Tier 3 · Lifecycle
A recorded date is not a managed date. A managed date has an owner, a reminder, and an escalation path; a recorded date has a value in a field. This audit measures the gap between the two across the whole key-date estate: the overdue limitation queue with its full denominator, how long that queue has been accumulating, and the date types that exist in the system without anything managing their approach.
Every key-date type, classified: does it carry a reminder, an owner, and an escalation path, or only a stored value? The gap between the two lists is the risk, and it is measurable.
Every 'planned' limitation date past its due date, counted against the full open queue (never quoted without its denominator), ranked as a triage queue, and broken down by practice area and due year so both the concentration and the age of the backlog are obvious.
Key-date types with no reminder configured: dates that exist in the system but warn no one before they fall due.
Key-date types with no owner or responsible role, and no escalation when the owner does not act. A date nobody is accountable for is a date the firm is relying on memory to manage.
Date types where capture is configured but management is not: the date is diligently keyed at intake, then nothing in the platform manages its approach. This is the most common key-date defect we find, and the cheapest to fix.
Whether limitation patterns reflect the relevant jurisdictions and matter types, or a single generic rule is applied everywhere.
Key-date definitions are captured from configuration; instance dates are queried live (guards and allocations are not held in snapshots, so they are read from the live instance). Overdue status is computed against the snapshot date, always reported against the full open-queue denominator, and broken down by practice area and due year so you can see where the backlog accumulated and how long it has been growing.
Of 2,303 open limitation dates, 886 (38%) sat past their due date at the 1 July 2026 snapshot. 66% of the overdue queue was concentrated in a single practice area (Workplace injury), and the due-year breakdown showed the backlog had been accumulating for years, not weeks.
Where the overdue queue accumulated: due year by practice area
| Practice area | Due 2024 | Due 2025 | Due 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workplace injury | 227 | 226 | 134 |
| Dispute defence (general) | 74 | 45 | 30 |
| Property (third party) | 21 | 19 | 13 |
| Directors & officers | 16 | 12 | 10 |
| Cyber incident response | 10 | 13 | 7 |
| Property (first party) | 8 | 15 | 6 |
Darker cells hold more overdue dates. The oldest column is the alarming one: 356 dates fell due in 2024 and were still marked 'planned' at the snapshot.
A dated, ranked triage queue partners can action on Monday morning, sized against its full denominator so nobody over- or under-reacts; a due-year view that shows whether the backlog is being worked down or aging in place; and a reminder-and-ownership gap list that turns recorded dates into managed dates, type by type.
