Case management order
Plain-English definitions for England and Wales. General information, not legal advice. Laws and figures change - always check the current position on GOV.UK.
Case management order A direction from the tribunal setting out the steps each side must take before the final hearing and by when - for example exchanging documents, witness statements, or preparing the bundle. Failing to comply can lead to sanctions.
Related terms
- Preliminary hearing
- A hearing held before the final hearing to deal with case-management matters (such as setting a timetable, clarifying the issues, or ordering disclosure) or to decide a specific preliminary point (such as whether a claim was brought in time). It can be in private or in public depending on what it covers.
- Hearing bundle
- An organised, paginated set of the documents both sides will rely on at the hearing, usually agreed between the parties. The tribunal, witnesses and parties all work from the same bundle so everyone refers to the same page numbers.
- Disclosure
- The stage where each side provides the other with the documents relevant to the issues - both those that help and those that harm their own case. It typically happens to a deadline set by a case management order.
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