VakilOS: a practice system built around the next date

Edge cases

• A hearing happens, but nobody records what the court ordered.
• A matter is adjourned and the next date has to roll forward into the diary.
• Several hearings fall on the same day in different courts, each with its own item number and time.

How it is handled

Today, Diary and the case record all read from the same hearings. A hearing in the past with no next date raises a banner on Today ("Record the next date so nothing drops off your diary") and a list of past appearances awaiting an outcome. Recording an outcome is one click from the board. In the demo we saw outcomes and dates entered by the advocate. We did not see dates pulled automatically from eCourts, and we do not claim that.

Edge cases

• Lawyers refer to a matter by case number, by client name or by the 16-character CNR the courts assign.
• The same client may have several matters, each with different courts and fees.
• Opposite party, presiding officer and court all belong to the matter and have to travel with it.

How it is handled

Each case stores its case number and its CNR next to the court, presiding officer, opposite party, filing date, next date, client and fees. Ctrl+K searches cases, clients and CNR numbers from anywhere. We did not review how duplicates are prevented, so this page makes no claim about it.

Edge cases

• A fee is paid in instalments, or only part of an instalment is paid.
• The advocate is looking at one month, but older unpaid fees still count as overdue.
• Several clients owe money and the advocate needs to know who to call first.

How it is handled

Each due has a state: upcoming, due today, overdue, part paid, paid or waived. A part-paid instalment keeps its balance (₹50,000 of ₹75,000 in the demo). The period filter changes what is expected and received, while overdue always counts every unpaid fee whatever its date, and the screen says so. Overdue money is grouped by age and ranked by client, and every row can send a WhatsApp reminder. Reminder counts are kept per due.

Edge cases

• A fee is about to fall due and nobody has chased it.
• A client reads Hindi more comfortably than English.
• A hearing or a filing deadline is close, but the advocate is in court and not looking at the app.

How it is handled

The Alerts and email settings let the advocate choose what the app watches. A daily email lists fees due today and overdue, with client phone numbers, and a warning can fire on the day or 1, 3 or 7 days before a fee falls due. In-app alerts cover hearings today and tomorrow, deadlines within 3 days and new cases, and an optional desktop pop-up appears once a day. Each alert carries its next step, such as Mark paid, Part payment or New date, so it can be cleared where it appears. For clients, a Remind button opens a WhatsApp message in the client's preferred language, Hindi or English, and every due counts how many times it has been reminded. Two limits to be plain about: the WhatsApp message goes out on the advocate's tap rather than on a schedule, and the daily email needs the email service configured on the server, which was not set up in the demo, so we did not see an email delivered.