The 3 Case Prep Gaps That Sink Deadlines
By Molly Gulbrandson, ParaOne Legal Services
Deadlines rarely blow up because of one big, obvious mistake. More often, they slip because of tiny, hidden gaps no one notices until it’s too late. A missing date on a calendar. A task that everyone thought someone else had covered. A misfiled exhibit.
These small cracks can feel harmless in the moment, but they add up quickly. By the time you realize there’s a problem, you’re staring down a scramble, or worse, an impossible-to-fix delay.
As a paralegal, part of my job is keeping those cracks from forming in the first place. Here are three case prep gaps I see most often and how closing them early keeps deadlines safe and cases moving.
1. The Calendar Gap
It seems simple: the deadline is on the calendar, so the deadline’s safe. Right? Not always. I’ve seen deadlines slip because a date never made it to the shared calendar, or because no one noticed how a weekend or holiday shifted the filing day. Sometimes the issue isn’t the final deadline but all the smaller ones leading up to it. Internal deadlines are a must: draft reviews, client approvals, exhibit prep.
A strong system doesn’t just log dates; it tracks every step along the way. That way, you’re not pulling an all-nighter because one small milestone was missed weeks earlier.
2. The Ownership Gap
Who’s drafting? Who’s reviewing? Who’s filing? When there’s no clear answer, things fall through the cracks. I’ve watched well-meaning teams all assume “someone’s got it,” only to realize no one did.
Clear ownership avoids confusion and cuts down on back-and-forth later. Every task, from research to formatting, is assigned and confirmed, so nothing gets lost in the shuffle. I talked more about how aligned communication strengthens these handoffs in my earlier post [The One Key Concept Some Teams Miss in Legal Communication] because even the best plans fall apart without clear, consistent communication.
3. The Documentation Gap
Litigation creates a mountain of information. Without a reliable system to track what’s been done, what’s missing, and where to find it, you can spend hours searching for a single piece of paper you swore was there last week. That lost time eats into your prep window and pushes deadlines closer to the brink.
Having someone focused on documentation, not just doing the work, but recording it as they go, keeps the whole team a step ahead.
The Invisible Glue That Keeps Deadlines Safe
Cases rarely implode because of one big oversight. It’s the small gaps that quietly chip away at your timeline. Closing them doesn’t take magic; it takes someone watching the details, catching potential problems early, and keeping the system running smoothly.
That’s the kind of behind-the-scenes support a paralegal provides, a quiet safeguard against those last-minute scrambles no one wants to repeat.