New 'Instadocket' Service Provides Docket Updates for Mass. Lawyers 

Thanks to MassCourts.org, attorneys in Massachusetts finally have electronic access to their case dockets in the state trial courts. However, the only way for attorneys to keep up with changes to the dockets for their cases is to regularly check in with the site.

Now, a new service eliminates the need to frequently check the MassCourts.org site. Called Instadocket, the service notifies you by email of changes to your MassCourts.org docket as soon as they occur.

Once your register, Instadocket monitors all of your cases based on the My Cases section of Masscourts.org, which contains all of the cases for which you are the registered attorney. If it detects a new docket entry, you get an e-mail alerting you.

It can also check District Court and Boston Municipal Court civil cases not included in the My Cases section of the site. To follow those cases, you must email Instadocket with the case number and court.

The service also creates a calendar for subscribers of their upcoming court dates. The calendar can be integrated with most electronic calendar systems. Subscribers receive an e-mail with a link to their personal court calendar. Subscribe to this calendar to automatically receive updates about future court dates.

A subscription to the service costs $15 a month. A one month free trial is available. Instadocket offers special pricing for legal aid providers.

Instadocket was developed by William Palin, the Massachusetts lawyer who won first prize at the ABA’s inaugural Hackcess to Justice for his iOS app, PaperHealth, and who also developed the app PaperWork, which enables family law attorneys in Massachusetts to create PDF family law forms.