Court deadlines, computed and kept
A deadline is counted from the event that triggers it, around your firm’s own holiday list, and the event and the period stay on the task with the date.
Counted from the triggering event
On a task, enter the triggering date and the number of days, and choose calendar or business days. A negative number counts back from the event. Business days skip weekends and the firm’s holidays. A count in calendar days that ends on a closed day moves to the next open one, and the form names the day that moved it.
The result fills the due date and goes in only when you confirm it and save. Reopen the task and the triggering date and the period are still there, so anyone checking the date can redo the count.
Your firm’s court rules
An administrator keeps a list of rule periods under Admin, then Deadlines. Pick one on a task and it fills in the days and how to count them, with the rule’s citation beside it. A set read from the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure can be added in one step; a rule already on the list is left as the firm has it. Any other period is entered by the firm.
Once an administrator confirms the list, the confirmation lasts until a rule is added, changed or removed. Until it is confirmed, the task form says so beside every rule.
Your firm’s holiday list
The administrator starts from the court holiday list for the federal courts, Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia or Alberta, then adds or removes days, such as a local closure, and confirms it. Changing the jurisdiction withdraws the confirmation. The task form says when the list has not been confirmed, and when there is no list at all.
Once the date is set
A limitation date can be moved only by a lawyer, partner or administrator, and every move is recorded with who made it and when, and with a reason where the firm has that switched on.
Every dated task warns three days and two days out. A limitation date also warns 90, 60, 30, 14 and 7 days out, counted from the limitation date itself even when an earlier internal deadline sits in front of it. Warnings go to whoever has the task, or has it for review, and whoever delegated it, in Freeboard and, for anyone who turns them on, by email.
Each person can connect Google Calendar or Outlook, and the tasks assigned to them appear there as all-day events. Google Calendar receives changes from Freeboard only. In Outlook, moving your own task’s event moves its date in Freeboard, except a limitation date, whose event is put back.
Questions this page answers
Which court rules does Freeboard come with?
A set of periods read from the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure, which an administrator adds to the firm's list. A firm elsewhere enters its own periods, each with its citation. Every period on the list is the firm's to edit.
Can Freeboard count a period in months or years?
No. It counts calendar days or business days. A period stated in months or years is worked out by hand and entered as the due date.
Which holidays does the deadline count skip?
The firm's own list. An administrator starts it from the list for the federal courts, Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia or Alberta, adds or removes days, and confirms it. With no list, only weekends are skipped, and the task form says so.
Does moving a deadline in my calendar move it in Freeboard?
In Outlook, yes, for a task assigned to you, except a limitation date: its event is put back to the date in Freeboard. Google Calendar receives changes from Freeboard and sends none back.
Who is warned before a limitation date?
Whoever has the task, or has it for review, and whoever delegated it. The warnings come 90, 60, 30, 14 and 7 days out, then three and two days out. They appear in Freeboard, and by email for anyone who turns deadline emails on.
Try it in the demo
Open any task and choose Compute the date from a triggering event. The holiday list and the court rules are under Admin, then Deadlines.
Sign in as dana@example.com, password freeboard-demo