Lessons · Law foundations · counting a deadline
Counting a deadline from the rule you were handed
A deadline is a trigger event plus a number of days, counted the way the rule says, and then moved if the last day is not a day the court is open.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
The deadline missed by one day is the classic disaster of this job, and it is almost never caused by not knowing the rule. It is caused by counting from the wrong event, or by counting the first day when the rule said not to, and both of those are avoidable with a pen and thirty seconds.
How to think about it
Write four things down before counting: the trigger event and its date, the number of days, whether the first day counts, and what happens if the last day falls on a weekend or a court holiday. Then count twice.
Worked example
Trigger: served 10 February. Rule given: answer within 21 days, day of service not counted.The trigger is the delivery, not the date on the document.
Start counting from 11 February, which is day one.Not counting the first day means the day after the event is day one.
Day 21 lands on 3 March, and 3 March is a working day, so that is the date.Twenty-one days after 10 February. The month change is where most miscounts happen: count the days left in February, then carry on into March.
Diary it, and diary a reminder well before it.The deadline goes in the diary as a date, not as a number of days, because a number of days has to be recomputed every time it is read.
Your turn
Served 1 April. The rule given: file within 14 days, and the day of service is not counted. Write the day of April it is due.
Served 1 April, within 14 days, first day not counted: due April
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Counting from the date printed on the document. The clock starts from the event the rule names, which is usually service or entry, and the drafting date can be a week earlier.