PANEL DISCUSSION ON PROPOSED INCREASED JUDICIAL PRETRIAL AND TRIAL MANAGEMENT: CAN IT WORK?

Mr. Halverson: My first question is for Judge Higginbotham. I quote from recommendation three of the Commission. "A local court rule, modeled on the one included herethere is a local court rule set forthshould set a preliminary pretrial conference for forty-five days after the complaint is served, mandate the establishment of time limits as soon as practicable thereafter, and establish a maximum of twenty-four months for the completion of pretrial, not as a norm, and extendable only in truly extraordinary cases."1 My question is: Isn't the twenty-four-month