A missed deadline is one of the few mistakes in practice that no explanation fixes. The usual story is a date counted by hand, entered on one person’s calendar, and never seen by the lawyer who ended up covering the matter. Calendaring software should count the same way every time and put the result where everyone in the firm will see it.
How deadlines are counted
Counting rules are set by each court system, and they differ. Rule 6(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is a common reference point. For a period stated in days, you leave out the day of the event that triggers it, count every day after that, including weekends and legal holidays, and include the last day. If the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the period runs on to the next day that is not one.
State rules, local rules and a judge’s standing order can change any part of that. Calendaring software can apply a counting method consistently. Knowing which method applies in a given court is still the lawyer’s job.
What Coil does
- Deadline chains from a trigger date. Enter the trigger, such as a service or filing date, and Coil builds the dates that follow from it, each one landing on a business day. Weekends are skipped, and so are holidays the firm configures. With no holidays configured, Coil warns you that only weekends are being skipped.
- Limitation dates from the record. A limitation date is derived from what the matter record says, rather than typed in on a separate calendar where nobody checks it against the file.
- Tasks from rules. A court-rule chain can create tasks as well as calendar entries, assigned and tracked like any other task, with overdue items flagged.
- Recurring events that stop. A recurring hearing or meeting ends when you tell it to.
- iCal feeds. Firm and personal feeds carry events and deadlines into Google or Outlook, correct across time zones and daylight saving changes.
- Speedy trial in criminal matters. The criminal defense module counts speedy-trial time and says what it counts from. Where tolling is not modelled, it says so rather than adjusting silently.
The court rule sets, plainly
The rule sets in Coil today are generic starters. They show how a chain works and give you a structure to adjust, but they are not your jurisdiction’s rules, and Coil labels them that way. Real state and federal rule sets, kept current, are in the next phase.
Until then, treat a computed date the way you would treat a new calendar clerk’s work: useful, and checked against the governing rule before anyone relies on it. That is also why coil.legal does not offer a public court date calculator yet. A calculator has to be right for the court you are in, and Coil will not publish one until it has rule sets it can stand behind.
What Coil does not do
Docket tracking across courts is a further-out idea, and court e-filing needs a filing vendor first. The iCal feed is a subscription: your calendar app shows Coil’s dates, but an event you add there does not flow back into Coil. There is no mobile app, though the feeds put your deadlines on the phone calendar you already carry.
Why it matters in a small firm
In a firm of one or two lawyers, the calendar is often a single person’s memory plus a paper diary. Putting every deadline on the matter, in a firm feed everyone subscribes to, means a sick day or a trial in another county does not leave a date unwatched. Coil is free during the beta, and beta firms keep founding pricing when paid plans start.
Questions
Does Coil calculate deadlines under my state's court rules?
Not yet. The rule sets in Coil today are generic starters, labelled as such. Real state and federal rule sets are in the next phase. Until then, check every computed date against the rules of the court you are in.
Will my deadlines show up in Google Calendar or Outlook?
Yes. Coil publishes firm and personal iCal feeds that carry events and deadlines, correct across time zones and daylight saving changes. The feed is one way: events added in your calendar app do not come back into Coil.
What happens when a deadline lands on a weekend or holiday?
Deadline chains land on business days. Coil skips weekends and any holidays the firm has configured, and if no holidays are configured it warns you that only weekends are being skipped.
Does Coil track statutes of limitations?
Coil derives limitation dates from what the matter record says and puts them on the calendar. The rule behind the date is yours to confirm, and the date is only as good as the facts entered.
Last checked October 28, 2026.