Jane Lambert

"They present the only opportunity to stay an action or transfer it to another court. They are the occasion when the court decides the issues are to be tried, what evidence it will allow and the date for trial. There can be no disclosure, exchange of witness statements, expert reports, cross examination or even skeleton arguments without an order of the court. Unless the court makes an order at the case management conference it will be reluctant to make one later [This is designed to keep proceedings as streamlined and highly-focused as possible; the list also embraces consumer surveys, which a well-funded party may be happy to pay for and which may be particularly relevant where an action is founded on the overlapping claims of passing off and design infringement].

Claimants have a duty to apply for case management directions within 14 days of service of the defence. If they fail to do so within that time another party can apply for directions or the court can order a case management conference on its own initiative. At the hearing, which can take place by telephone or video link, the court will identify the issues in dispute from the statements of case, consider the evidence that it needs to hear to resolve them, fix a date for trial and set a timetable for disclosure, exchange of witness statements, preparation of trial bundles, lodging of skeletons and handing down of judgment".