Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 104 Part 6.djvu/702

 104 STAT. 5092 PUBLIC LAW 101-650—DEC. 1, 1990 "(ii) the trial cannot reasonably be held within such time because of the complexity of the case or the number or complexity of pending criminal cases; "(C) controlling the extent of discovery and the time for completion of discovery, and ensuring compliance with appropriate requested discovery in a timely fashion; and "(D) setting, at the earliest practicable time, deadlines for filing motions and a time framework for their disposition; "(3) for all cases that the court or an individual judicial officer determines are complex and any other appropriate cases, careful and deliberate monitoring through a discovery-case management conference or a series of such conferences at which the presiding judicial officer— "(A) explores the parties' receptivity to, and the propriety of, settlement or proceeding with the litigation; "(B) identifies or formulates the principal issues in contention and, in appropriate cases, provides for the staged resolution or bifurcation of issues for trial consistent with Rule 42(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; "(C) prepares a discovery schedule and plan consistent with any presumptive time limits that a district court may set for the completion of discovery and with any procedures a district court may develop to— "(i) identify and limit the volume of discovery available to avoid unnecessary or unduly burdensome or expensive discovery; and "(ii) phase discovery into two or more stages; and "(D) sets, at the earliest practicable time, deadlines for filing motions and a time framework for their disposition; "(4) encouragement of cost-effective discovery through voluntary exchange of information among litigants and their attorneys and through the use of cooperative discovery devices; "(5) conservation of judicial resources by prohibiting the consideration of discovery motions unless accompanied by a certification that the moving party has made a reasonable and good faith effort to reach agreement with opposing counsel on the matters set forth in the motion; and "(6) authorization to refer appropriate cases to alternative dispute resolution programs that— "(A) have been designated for use in a district court; or "(B) the court may make available, including mediation, minitrial, and summary jury trial. "(b) In formulating the provisions of its civil justice expense and delay reduction plan, each United States district court, in consultation with an advisory group appointed under section 478 of this title, shall consider and may include the following litigation management and cost and delay reduction techniques: "(1) a requirement that counsel for each party to a case jointly present a discovery-case management plan for the case at the initial pretrial conference, or explain the reasons for their failure to do so; "(2) a requirement that each party be represented at each pretrial conference by an attorney who has the authority to bind that party regarding all matters previously identified by the court for discussion at the conference and all reasonably related matters;

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