Short answer. The branch clerk of court must issue the notice of pre-trial within five calendar days after the last responsive pleading is served and filed. That notice must set the pre-trial itself for a date no later than sixty calendar days from the same filing, so the entire runway from last pleading to actual pre-trial is capped at two months.
What the law says
the branch clerk of court shall issue, within five calendar days from filing, a notice of pre-trial
Rule 18, Section 1 — When conducted. Read the full provision →
What the law says
set not later than sixty calendar days from the filing of the last responsive pleading
Rule 18, Section 1 — When conducted. Read the full provision →
Five calendar days to issue the notice
The clock starts once the last responsive pleading in the case has been served and filed. From that point, the rule requires that "the branch clerk of court shall issue, within five calendar days from filing, a notice of pre-trial." Because the rule specifies calendar days rather than working days, weekends and holidays fall inside that five-day window rather than extending it. The obligation to issue the notice sits with the clerk directly, and it is measured from the filing itself, not from when a judge later acts on the case.
Sixty calendar days to actually hold pre-trial
Issuing the notice is only the first deadline. The rule also fixes when the pre-trial itself must happen: it must be "set not later than sixty calendar days from the filing of the last responsive pleading." The five-day notice period and the sixty-day scheduling period run from the same starting point, but they measure different things — one is how quickly the clerk must send out the notice, the other is the outer limit for when the actual pre-trial hearing can be calendared. Together they give the case a fixed, short runway between the pleadings closing and the pre-trial taking place.
What triggers the clock
Both periods run from the filing of the last responsive pleading, meaning the pleading that closes the pleading stage of the case, typically an answer or a reply where one is required or allowed. Until that pleading is actually served and filed, the five-day and sixty-day periods have not started, regardless of how much time has passed since the complaint itself was filed. If your case still has an outstanding motion or a pleading that has not yet been resolved or filed, the pre-trial notice clock has likely not begun to run.
Why the fixed timeline matters to you
These deadlines exist to keep a case from stalling indefinitely once the parties have finished stating their positions on paper. If a substantial stretch has passed since the last responsive pleading was filed and no notice of pre-trial has arrived, that is worth raising with the court, since the rule gives the clerk a specific, short window to act rather than leaving the timing open-ended. Knowing both numbers — five days for the notice, sixty days for the hearing itself — lets you track whether your case is moving on schedule.