Employment disputes and collections cases often can be settled informally. Some times your case can be settle with the assistance of a Mandatory Settlement Conference.
When you get a fixed trial date, the court may also set a date for a Mandatory Settlement Conference. Short trials under a half day do not have Mandatory Settlement Conferences. Mandatory Settlement Conference will usually be held in the court building but it is not a judicial proceeding.
A temporary judge will preside. Temporary judges (called “Pro Tems”, short for pro tempore) are lawyers with a lot of experience. They volunteer to be the judges for your Settlement Conference. Everyone in the case has to file a written statement and describing how settlement negotiations are going.
It’s important to be adequately prepared for your Mandatory Settlement Conference and you will need prepare a brief written statement about the case. It’s important that all of the discovery and fact-finding efforts are completed so that all of the information is available at the conference. The judge will not see the full file beforehand, only the brief statement and the intake form.
Talk to a lawyer about preparing for a Mandatory Settlement Conference.