/deadlines

name: deadlines
description: >
  Track case deadlines — add, cross-case rollup report, update, complete,
  close. Warns at configurable thresholds (default 14/7/3/1 days); overdue
  items stay flagged until resolved. The operational record for a clinic
  workload. Use when a student or supervisor needs to add a deadline,
  ask what's due this week, get a deadline report, or update a case deadline.
argument-hint: "[--add | --report (default) | --update [id] | --complete [id] | --close [id] | --horizon=N]"

/deadlines

1. Load `~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md` → jurisdiction, practice areas, warning-day cadence. 2. Use the workflow below. 3. Route by flag:

• `--add`: capture case, type, description, due date, source, owner. Write to `~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/deadlines.yaml`. Check for duplicates first.
• `--report` (default): cross-case rollup — overdue, next 3d, next 7d, next 14d; by owner; by practice area; unassigned flags.
• `--update [id]`: modify fields; log note with date.
• `--complete [id]`: mark done; confirm with student that work is actually filed/submitted.
• `--close [id]`: close-without-completing; require rationale in notes.

4. Confirm any write before committing.

---

Deadlines

Purpose

A clinic's biggest operational risk is a missed deadline. Students carry multiple cases, work part-time, turn over every semester. Deadlines that live only in individual students' heads get dropped at handoff, get forgotten during finals week, get missed when a student unexpectedly withdraws from the clinic. This skill is the central operational record.

The supervising attorney is on the hook if a deadline is missed. The skill is calibrated to that stakes level — warnings fire early, overdue items stay visible until explicitly resolved, handoffs (via `/semester-handoff`) pull the deadline list forward to the next student.

Load context

• `~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md` → jurisdiction, practice areas, deadline warning days (default 14/7/3/1), supervising attorneys
• `~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/deadlines.yaml` — the ledger

**Jurisdiction assumption.** Deadline calculations and warning thresholds assume the jurisdiction set in CLAUDE.md. Deadlines, tolling rules, computation-of-time rules, and local court practices vary materially by jurisdiction and by specific court. If a matter involves a different state, a specific court's local rules, or a federal vs. state forum question, confirm the deadline against the governing rule with your supervisor before relying on it.

Modes

Flag: `--add | --report | --update | --complete | --close` (default: report)

`--add` — log a new deadline

**Inputs:**

• Case ID + name (which case)
• Practice area
• Type (filing / hearing / statute-of-limitations / discovery / cure-period / response / notice / other)
• Description — one line of what's due
• Due date (and time + timezone if applicable)
• Source — where the deadline came from (court order served 2026-04-20, statute 8 USC § 1229a, cure period in contract §7)
• Owner student — the student responsible

The skill generates an `id` slug automatically: `[case]-[short-desc]-[YYYY-MM]`.

**Extraction from other skills:** when `/client-intake`, `/draft`, or `/status` surface a deadline in their output, they should hand off to this skill with pre-populated fields. Student confirms and adds.

**Pre-add check:** if a deadline with the same case_id + type + due_date already exists, flag as likely duplicate and ask before adding.

**Plausibility sanity band.** After the student enters a due date, do NOT compute or verify — but apply a rough plausibility check against typical ranges for the filing type, and flag the student if the date falls far outside. This is scaffolding to catch gross errors in the student's own math, not an alternative to computing against the rule.

**Bands are jurisdiction-keyed.** Load the band file for this clinic's jurisdiction from `references/plausibility-bands/{state}.md` where `{state}` is the two-letter code from `~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/legal-clinic/CLAUDE.md` → clinic jurisdiction (and federal always loads alongside). The legal-clinic plugin ships `references/plausibility-bands/CA.md` (fully populated) and `references/plausibility-bands/IL.md` (placeholder structure) as starting points.

**Hard stop at cold-start if the band file is missing.** If `references/plausibility-bands/{state}.md` does not exist for the clinic's jurisdiction, do NOT silently run without plausibility checks. At cold-start, tell the supervisor:

> "I don't have deadline plausibility checks for [state] — the sanity band for this clinic's jurisdiction isn't in the shipped reference files. I can still track deadlines (add, report, update, complete, close), but I cannot sanity-check them against typical ranges. Here's how to build the band file from your state's rules: copy `references/plausibility-bands/IL.md` as a template, fill in one row per deadline type your clinic sees most (typical range, triggering-event handling, computation-of-time rule, short cite), save at `references/plausibility-bands/{state}.md`, and re-run `/legal-clinic:deadlines`. Until then, every deadline I accept will carry `warnings: no-plausibility-band` and your review should treat dates as unchecked."

Do not fall back to the CA table for a non-CA clinic. The silent-degradation case — shipping a California sanity check to an Illinois clinic — is the failure this fix exists to close.

**Sanity check logic:**

1. Load the bands table for this clinic's jurisdiction from `references/plausibility-bands/{state}.md` (plus federal-always). 2. After the student enters `due:`, compare to triggering-event date + typical range for that `type:` (if a typical range exists in the loaded band file for the filing type). 3. If inside the range, write the entry. Say nothing —