Rule 5.602 - Settlement conferences(a) At the request of any party or on its own motion, the court may order the parties to participate in a settlement conference.(b) Unless otherwise ordered, at least 7 days before any scheduled settlement conference, each party must submit to the settlement judge a confidential settlement conference brief that is no more than 10 pages in length and addresses the relevant facts of the case, the issues remaining unresolved and their proposed resolution, any scheduled hearings and trial dates, the dates and amounts of any demands and offers and their expiration date(s), any unusual legal issues, and any other information useful to a settlement of the matter.(c) The confidential settlement briefs are not to be made part of the regular or confidential court file or otherwise provided to the court hearing the matter, directly or indirectly.(d) If settlement is reached, the memorialization of settled terms shall be promptly reduced to writing and signed, or by consent placed on the record and entered in the minutes in the form of an order.(e) To the degree practicable, these provisions are to be utilized by district court judges, senior settlement judges, settlement masters, or other persons performing the function of facilitating mediation and settlement.Added effective 1/27/2017; amended effective 6/10/2022.