Pretrial Conference

Noun
1. (law) a conference held before the trial begins to bring the parties together to outline discovery proceedings and to define the issues to be tried; more useful in civil than in criminal cases
(synonym) pretrial
(hypernym) conference, group discussion
(classification) law, jurisprudence

A meeting of the judge and lawyers to discuss which matters should be presented to the jury, to review evidence and witnesses, to set a timetable, and to discuss the settlement of the case.

An informal meeting between the federal prosecutor and the defense attorney to clarify issues and, where applicable, to attempt to work out a settlement before any further court filings and proceedings.