Multistate Bar Examination Practice Question

A pretrial order serves to define the issues to be litigated, streamline the trial process, and establish agreed-upon facts or stipulations. It operates to bind the parties to the matters addressed during the pretrial conference to avoid surprises during trial and ensure judicial efficiency. Other options misunderstand its function. For example, pretrial orders do not dismiss irrelevant claims outright; dismissal typically requires a motion. Similarly, while parties can propose a timeline during the pretrial conference, the order itself is not necessarily a proposal of future deadlines but a binding directive.