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(b)
Case management and the milestones
While milestone dates, once set, should largely be immovable, case management in
the selection of milestones and of the proceedings between milestones allows for
substantial flexibility.
(i)
Case management conferences
At the summons for directions stage, equipped with the pleadings and the
questionnaire, the court would have the flexibility to decide whether a case
management conference is required. If so, it would give directions and set a timetable
which runs in the first place only up to the case management conference as the first
milestone, with further timetabling to be done at that conference. If a case
management conference is not considered necessary, the court would give directions
setting a time-table with the date of the pre-trial review as the first milestone and the
trial date or trial period as the second and final milestone.
A court might order a case management conference where the case is heavy and
procedural complications are likely to arise, for instance, where strongly contested
interlocutory applications or interlocutory appeals are intended or pending (as
disclosed in the questionnaire) making it difficult to fix a realistic trial date or trial
period at the summons for directions stage.
(a)
The court might in such cases fix a case management conference for a time
when it is envisaged that most of the outstanding pending interlocutory disputes
would have been dealt with, giving directions only up to that stage.
(b)
The case management conference would be used to clear any still outstanding
interlocutory questions and then to fix a timetable for the further progress of the
case, including dates for the pre-trial review and the trial (or the trial period).
(c)
By fixing the milestones progressively in this way, flexibility would be
preserved, allowing the state of progress to be taken into account at the stage of
the case management conference.
(d)
As indicated above, a case management conference might also be useful in
relation to proceedings brought by or against unrepresented litigants.
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