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→Preparing for judicial case conferences
====Preparing for judicial case conferences====
By the time you have your JCC, the claimaint claimant will have served the respondent with their Notice of Family Claim. The respondent will have served the claimaint with their Response to Family Claim, and possibly also their Counterclaim. It really is a shame that the rule about exchanging Financial Statements isn't complied with better than it is, because preparing and reviewing these statements always lends important depth to the legal issues in a court proceeding, and, as we've already said, you want to do ''everything '' you can to maximize the chances of settlement at your JCC.
When I prepare for a JCC, I usually make notes intended to remind myself about the important facts events in the parties' relationship. I make notes in point-form and usually list details includingabout things like:
#the age and occupation of each party, and anything else that's relevant to their employment or employability, such as any illnesses or disabilities;
#the dates the parties began to live together, married and separated;
#the names and ages of each of the parties' children, the grades the children are in and the schools they attend, and any important facts about the children including any illnesses or disabilities;
#the date the court proceeding started and the basic claims being made against the respondent by the claimant and against the claimant by the respondent;
#the dates and nature details of any orders that have already been made; and,#the dates and details of any attempts made to resolve the legal issues out of court. Some lawyers also prepare "briefs" for JCCs. ''Briefs'' are short statements of the facts of the case and the applicable law and provide a similarly short argument about why the judge should make the orders sought by the party who filed the brief. (Briefs are a convenient way to make the main argument in favour of a client's position, and I sometimes receive these at the beginning of a mediation.) They're intended to persuade not only the judge or master who is hearing the JCC but also the other parties to the court proceeding. Honestly, I'm not sure that the impact briefs usually have is worth the time or money it takes to prepare them. Quite often, these briefs are handed out — to the judge or master and the other lawyers — at the start of the JCC but never get mentioned again. If, however, a brief can be delivered to the other parties and to the court before the JCC ''and'' the judge or master has the time to read the brief along with the court file, it may have a chance of making a difference. Given how important JCCs can be in settling some or all of the issues in a court proceedings, most lawyers will also prepare their clients for the JCC. I talk to my clients about the importance of being civil and respectful — to the judge or master, to the other parties and to the other lawyers — but encourage them to express themselves and talk about why they want what they want; I review the claims they've made and the facts and the law supporting those claims; I talk about how the JCC is likely to go and the possible results; and, I talk about any urgent or short-term problems that need to be addressed, and hopefully resolved, at the JCC.
===Settlement conferences===