Legal Matter Management Template
Two documents and three sheets that trace every deadline to the rule behind it, and size each reminder to the hours the task still needs.
Free download · No account needed
Deadline Register · Bellrose Foods LLC v. Kestrel Analytics LLC · motion hearing noted for Friday, April 24, 2026
CR 6(d) says 5 days before the hearing. That is not 5 calendar days.
CR 6(a) excludes intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays from any period under 7 days. A 5-day notice period is under 7. A flat calendar subtraction does not know that.
| Date | Day | Counts toward the 5-day period |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 17 | Friday | Day 5, the real deadline |
| Apr 18 | Saturday | Excluded |
| Apr 19 | Sunday | Excluded |
| Apr 20 | Monday | Day 4 |
| Apr 21 | Tuesday | Day 3 |
| Apr 22 | Wednesday | Day 2 |
| Apr 23 | Thursday | Day 1 |
| Apr 24 | Friday | Hearing |
A naive “hearing minus 5” lands on Sunday, April 19
That is 2 days later than CR 6(d) allows. The register stores the two excluded dates by name, not a checkbox marked weekends excluded, so the gap between the naive answer and the rule's answer is visible before anyone serves the wrong day rather than after a motion gets struck for defective notice.
Administrative errors, chiefly failing to calendar a deadline properly and failing to react to the calendar once it is entered, are rising and now account for nearly 25% of malpractice claims in the ABA's latest claims study. The failure is rarely the arithmetic itself. It is a stored date nobody downstream can check, because most calendaring tools show the answer and hide the rule that produced it. Every row here carries both: the citation, the raw count, and the specific dates any exclusion actually touched.
The gap is real and it runs in a predictable direction. CR 6(a) excludes intermediate weekends and holidays from any period under 7 days, so a motion's notice of hearing, due not later than 5 days before the hearing under CR 6(d), skips the intervening weekend entirely. A flat calendar subtraction misses that and lands on a date 2 days later than the rule permits, which is untimely service nobody notices until the hearing is already contested.
The same register also has to hold CR 12(a)(1)'s 20-day answer, where the exclusion never applies because 20 days is 7 or more. It also holds CR 56(c)'s summary judgment cascade, where the rule's own weekend clause moves a computed date toward the hearing rather than away from it. Three rules, three different behaviors on the same page. Reminders scale the same way: what client intake opens and a conflict check clears still needs its deadlines worked, not just diarised.
What's in the pack
Deadline Register
Every deadline with the rule or order that created it, the raw count, and the specific dates any exclusion or adjustment touched.
Matter Register
Every open and closed matter with its status and open-deadline count, so nothing closes while a deadline is still outstanding.
Task Assignment
The reminder cascade for every deadline needing real work, sized from the task's own prep hours and a realistic daily capacity.
Docketing Procedure
The step-by-step process for logging a deadline, including the second-check every new entry gets before it is treated as final.
Escalation Note
What is done, what is outstanding, who it routes to next, and the specific remedy still available when a deadline is at risk.
How to use it
- 1
Open in River, or take it blank
Open the pack in River and hand it whatever just triggered new deadlines, or download the Word documents and CSV sheets from the template library and run it yourself.
- 2
Cite the rule before you compute the date
Find the specific rule or order paragraph first, then work out how it counts. Do not assume a period under 7 days behaves the same way in every rule.
- 3
Write down the excluded dates, not just that an exclusion applied
A checkbox that says weekends were excluded cannot be checked later. The specific dates it skipped can.
- 4
Size the reminder to the task, not the calendar
Divide the task's prep hours by a realistic daily capacity, add a buffer, and set the first reminder that many days out.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes, no account or card required. The download is Word documents and CSV sheets in a zip. Edit with AI is the second half: the agent finds the governing rule for a new filing, computes the count with the excluded dates shown, and sets the reminder cascade.
What am I actually downloading?
Two Word documents and three CSV sheets, zipped. The sheets open in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets straight off the download, and the procedure and note open in Word or Pages. Nothing in the zip needs River to be useful.
Does it know every jurisdiction's counting rules?
It works from whatever rule you give it, and asks rather than assumes when a jurisdiction is not stated. The worked example throughout is Washington's civil rules because they publish the full current text as a free PDF; the underlying mechanism, cite the rule, show the excluded dates, applies to any rule you supply.
Why does a five-day period skip more than five calendar days?
Because the rule says intermediate weekends and holidays do not count toward a period that short. CR 6(a) draws that line at 7 days: under it, weekends are excluded from the count; at or above it, they are not. A flat subtraction does not know where that line sits.
Do all backward-counted deadlines move the same direction on a weekend?
No, and that is the trap in assuming a single house rule. CR 6(d)'s notice period excludes the weekend from the count entirely, which pulls the deadline earlier. CR 56(c)'s own clause instead moves a response date landing on a weekend later, toward the hearing. Read the specific rule.
How is the reminder cascade actually different from a normal calendar alert?
A calendar alert fires the same number of days before everything. This pack asks how many hours the task takes and how many hours a day the person has for it, then sets the first reminder from that math, so a 32-hour brief and a 4-hour filing get different runway.
How does this fit with the other legal packs?
Intake decides whether the firm can act, and a conflict hit gets sorted and resolved before the matter opens. This pack starts once a filing or order creates the first deadline, and runs alongside outside counsel guideline compliance for the life of the matter.
Store the rule, not just the date
Take the Word documents and CSV sheets blank, or open this exact pack in River and hand it whatever just triggered new deadlines.
Edit with AI