Reminders and alerts
Automatic reminders for lawyers, tenants, and clients — by email and WhatsApp
Reminders and alerts are how LawKona makes sure a date is never left to memory. Set your lead times once — for example 30 days before a lease ends — and from then on every matter of that type reminds the lawyers on the file of hearings, filing and limitation dates, CAC dates, and follow-ups. Tenants get their lease-expiry, quit, arrears, and rent-start messages by email and WhatsApp, after a lawyer approves every legal notice. Every message is logged on the file.
The problem it solves
How most chambers do it today
In most chambers, reminding people is somebody’s job — usually the clerk with the diary or the lawyer who happens to remember. Hearing dates live on a wall calendar, lease end dates in the landlord’s head, and tenants are told by a phone call or a WhatsApp message from someone’s personal line. When that person is busy, on leave, or gone, a filing window closes, a lease runs out without notice, and the landlord calls asking why nobody told the tenant. Afterwards there is no record of who was told what, or when.
What changes with LawKona
LawKona does the remembering. Your chamber sets its lead times once; LawKona counts the days for your state, raises each reminder on time, sends it to the people it concerns, and keeps anything not dealt with in Inbox and on the calendar as overdue. Legal notices to tenants wait for a lawyer’s approval, then go by email and WhatsApp, and the delivery log shows whether each message was sent, delivered, and read.
In practice
A lease running out, and a hearing, at a Lagos chamber. The chamber and people are illustrative; every step is how LawKona works today.
Adebayo & Co. adds one rule in Settings → Reminders: a lease-expiry notice 30 days before every lease ends. Hearings the lawyers add to a matter’s diary are reminded without any extra setup.
The lease on Flat 2, 14 Idejo Street, ends on 30 November. On 31 October the lease-expiry notice appears in the principal’s Inbox. She reads it and clicks Approve & send.
The tenant gets the notice by email and a WhatsApp message with the premises, the expiry date, the chamber’s phone number, and a reference. The associate on the matter gets an email copy. The delivery log shows the WhatsApp message was delivered and read that morning.
On the morning of the adjourned hearing in Okafor v. Bello, the lawyers assigned to the file get a time-critical email. A filing date nobody has acted on shows as overdue in Inbox until someone deals with it.
How it works
Set your lead times once
In Settings → Reminders, add a rule for each kind of date: lease expiry, notice to quit, arrears, hearing, filing or limitation date, CAC filing, contract renewal, or follow-up. Choose the matter type and how many days before (or after) the date it should fire. LawKona counts from the right date on the file — the lease end for tenancy notices, the hearing date for court reminders, otherwise the day the matter opened — in calendar days, or in working days that skip weekends and public holidays for your state.
Every live matter gets its reminders
When a matter goes live, its reminders are set up on their own and appear on the firm calendar. Hearings you add to the diary and CAC dates you record are reminded on the day.
Reminders go to the right people
The lawyers assigned to the matter are emailed — or the principal if nobody is assigned. Within 48 hours of a court date the reminder is marked time-critical.
Legal notices wait for a lawyer, then reach the tenant
Lease-expiry, quit, arrears, and tenancy notices wait in Notifications & approvals. On Approve & send, the tenant gets an email and a WhatsApp message, and the lawyers on the matter get an email copy.
Everything is on the record
The delivery log shows every message: who it went to, by which channel, and whether it was sent, delivered, read, or failed. Anything still pending past its date shows as overdue in Inbox and on the calendar.
Who uses it
Lawyer on the file
Email reminders of hearings, filing and limitation dates, CAC dates, and follow-ups on their own matters — plus Inbox and the calendar for anything overdue.
Principal or partner
The final say on every legal notice before it reaches a tenant, an email copy of each one, and a delivery record to point to if anyone says they were never told.
Tenant and landlord client
Lease-expiry, quit, arrears, and rent-start messages by email and WhatsApp, on time, with the chamber’s phone number and a reference. If there is no tenant contact, the landlord client is emailed instead.
Why it helps your chamber
Never miss a date again
Reminders are raised from the file itself, so they do not depend on one clerk’s diary. Anything not dealt with stays in Inbox and on the calendar as overdue until someone acts.
