Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (1)
1. 
 (law) a conference held before the trial begins to bring the parties together to outline discovery proceedings and to define the issues to be tried; 
 more useful in civil than in criminal cases; 
[syn: pretrial, pretrial conference]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
pretrial conference
    n 1: (law) a conference held before the trial begins to bring
         the parties together to outline discovery proceedings and
         to define the issues to be tried; more useful in civil than
         in criminal cases [syn: pretrial, pretrial conference]