National Docketing Association

What National Docketing Association does

The National Docketing Association (NDA) is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit professional membership organization founded in 2011 and domiciled in Illinois, USA. It serves Litigation and Intellectual Property docketing professionals — practitioners who manage court and agency filings, calendaring, and deadline tracking within law firms, corporate legal departments, governmental legal agencies, and university legal departments. The association does not develop or sell software products; instead, it operates a community and education platform, including an annual conference (currently in its 12th year, held in San Diego in 2025), monthly webinars, newsletters, surveys, job postings, forums, and an NDA Store. Its digital infrastructure is built on Wild Apricot's membership-management software, providing self-serve registration, member login (including Google/Microsoft/Apple SSO), and access to members-only resources. The organization maintains a multi-region chapter network covering California, Chicago, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington DC, plus a national IP Chapter.

NDA monetizes through three revenue streams. Individual membership dues are the primary recurring stream, priced at $60/year for Full Members and $150/year for Associate Members, with group bundle options for organizations; billing is annual with no automatic recurring payment, indicating manual renewal behavior. Corporate sponsorships are tiered at $1,500 (Silver), $2,000 (Gold), and $2,500 (Platinum) annually, with Platinum sponsors receiving homepage logo placement, monthly newsletter features, sponsored webinar promotion, national-presentation opportunities, and chapter-meeting hosting rights. Annual conference registrations and ancillary offerings (Legal Marketplace directory, job postings, store purchases) provide additional revenue. The go-to-market motion is community-led: members are acquired primarily through word-of-mouth, professional networking, and the conference, with the website serving as the primary self-serve acquisition surface.

The association's competitive position rests on being the only dedicated professional body for the docketing sub-function within legal practice, with long-standing vendor partnerships (CourtAlert since at least 2012, alongside American LegalNet, Prokurio, Aderant, and JuraLaw) anchoring a two-sided ecosystem that connects members with docketing-software providers.

Name

National Docketing Association

Legal name

National Docketing Association

Website

https://nationaldocketing.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The National Docketing Association is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit professional membership organization serving Litigation and Intellectual Property docketing professionals across the United States, providing annual conferences, chapters, webinars, and a sponsor marketplace since 2011.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Association Services

NAICS

Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

Keywords

• Professional association membership
• Legal docketing education
• Litigation calendaring services
• Intellectual property docketing
• Legal professional networking

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees collected from Full Members ($60/year) and Associate Members ($150/year). These provide recurring subscription-style revenue with one-year subscription periods and no automatic recurring payments.
2. Sponsorships: Corporate sponsorships at three tiers: Platinum ($2,500/year), Gold ($2,000/year), and Silver ($1,500/year). Sponsors receive benefits including logo display, newsletter features, webinar opportunities, and access to the Legal Marketplace.
3. Conference and Event Revenue: Annual conference registrations and potentially chapter event registrations generate revenue. The 12th Annual Conference was mentioned as open for registration.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The National Docketing Association is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) professional membership organization that provides educational resources, networking opportunities, and community for Litigation and Intellectual Property docketing professionals. Its core offering includes annual membership tiers, an annual conference, monthly webinars, newsletters, forums, job postings, and a Legal Marketplace directory connecting members with sponsor companies that provide docketing-related products and services.

Product overview

The National Docketing Association (NDA) is a nonprofit professional membership organization for Litigation and Intellectual Property docketing professionals, not a software product company. The association offers membership tiers (Full Member at $50.00/$60.00 and Associate Member at $100.00/$150.00 annually) that provide access to educational resources, networking opportunities, annual conferences, webinars, newsletters, job postings, forums, and a Legal Marketplace directory. The organization does not develop or sell its own software products; instead, it facilitates connections between docketing professionals and third-party software vendors through sponsorship programs and its marketplace platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NDA Membership Annual professional membership for Litigation and IP docketing professionals, granting access to educational resources, webinars, newsletters, forums, job postings, member directory, and the Legal Marketplace. Two tiers: Full Member ($60/year) with full voting rights and Board eligibility; Associate Member ($150/year) for attorneys, retired docketing professionals, and adjacent legal practitioners.
• NDA Annual Conference Annual in-person conference bringing together docketing professionals for education, networking, and professional development. The 12th edition was held in San Diego in 2025, with the 2026 Justification Letter available for member travel authorization. Includes virtual attendance options for some sessions.
• Legal Marketplace

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ProkuriocoreGTM or Marketing PartnerProkurio is a Platinum-level sponsor providing IP cost forecasting solutions. They actively promote their services through NDA channels and participate in conferences and INTA events. Multiple sponsor announcements detail their product updates and features for NDA members.
• CourtAlertcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerCourtAlert is a long-standing sponsor providing court data, docketing, and calendaring services. They offer ECF Assurance products and have been a sponsor since at least 2012. Company has patents for ECF reconciliation technology.
• American LegalNetcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerAmerican LegalNet provides eDockets software and workflow technologies. They sponsor NDA and have announced product features like NY Docket Direct and Chicago Docket Direct through the association.
• JuraLawminorGTM or Marketing PartnerJuraLaw, developed by Law Bulletin Media, provides web-based legal calendar management systems. They participate in ILTA conferences and sponsor NDA activities.
• AderantminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAderant provides CompuLaw rules integration with CourtAlert products. They offer docketing tracks at Virtual Momentum conferences and sponsor NDA events.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Wild Apricot: Membership management software platform powering the NDA's website; comparable as membership-tech infrastructure used by thousands of small associations.
• CourtAlert: Long-standing NDA Platinum sponsor and docketing/calendaring vendor - a docketing ecosystem participant rather than a peer association, but the most strategically aligned sponsor counterparty.
• American LegalNet: eDockets workflow vendor and NDA sponsor; a docketing ecosystem participant rather than a peer organization.

Broad incumbents

• Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM): Broader professional organization for litigation management that overlaps with docketing and calendaring functions, sharing a conference-led, dues- and sponsor-funded association model.
• American Bar Association (ABA): Largest US legal industry membership body with overlap on adjacent segments (legal support professionals, legal administrators); provides the most relevant incumbent scale benchmark for an association-based business.

Direct peers

• National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA): Professional association for paralegals and legal assistants - the same support-function population from which NDA draws many of its members, with similar chapter-based structure and certification programs.
• Legal Marketing Association (LMA): Peer professional membership association serving a different legal sub-discipline (legal marketing), with directly comparable dues tiers, chapter network, and sponsorship revenue model.
• International Legal Technology Association (ILTA): Largest professional association serving legal technology professionals, with overlapping audience of legal ops and docketing professionals; runs a major annual conference and uses a comparable dues/sponsorship revenue model.
• Association of Legal Administrators (ALA): National professional association for legal administrators including those overseeing docketing; comparable business model of memberships, corporate sponsorships, and annual conferences serving the same customer base.

Emerging players

• American Association for Paralegal Education (AAFPE): Specialty association focused on paralegal education with strong adjacency to NDA's paralegal/legal assistant membership base and overlapping professional development mission.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/docketing
• Facebookfacebook.com/NationalDocketing

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about National Docketing Association