(a) Purposes of a Pretrial Conference. In any action, the court may order the attorneys and any unrepresented parties to appear for one or more pretrial conferences for such pur­poses as:

(1) expediting disposition of the action;

(2) establishing early and continuing control so that the case will not be protracted because of lack of man­age­ment;

(3) discouraging wasteful pretrial activities;

(4) improving the quality of the trial through more thorough prep­a­ra­tion; and

(5) facilitating settlement.

(b) Scheduling.

(1) Scheduling Order. Except in categories of actions ex­empt­ed by local rule, the district judge — or a mag­is­trate judge when authorized by local rule — must issue a scheduling order:

(A) after receiving the parties’ report under Rule 26(f); or

(B) after consulting with the parties’ attorneys and any un­rep­re­sented parties at a scheduling conference or by telephone, mail, or other means.

(2) Time to Issue. The judge must issue the scheduling order as soon as practicable, but in any event within the ear­lier of 120 days after any defendant has been served with the complaint or 90 days after any defendant has appeared.

(3) Contents of the Order.

(A) Required Contents. The scheduling order must limit the time to join other parties, amend the plead­ings, complete dis­cov­ery, and file motions.

(B) Permitted Contents. The scheduling order may:

(i) modify the timing of disclosures under Rules 26 (a) and 26(e)(1);

(ii) modify the extent of discovery;

(iii) provide for disclosure or discovery of elec­tron­ic­al­ly stored in­for­ma­tion;

(iv) include any agreements the parties reach for as­sert­ing claims of privilege or of protection as trial-prep­a­ra­tion material after information is produced;

(v) set dates for pretrial conferences and for trial; and

(vi) include other appropriate matters.

(4) Modifying a Schedule. A schedule may be modified only for good cause and with the judge’s consent.

(c) Attendance and Matters for Consideration at a Pre­trial Con­fer­ence.

(1) Attendance. A represented party must authorize at least one of its attorneys to make stipulations and ad­mis­sions about all matters that can reasonably be anticipated for discussion at a pretrial con­fer­ence. If appropriate, the court may require that a party or its rep­re­sentative be pre­sent or reasonably available by other means to con­sider possible settlement.

(2) Matters for Consideration. At any pretrial con­fer­ence, the court may consider and take appropriate action on the following matters:

(A) formulating and simplifying the issues, and elim­i­nat­ing friv­o­lous claims or defenses;

(B) amending the pleadings if necessary or desirable;

(C) obtaining admissions and stipulations about facts and doc­u­ments to avoid unnecessary proof, and ruling in ad­vance on the admissibility of evidence;

(D) avoiding unnecessary proof and cumulative evi­dence, and lim­it­ing the use of testimony under Federal Rule of Evi­dence 702;

(E) determining the appropriateness and timing of sum­mary ad­ju­di­cation under Rule 56;

(F) controlling and scheduling discovery, including or­ders af­fect­ing disclosures and discovery under Rule 26 and Rules 29 through 37;

(G) identifying witnesses and documents, scheduling the fil­ing and exchange of any pretrial briefs, and set­ting dates for further conferences and for trial;

(H) referring matters to a magistrate judge or a master;

(I) settling the case and using special procedures to assist in re­solving the dispute when authorized by stat­ute or local rule;

(J) determining the form and content of the pretrial order;

(K) disposing of pending motions;

(L) adopting special procedures for managing po­ten­tial­ly dif­fi­cult or protracted actions that may involve complex issues, multiple par­ties, difficult legal ques­tions, or unusual proof problems;

(M) ordering a separate trial under Rule 42(b) of a claim, coun­ter­claim, crossclaim, third­party claim, or par­tic­u­lar issue;

(N) ordering the presentation of evi­dence early in the trial on a man­age­able issue that might, on the evi­dence, be the ba­sis for a judg­ment as a matter of law under Rule 50(a) or a judgment on par­tial findings un­der Rule 52(c);

(O) establishing a reasonable limit on the time allowed to pre­sent evidence; and

(P) facilitating in other ways the just, speedy, and in­ex­pen­sive dis­po­sition of the action.

(d) Pretr­ial Orders. After any conference under this rule, the court should issue an order reciting the action taken. This or­der controls the course of the action unless the court mod­i­fies it.

(e) Final Pretrial Conference and Orders. The court may hold a final pre­trial conference to formulate a trial plan, in­clud­ing a plan to facilitate the admission of evidence. The conference must be held as close to the start of trial as is reasonable, and must be attended by at least one at­torney who will conduct the trial for each party and by any un­rep­re­sented party. The court may modify the order issued after a final pretrial con­fer­ence only to prevent manifest injustice.

(f) Sanctions.

(1) In General. On motion or on its own, the court may issue any just orders, including those authorized by Rule 37(b)(2)(A)(ii)-(vii), if a par­ty or its attorney:

(A) fails to appear at a scheduling or other pretrial con­fer­ence;

(B) is substantially unprepared to participate — or does not par­tic­i­pate in good faith — in the conference; or

(C) fails to obey a scheduling or other pretrial order.

(2) Imposing Fees and Costs. Instead of or in addition to any other sanction, the court must order the party, its attorney, or both to pay the reasonable expenses — in­clud­ing attorney’s fees — incurred be­cause of any non­com­pli­ance with this rule, un­less the non­com­pliance was substantially justified or other cir­cum­stances make an award of expenses unjust.