What Does a Pretrial Conference Entail?

A pretrial conference entails discussing any issues that the judge wants to deal with. There are times that the judge will simply ask for a briefing on certain issues to be presented at the time in the trial. Issues that are dealt with include admissibility of exhibits, objections, deposition cuts, and rulings on motions in limine. Very often, there will be jury charge issues. The jury charge is the paper the jury takes back with them to answer questions to help the judge take the verdict and turn it into a judgment. A judge wants to get a head start on those problems to get the defense’s version and the plaintiff’s version of what they think the charge is going to look like. The judge can be focused on the issues or what the jury charge needs to look like. Other things that are addressed in the pretrial conference are conflicts. Are there witness conflicts? Does the judge have potential conflicts? Will there be a break in the middle of the trial?

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What Insights the Pretrial Conference Provide

The insights that the pretrial conference provides can affect what comes in at trial and what stays out. Frequently, lawyers are making assumptions about what evidence will come in and what will not come in at trial. At the pretrial conference, a judge may admit or deny a piece of evidence but the order may still try to get in. A good lawyer is going to want to keep trying to get evidence in that they believe needs to come in at trial. When a judge makes a ruling, it allows a lawyer to go back and get an additional briefing on that issue or take another stab at getting that evidence in. It also allows lawyers to reevaluate their case. If a certain critical piece of evidence is kept out of the trial or does not come in, that can affect the value of the case. After the pretrial hearing, there is a better idea of what is and is not likely to come in at trial. Sometimes, that gives the parties pause for reconsideration. Collin County judges even use that as an opportunity to strategically rule or choose not to rule on one piece of evidence or another to create risk for both sides.

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If you are in need of a personal injury attorney in North Texas, please contact the team at McCraw Law Group today. We are ready to help you in a broad range of serious accident and injury legal issues, and offer multiple ways to reach us.

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If you are in need of a personal injury attorney in North Texas, please contact the team at McCraw Law Group today. We are ready to help you in a broad range of serious accident and injury legal issues, and offer multiple ways to reach us.

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