The Recurring Compliance Deadlines Small Law Firms Miss

Short answer: Case deadlines usually live in a docketing calendar. The recurring business deadlines often live nowhere at all: bar dues, CLE reporting, trust account certifications, malpractice and other insurance renewals, entity annual reports, business licenses and internal reviews. The fix is one list of every recurring item, the date it was last done, how often it repeats, and an estimated next date that someone actually looks at.

SinceFiled does exactly that. This guide covers the categories to list and how to keep the list honest.

Why these deadlines slip

Recurring firm obligations share three traits that make them easy to miss:

• Long gaps. Many repeat once a year or every two or three years, long enough to forget who handled it last time.
• No single owner. Some belong to each attorney, some to the firm, some to the office manager.
• Different sources. The state bar, your insurer, your secretary of state and your city each send reminders on their own schedule, by mail or email, sometimes to someone who has left.

Rules and dates vary by state and by entity type, so confirm every requirement with the issuing body. The categories below are a starting checklist, not a statement of what applies to you.

Categories to put on your list

Per attorney

• Annual bar registration or dues, for each state of admission.
• CLE or MCLE reporting periods and any specialty credit requirements.
• Pro hac vice renewals where applicable.
• Notary commissions, if attorneys hold them.

Trust accounting

• Any annual IOLTA or trust account certification or reporting required by your state.
• Internal reconciliation reviews your firm has chosen to do on a set schedule.

Insurance

• Professional liability renewal.
• General liability, cyber, workers' compensation and any other policies, each with its own renewal date.

Entity and business

• Secretary of state annual or biennial reports for the firm entity.
• Registered agent renewal.
• City or county business licenses.
• Professional corporation or PLLC registrations where a state requires them.

Internal reviews you set yourself

• Conflict system review.
• Engagement letter template review.
• Data retention or file destruction review.
• Password and access review when staff change.

What to record for each item

For every row, keep five facts:

1. What it is. "Colorado attorney registration, J. Smith."
2. Who owns it. A name, not a role.
3. When it was last done. The actual date, with where the confirmation is stored.
4. How often it repeats. Yearly, every two years, every quarter.
5. Estimated next date. Last done plus the interval, then checked against the issuing body's notice.

"Days since last done" is a surprisingly useful number. An item that normally repeats every 365 days and now shows 340 days since last filing deserves attention this week, even if no reminder letter has arrived.

Spreadsheet or software?

A spreadsheet works if one person owns it and opens it every week. It breaks when that person is out, when the file gets copied, or when nobody sorts by date. Software helps when you want the list in one shared place, sorted by what is coming up, with the days-since count always current.

SinceFiled is built for this narrow job. You list each recurring filing, renewal or review, enter when it was last done and how often it repeats, and it shows the days since and the estimated next date for every item. The Firm plan is USD 49 a month, or Lifetime is USD 329 one time. SinceFiled tracks dates you enter. It does not file anything for you and does not decide which rules apply to your firm.

Start tracking with SinceFiled

A 30-minute setup plan

1. Pull last year's renewal emails and invoices for the categories above.
2. Make one row per obligation per attorney.
3. Fill in last-done dates from the confirmations.
4. Set the interval.
5. Assign an owner to every row.
6. Book a recurring 10-minute weekly review of anything due in the next 60 days.

Common mistakes that cause missed renewals

Tracking by memory of the last notice. Many issuing bodies send one reminder, sometimes to an old address or a former employee's inbox. If your system depends on that notice arriving, it fails the year the notice goes astray. Track from the last-done date instead, and treat the notice as confirmation.

One row for the whole firm. Bar registration and CLE are per attorney and per state. A firm with four attorneys admitted in two states each has eight registration rows, not one. Lumping them together hides the attorney whose cycle runs on a different month.

No record of where the proof lives. When someone asks "did we renew the cyber policy?", the answer should take seconds. Note where each confirmation is saved, such as the folder path or the email subject line.

Owners who left. Review the owner column whenever someone joins or leaves. An item owned by a former staff member effectively has no owner.

Ignoring internal reviews. Reviews your firm chose to do, like a conflict system check or a data retention review, have no outside body reminding you. They are the first to slide, and they are often the ones a malpractice carrier or auditor asks about.

Waiting for the due date. Some renewals need documents, signatures or payments that take time. Set your review window early enough to gather them. A 60-day look-ahead is a practical default, longer for anything that needs a third party.

How to keep the list honest over time

• Update the last-done date the same day an item is completed, not at the next review.
• Once a quarter, compare the list against your actual invoices and confirmations from the past three months to catch anything that was done but not recorded, or recorded but not done.
• When an attorney is admitted in a new state, or the firm adds an office or entity, add the new rows the same week.
• Keep retired items in an archive rather than deleting them, so you can answer questions about past years.

Sanctions screening is a different list. A one-time OFAC check does not watch the names you keep paying. See one-time vs ongoing OFAC screening and OFAC Watcher.

Related reading

• Is my law firm cited by ChatGPT?
• How AI engines choose which lawyers to recommend
• One-time vs ongoing OFAC screening

Related tools

• SinceFiled. The Firm plan is USD 49 a month, or Lifetime is USD 329 one time.
• OFAC Watcher. Daily checks of wallet addresses and entity names against the OFAC SDN, UN and EU lists for USD 29 a month.
• FirmCited audit. The FirmCited audit is USD 490 one time: 25 prompts, up to 4 engines, a 10-page fix list, under 48 hours.
• FirmCited Monitor. FirmCited Monitor is USD 299 per month, cancel anytime.

FAQ

What compliance deadlines do law firms commonly track?

Common ones include bar registration, CLE reporting, trust account certifications where required, insurance renewals, entity annual reports and business licenses. Requirements vary by state, so confirm with each issuing body.

Is a docketing calendar enough?

Docketing tools are built for case deadlines. Recurring firm and attorney obligations often live elsewhere, which is why they get missed.

How do I estimate the next due date?

Add the repeat interval to the date it was last done, then check it against the notice from the issuing body, which is the authority.

Does SinceFiled file anything for me?

No. It tracks the items and dates you enter and shows days since and the estimated next date. It does not decide which rules apply to your firm.

How much does SinceFiled cost?

The Firm plan is USD 49 a month. Lifetime access is USD 329 one time.

Who should own the list?

One named person, with a backup. Each row should also have its own owner.

Disclaimer

General information and software only - not legal advice, no attorney-client relationship. Consult a licensed attorney.

Reports are generated with AI-assisted software and may contain errors. Review before relying on them.