Tenants hear on time, where they read
Notices go to the tenant’s email and WhatsApp, with the premises, the date, and the chamber’s number — no personal phones, no “nobody told me”.
Proof of who was told, and when
Every email and WhatsApp message is logged on the matter: recipient, channel, time, and whether it was sent, delivered, read, or failed.
What it looks like
Reminders and alerts
- Read 09:41
Lease expiry — Flat 2, 14 Idejo Street
- Sent 07:00
Hearing today — Okafor v. Bello
- Due 30 Oct
CAC annual return — Board pack
Included in
Free, Solo, Practice, and Chambers. Free for 1 lawyer and 3 properties, no card needed.
Email reminders and notices on every plan, including Free. Solo, Practice, and Chambers also send tenancy notices and rent-start messages to tenants on WhatsApp, with a monthly WhatsApp allowance on each plan.
Works with
- Deadlines
One chamber calendar for hearings, filing windows, limitation dates, and tenancy notice periods, with the days counted for your state. No more paper diary only one person reads, or days counted by hand.
- Notices
Tenancy notices prepared on time from the lease dates, approved by a lawyer, then sent to the tenant by email and WhatsApp with a record of every send. No more notices remembered late, sent from personal phones, or sent without a senior lawyer seeing them.
- Property and tenancy
A register of every building and unit your landlord clients own, with private application links for new tenants. No more caretaker notebooks, ID photos in chats, or guessing which flat is vacant.
- Client portal
A private page where each client or tenant sees their own matters, dates, documents, and invoices, and pays online. Fewer “any update?” calls, and no documents lost in chat threads.
- Billing and payments
Turn time logged on a matter into an invoice, send it as a PDF or a payment link, and let clients pay online in Naira. No more forgotten hours, or checking bank alerts to work out who has paid.
Reminders and alerts questions
- Who gets reminded?
- Court, filing, limitation, CAC, and follow-up reminders go to the lawyers assigned to the matter, or to the principal if nobody is assigned. Tenancy notices go to the tenant by email and WhatsApp, with an email copy to the lawyers on the matter; if there is no tenant contact, the landlord client is emailed instead.
- How far ahead are we reminded?
- You decide. Each rule in Settings → Reminders has its own lead time — for example a lease-expiry notice 30 days before the lease ends, or a client follow-up 14 days after a matter opens. LawKona counts in calendar days, or in working days that skip weekends and Nigerian public holidays for your state. Hearings and CAC dates you record are reminded on the day, and everything sits on the calendar from the moment it is set.
- Which messages go by WhatsApp?
- Messages to tenants: lease-expiry notices, notices to quit, arrears notices, general tenancy notices, and the rent-start message when a lease begins. Each WhatsApp message carries the premises, the key date, the chamber’s phone number, and a reference. Reminders to lawyers go by email and show in Inbox and on the calendar.
- Does every tenant get WhatsApp messages?
- Only tenants who agreed to them — by ticking the WhatsApp box on the intake form, or by your chamber recording when and how they agreed. Tenants can reply STOP at any time. The email copy always goes, so a tenant without WhatsApp is still told.
- Can a notice reach a tenant without a lawyer seeing it?
- Not while the approval step is on, which it is by default for every chamber. Legal notices wait in Notifications & approvals until a lawyer clicks Approve & send, or rejects them so they never go.
- What if a message does not go through?
- The delivery log shows it as failed, with the reason. A WhatsApp message that fails for a temporary reason is tried again on its own, and the email copy goes regardless. If a number cannot receive WhatsApp, it is marked so and that tenant is reached by email.
- Do clients get reminded of their hearing dates?
- Hearing reminders go to the lawyers on the file, so the chamber stays in control of what the client is told. Clients and tenants you invite to the client portal can see their matter’s key dates whenever they sign in.
- Which plans include reminders?
- Every plan, including Free, sends reminders and notices by email at no extra cost per message. Solo, Practice, and Chambers also send tenancy notices and rent-start messages on WhatsApp, with a monthly WhatsApp allowance on each plan. Student / Clinic workspaces use sample files only.
- Does a WhatsApp message count as legal service?
- No. Email and WhatsApp help the tenant see the notice in time, and the delivery log shows they were sent. Serving a notice the way the applicable tenancy law requires is still done by your chamber.