34 45 Rule 35 of the British Columbia Supreme Court Civil Rules. R. 35 has since been amended, but it is still of similar effect. The current British Columbia Supreme Court Civil Rules are online: <www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/reg/C/CourtRules/>. 46 The "private mini-trial" was created in 1977 to settle a bitter and complex patent infringement case but its use has since been extended to other private disputes, particularly in the commercial area, and to disputes with government: ALRI DP1, supra note ? at 2, citing Eric D. Green, "Growth of the mini-trial" (1982) 9 Litig. 12 at 12. 47 ALRI DP1, ibid. at 8, footnote 30. This notion is in keeping with recommendation of the Ontario Civil Justice Review, as described in the CBA Task Force Report, supra note ? at 34, that: ... pre-trial conferences and settlement conferences be seen as separate steps in the litigation process, because each has a distinct purpose. [The Ontario Civil Justice Review suggests] that in a settlement conference, the sole focus should be on trying to resolve the dispute, or at least parts of the dispute. By contrast, in their view, a pre-trial conference should focus on ensuring that the case is prepared for trial from the court’s perspective. 48 CBA Task Force Report, ibid. 49 For a fuller description of judicial mini-trials as they are held today, see Agrios, supra note ?? at 17-18. Justice Agrios’ de scription of the judicial mini-trial, settlement conference and early neutral evaluation are reproduced in Appendix B to this paper. Note the directive role judges now assume in setting the procedure: 50 CBA Task Force Report, supra note ?, at 34. 51 In several jurisdictions, settlement conferences are associated with pre-trial conferences. Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan specify that settlement is the primary purpose of the pre-trial conference: Prince Edward Island, Rules of Civil Procedure, r. 50.01 [ Prince Edward Island]; Saskatchewan, Queen's Bench Rules, r. 191(8) [Saskatchewan]. In contrast, the rules or practice directions in British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Newfoundland make it clear that settlement conferences and pre-trial conferences are separate events: British Columbia, r. 35; Manitoba, Court of Queen's Bench Rules, r. 50.01 [Manitoba]; New Brunswick, Rules of Court, rr. 50.01, 50.08 [New Brunswick]; Newfoundland, Rules of the Supreme Court, 1986, r. 39.02(5)(i) [Newfoundland]. 52 Manitoba and the Federal Court include ENE in their rules or practice directions: Federal Court Rules, 1998, r. 387(b) [Federal]; Manitoba, r. 50.01; Karen Busby, Manitoba Queen's Bench Rules Annotated, looseleaf (Scarborough, Ont.: Carswell, 1992) at 9-10 entitled Notice to the Professions (January 1998) Judicially Assisted Dispute Resolution. 53 John A. Agrios, A Handbook on Judicial Dispute Resolution for Canadian Judges (Version 2.5, September 2002) is an excellent source of information about current practices, and the variety of theoretical and practical issues involved. Justice Agrios cautions that the models he describes are his “attem pt to analyze the different practices that have arisen by different judges in what will always be a developing field of non-traditional judicial approaches” at 19.  See also: Paul R. Belzil, “Negotiating  the Future: Court-annexed Mediation in ourCardwellourts,”