Building a Case Chronology

Your case timeline is only as strong as your cross-referencing. Building a chronology by hand means opening every pleading, discovery response and transcript, then copying dates into a spreadsheet one at a time. Miss a page and the timeline is wrong.

This lesson answers: what happened when and do my documents agree? Three prompts build the timeline, check it for conflicting dates, and format it for the case file.

Below are five prompts: three steps in order, then two optional ones.

Before you start

Selection controls the answer. The Assistant reads only what you select, so include every pleading, discovery response and transcript.
Ask for the document and provision. Ask for a citation on every entry so you can check it.
Fill in the [brackets]. Replace each one with the specifics from your matter, such as the documents you selected and the phases that fit your case, before you run the prompt.

Prompts

Review [the selected documents for this matter] and build a chronological timeline of every dated event. Cite the source document for each entry.

Check [the chronology] for any dates that conflict across [the selected documents] and flag them. For each conflict, name each document and the date it gives.

Organize [the chronology] into [phases that fit your matter, for example pre-suit, pleadings, discovery, and trial preparation]. Present it as a table with columns for date, event, and source.

Review [the selected documents for this matter] and build a chronological timeline of every dated event. Cite the source document for each entry.

Trust but verify

Every answer has blue numbers at the end, those are the citations. Click those numbers to see an excerpt of the document your answer came from. If needed, click the excerpt to see the answer highlighted in your document.