A guide to the UPC and the UP - Flipbook - Page 256
– Deciding promptly which issues need full investigation and disposing
summarily of other issues;
– Deciding the order in which issues are to be resolved;
– Encouraging the parties to make use of the Centre and facilitating the use of the Centre;
– Helping the parties to settle the whole or part of the action;
– Fixing timetables or otherwise controlling the progress of the action;
– Considering whether the likely benefits of taking a particular step justify the cost of taking it;
– Dealing with as many aspects of the action as the Court can on the same occasion;
– Dealing with the action without the parties needing to attend in person;
– Making use of available technical means (for example, email, telephone
conferences and WebEx); and
– Giving directions to ensure that the hearing of the action proceeds quickly and efficiently.
Interim Conference
13-05 The judge-rapporteur will consider whether it is appropriate to hold one or more interim
conferences in order to prepare the case for the oral hearing. 11 It is not obligatory to have an
interim conference, but the RoP are written in the anticipation that such conferences will take
place with the aim of enabling the judge-rapporteur to: 12
– Identify the main issues and relevant facts and clarify the parties’ position
in relation to them;
– Establish a timetable for the proceedings and confirming the date of the oral hearing;
– Encourage the parties to explore settlement possibilities;
– Make any orders necessary for the preparation of the oral hearing, including orders
to produce further pleadings, documents, experts, experiments, inspections and/or
written evidence;
– Hold preparatory discussions with witnesses and experts and make orders as
to witness and expert evidence; 13
– Decide the value of the action in accordance with the Administrative Committee’s
guidelines for the determination of the value-based Court fees; 14
– Decide the value of the proceedings for the purpose of applying the scale
of ceilings for recoverable costs; 15 and
– Order the parties to produce preliminary estimates of legal costs.
11
12
13
14
15
r.101(1) RoP.
r.104 RoP.
Discussed in paragraphs 13-18 to 13-24.
Referred to in r.370(6) RoP and available on the UPC website. See chapter 20 (Court Fees and Recoverable Costs) paragraphs
20-15 to 20-36 for a discussion on determining the value of the action.
The scale of ceilings is referred to in r.152(2) RoP and is set out in the Administrative Committee’s decision on recoverable
costs available on the UPC website. See chapter 20 (Court Fees and Recoverable Costs) paragraphs 20-84 to 20-90 for a
discussion on determining the value of the proceedings.
© Bird & Bird LLP | May 2023
A Guide to the UPC and the UP 246
