Identify the correct limitation period applicable to a given contractual, tortious or statutory claim.
Law & Contract Management
Limitation Periods and Standstill Agreements for Commercial Claims
Track limitation deadlines across a commercial claims portfolio and use standstill agreements to preserve options while negotiations or investigations continue.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
A commercial claim that is legally strong can still fail entirely if it is issued one day after the limitation period expires, and disputes over exactly when time started running are among the most common reasons a well-founded case is struck out before it is heard on the merits. This course gives participants a working method for identifying the correct limitation period for a given cause of action, calculating the date on which time began to run, and recognising the extensions and suspensions that can apply, including date-of-knowledge provisions in latent damage and professional negligence claims. Because negotiations, internal investigations and expert evidence gathering routinely take longer than the limitation clock allows, the course places equal weight on standstill and tolling agreements: how to negotiate one, what it must say to be effective, and the drafting traps that leave a party exposed despite believing time has been paused. Participants also learn to build and maintain a limitation tracker across a portfolio of live and potential claims, so that protective proceedings or a standstill request are triggered automatically as a deadline approaches rather than discovered too late. Realistic scenarios cover contract, tort, and shipping and construction claims where limitation issues frequently arise.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Calculate the date on which time begins to run, including date-of-knowledge triggers for latent damage claims.
Recognise circumstances that suspend, extend or restart a limitation period.
Draft a standstill or tolling agreement that effectively pauses the limitation clock for both parties.
Identify drafting errors that leave a standstill agreement partially or wholly ineffective.
Build and maintain a limitation tracker across a portfolio of potential and active claims.
Decide when to issue protective proceedings rather than rely solely on a standstill agreement.
Who Should Attend
In-house counsel and litigation managers overseeing commercial claims portfolios
Contract managers responsible for identifying and escalating time-sensitive disputes
Insurance and claims professionals tracking limitation deadlines across multiple policies
Commercial litigators negotiating standstill agreements during settlement discussions
Risk and compliance officers maintaining registers of potential legal exposure
Company secretaries and paralegals supporting litigation deadline management
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Understanding How Limitation Periods Operate
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Identifying the Applicable Limitation Period
- Determine the limitation period applicable to contract, tort, restitution and statutory claims.
- Distinguish limitation periods that run from breach, from loss, or from discoverability of the claim.
- Identify contractual clauses that shorten or extend the statutory limitation period.
- Recognise cross-border complications where different jurisdictions apply conflicting limitation rules.
Session 2Calculating When Time Starts and Stops
- Apply date-of-knowledge rules for latent defect and professional negligence claims.
- Assess how deliberate concealment or fraud can postpone the start of the limitation period.
- Identify events, such as part payment or acknowledgement of debt, that restart a limitation period.
- Build a step-by-step calculation method to avoid common date-counting errors.
02Standstill Agreements: Pausing the Clock Safely
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Negotiating a Standstill or Tolling Agreement
- Explain why a standstill agreement is negotiated when more time is needed before issuing proceedings.
- Identify the commercial circumstances that make a counterparty willing to agree a standstill.
- Set the scope of claims covered by the standstill to avoid inadvertently excluding related claims.
- Negotiate the duration and renewal mechanism for a standstill period.
Session 2Drafting Standstill Agreements That Actually Work
- Draft clear language specifying that time will not run, or is treated as not having run, during the standstill.
- Avoid drafting errors that leave the agreement effective for some claims but not others.
- Address the position of joint and several defendants when only one party signs the standstill.
- Confirm that a standstill agreement is itself supported by valid consideration or execution as a deed.
03Managing Limitation Risk Across a Claims Portfolio
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Building a Limitation Tracking System
- Design a limitation tracker recording the trigger date, deadline and status for every potential claim.
- Set escalation alerts at fixed intervals before a limitation deadline is reached.
- Assign clear ownership for monitoring and acting on each entry in the tracker.
- Reconcile the tracker against insurance notification deadlines, which may be shorter than limitation periods.
Session 2Deciding Between Standstill and Protective Proceedings
- Weigh the cost and relationship impact of issuing protective proceedings against negotiating a standstill.
- Identify situations where a counterparty is unlikely to agree a standstill, requiring proceedings to be issued.
- Coordinate the decision with ongoing settlement negotiations to avoid undermining commercial talks.
- Document the rationale for the chosen approach to support later governance or audit review.
04Special Situations and Governance
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Limitation Issues in Shipping, Construction and Insurance Claims
- Apply sector-specific limitation and time-bar rules found in shipping and international carriage conventions.
- Address contractual notice and time-bar provisions common in construction and engineering contracts.
- Distinguish claims notification deadlines under an insurance policy from the underlying limitation period.
- Identify how multi-party claims can produce different limitation deadlines for different defendants.
Session 2Embedding Limitation Discipline into Legal Operations
- Set organisational policy requiring immediate limitation assessment when a potential claim is identified.
- Train non-legal staff to recognise and escalate events that may start a limitation period running.
- Audit closed and dormant files periodically to confirm no live limitation risk has been overlooked.
- Report portfolio-level limitation exposure to management as part of routine legal risk reporting.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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