LegalAI[Space]

Litigation and disputes · Litigation associate, disputes partner, counsel

Build a chronology from the documents on file

A supply dispute has produced four hundred pages of correspondence across eighteen months and counsel has asked for a chronology by Friday. The run reads every document and returns dated entries with the page each one came from.

First draft
A first dated chronology comes back from one unattended run across the whole file.

The problem

Building a chronology by hand is the least skilled and most necessary task in a dispute, and it is usually done by whoever is most junior under the most time pressure. Entries get missed, dates get transposed from the letterhead rather than the sending date, and nobody can later say which document a line came from.
  1. Step 01 of 05

    Load the file

    Correspondence bundles, the contract, the variation letters, internal emails and two board papers are uploaded to a matter carrying the trial window as a key date.

    Matters · Project Halcyon · SPA warranties and disclosureOpen

    Project Halcyon: SPA warranties and disclosure

    Buy-side warranty review, disclosure analysis and cited due-diligence grid.

    Client
    Halcyon Bidco Ltd
    Reference
    WC-2026-0412
    Practice area
    Corporate / M&A
    Jurisdiction
    England and Wales
    Responsible partner
    E. Vance
    No conflict check on file.

    Chat, on this matter

    Compare warranties with the disclosure letter.

    Three high-priority exceptions require action: the unregistered charge, the change-of-control right and the tribunal claim.

    Send a message… (@ to mention tools)BalancedPrepare for
    1. 25 Aug

      Disclosure exceptions matrix

      Chat

    2. 21 Aug

      Disclosure exceptions matrix

      Run · completed · 560 credits

    3. 18 Aug

      Project Halcyon: Disclosure Letter

      Document · indexed

    4. 16 Aug

      Project Halcyon: Share Purchase Agreement

      Document · indexed

    5. 4 Aug

      Matter opened

      Opened

  2. Step 02 of 05

    Run the chronology

    Prepare for: Court-Ready, Deliver as: spreadsheet. The instruction asks for one row per event with the date, the actor, what happened and the document reference.

    Agents · Contract Agent · New runMatter: Northgate · senior associate hire

    Agent

    Jurisdiction

    Prepare for

    Deliver as

    Instruction

    What should the agent look for?

    Documents

    Drop a contract, or pick one from the matter

    Also on the matter

    • Offer_letter_v3.pdf2 pages
    • Staff_handbook_2025.docx61 pages
    • Board_minute_14_Aug.pdf3 pages
    Platform model · zero data retention · audit register on
  3. Step 03 of 05

    Read the disputed dates

    Where a document carries two possible dates, such as a letter dated one day and sent two days later, both appear with the wording that supports each, rather than one being chosen silently.

    Agents · Contract Agent · Employment Contract Compliance ReviewCompleted
    6 items need your confirmation14 authorities · Where we looked

    Senior Associate Employment Contract: English Law Review

    Summary

    1. 1.

      Clause 9(c), non-competeHigh

      The 12-month prohibition on working for any law firm anywhere in the UK, Ireland or EU, in any capacity, is almost certainly wider than reasonably necessary and therefore unlikely to be enforceable.

      Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32
    2. 2.

      Clause 11, data and monitoringHigh

      Blanket contractual consent is not an adequate basis for general employment processing, special-category data or unrestricted monitoring.

      UK GDPR, Arts 6 and 9
    3. 3.

      Clause 4, holiday carry-overHigh

      The unconditional five-day cap conflicts with mandatory carry-over rights where sickness, statutory leave or employer failure prevents leave being taken.

      Working Time Regulations 1998, regs 13 to 13A
  4. Step 04 of 05

    Find the gaps

    A six-week period with no documents at all is flagged as a gap rather than passed over, and the open questions ask what happened in it.

    Agents · Contract Agent · Employment Contract Compliance ReviewCompleted

    Settle any of these and a refined run folds your answers into the memo.

    • Does the firm intend the covenants to bite in Ireland and the EU, or only England and Wales?
    • Is there a separate monitoring policy the contract should reference?
    • Has the employee already given a written working-time opt-out?
  5. Step 05 of 05

    Hand it to counsel

    The spreadsheet downloads with the document references intact, and the audit register records what was read to produce it.

    Audit register · Calder & Finch LLP · last 24 hours
    5 of 8 entries · digest sha-256
    TimeWhoTypeEntryMatter
    09:36j.okaforDocumentDisclosure_letter_v4.docx uploaded · 18 pagesHAL-2026-0031
    09:30e.vanceConflict checkConflict check on open · no matches across 38 mattersRC-2026-0009
    09:12adminMemberp.hartley added · role: Associate · 4 mattersWorkspace
    08:55r.chenRunDue Diligence Agent · review grid · 12 documentsHAL-2026-0031
    08:40r.chenVerificationVerify all · 6 authorities · 6 verifiedHAL-2026-0031
    Exports carry a content digest so a reviewer can confirm nothing was edited after the fact.

What comes back

A document, not a transcript.

  • A dated chronology with one row per event, carrying the actor, the event and the document reference.
  • Disputed or ambiguous dates shown with both possibilities and the wording behind each.
  • Periods with no documentary coverage flagged as gaps rather than smoothed over.
  • Open questions on the six-week gap and on two documents that appear to be missing attachments.

Authorities it checks

  • Civil Procedure Rules, Part 31
  • Civil Procedure Rules, Part 32
Every source it may cite

What it does not do

  • It does not decide which events matter. The chronology is complete on the documents given, and counsel selects from it.
  • It does not fill a gap with an inference. A period with no documents is reported as exactly that.
  • It reads what is uploaded. Documents still held by the client are not in the chronology and are named as outstanding.

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