A criminal defense practice runs on the docket. A client can have three charges on one cause number, a bond with conditions, a setting that moves every few weeks, discovery that arrives late or in pieces, and a plea offer that changes between settings. Clients can be hard to reach, and a client who misses a setting can end up with a warrant. The attorney’s calendar is the practice.
What a criminal defense firm needs from its software
Every charge, recorded the way the attorney sees it. Degree, the range the attorney has confirmed for it and the maximum fine, for each charge on the matter, because a disposition after a plea to a lesser offense has to show what was filed and what it ended as.
The next setting, and the work that has to happen before it. Preparation, a call to make sure the client is coming, and a discovery request if nothing has come from the prosecutor yet.
A speedy-trial clock you can trust, which means one that says what it is. These rules differ by jurisdiction and are full of exclusions. In federal court, the Speedy Trial Act requires an information or indictment within thirty days of arrest or summons, and a trial within seventy days of the indictment or the defendant’s first appearance, whichever is later, with periods the Act excludes from the count. State rules set their own numbers and their own exclusions. Software that shows a confident date without knowing about a continuance is worse than no date at all.
A conflict check that sees everyone. Co-defendants, complaining witnesses and the people who called the firm about the same incident all have to be checked against everyone the firm has represented or talked to.
Fee handling that fits defense work. ABA Model Rule 1.5(d)(2) prohibits a contingent fee for representing a defendant in a criminal case. Defense fees are flat, or set by stage, and are commonly paid before the work is done. Model Rule 1.15(c) puts fees paid in advance into trust, to be withdrawn as they are earned; states differ on whether a flat fee can be earned on receipt.
What Coil does for criminal defense firms
- A stage board. Arrest, charged, discovery, negotiation, pretrial, trial and disposed, with the client’s custody status and the next setting on each card.
- Case facts on one page. Court, cause number, judge, prosecutor, bond amount and status, custody, the date discovery was received and the current plea offer. A stage change is written to the audit log.
- Multiple charges per matter. Each with the degree, range and fine the attorney enters. Coil ships no statute tables and never looks a range up, and the page says so.
- A court date chain. From the next setting, Coil creates the setting as a court date, a preparation task a week before, a task to confirm the client’s appearance two days before, and a discovery request when none has been received. Running it again does not create duplicates.
- A speedy-trial check that discloses its limits. A deadline task counted from the arrest date, labelled as unadjusted for tolling, with a note to confirm the jurisdiction’s rule and the limitations period for the charges.
- A disposition summary. A PDF listing each charge and how it ended, filed on the matter.
- Conflict checks across everything. Fuzzy matching across contacts, parties, notes, messages, documents and leads, including alternate names and every role a name has held, with any waiver recorded with a reason.
- Research for motions. Case law search on CourtListener, saved authorities on the matter, a memo export and a cite check that catches a citation resolving to the wrong case. It tells you it cannot say whether a case is still good law.
- Client contact. A client portal in English or Spanish, portal messages and text messages sent through your own Twilio account and stored on the matter.
What Coil does not do yet
Coil has no statute tables, no sentencing guideline calculator and no model of tolling. Its court rule sets are generic starters today; real state and federal sets are in Phase 2. Court e-filing is in Phase 3 and depends on a filing vendor. Docket tracking across courts is further out, in Phase 4.
After-hours phone intake, a voice agent that answers your number and files the lead, is built but sits in Phase 3 because it needs your Twilio account to prove it against. Invoicing and online payments are in Phase 2, in testing. Coil stores discovery files as documents with versions and text search, but it has no tools for reviewing body camera video or jail call audio.
The short version
Coil’s criminal module is a case file and a calendar that work together. It records what the attorney decides, builds the tasks around each setting and refuses to pretend it knows a deadline it has not been told how to count.
Questions
Does Coil know my state's speedy trial deadline?
No. Coil's speedy-trial check is a placeholder count from the arrest date, and the case page says so. It does not model tolling such as continuances or competency proceedings, and it does not know your jurisdiction's rule. Use it as a reminder to do the real calculation.
Does Coil look up sentencing ranges?
No. Coil ships no statute tables. You type the degree, range and maximum fine for each charge, and Coil records what you entered and prints it on the disposition summary. It never looks a range up.
Can Coil remind me and my client about court dates?
Coil turns the next setting into tasks: the setting itself, preparation a week before and a task to confirm the client will appear two days before. Those dates reach your phone or desktop calendar through the iCal feed, and you can message the client through the portal or by text through your own Twilio account. Automatic reminder phone calls belong to the phone tools, which are in Phase 3.
How do criminal defense fees work in Coil?
ABA Model Rule 1.5(d)(2) bars a contingent fee for representing a criminal defendant, so most defense work is a flat fee or a fee by stage, often paid in advance. Coil's trust ledger holds an advance fee against the client and matter until you move it as it is earned. Sending invoices from Coil is part of Phase 2, which is in testing.
Sources
Last checked October 28, 2026.