Accept all Deadlines displayed by selecting Add Deadlines.
- Cancel all Deadlines displayed by selecting Cancel.
- Unselect All deadlines andchoose only those you want to add.
When all required deadlines have been selected, click Add Deadlines.
A notification advising the deadlines have been Successfully Created will be displayed.
Deadlines will be added to the Calendar & Tasks tab within the matter, as well as calendar entries created in Outlook.

How to Add a Time to LawToolBox Event

Court deadlines added from LawToolBox will be added to your Outlook calendar as an all-day event (see Creating Deadlines in Existing Matters above for instruction on how to add deadlines).