Case management orders 



In most routine cases, the next step is for a tribunal judge to send the parties a standard case management order. This is a list of the steps that must be followed to prepare for the hearing. Here are the usual directions in a standard case:



• both parties must list the relevant documents they hold, provide copies to the other party and prepare an agreed, indexed and page-numbered “bundle” (i.e. a photocopy set of all the relevant documents). The bundle is the set of documents that will be in front of the tribunal at the hearing of the claim. It will be the documentary evidence the tribunal relies on to decide the claim;



• both parties must prepare and then exchange (i.e. simultaneously swap) their witness statements; and 



• for the parties to attend a hearing for the claim to be tried and decided. 



If non-standard directions are needed to prepare for the hearing, there will be a case management hearing, which can take place in person or over the phone. Case management hearings take place in private.


A new process, called “Judicial Assessment” may be offered (see below).