Pretrial conferences occur in almost every case at some point. Pretrial conferences in McKinney typically occur early in the case to at least get the scheduling order. The scheduling order is essentially the calendar for that entire case. It shows what is going to happen at what time and when the internal deadlines are going to be so the case should be ready to go trial. Those are sometimes done by formal pre-trials and at other times are done informally.
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?
