All cases that will likely take more than two hours must be booked in advance through the courthouse you filed your papers in. Most WCAT judicial reviews take two or three days, so in almost all cases you will have to book in advance.
How to pick a court hearing date
Before booking court dates, call all the people who filed a response to petition, or their lawyer if they have one, to check when they are available. Once you find blocks of time when everyone is free, ask the other people to hold those dates open while you try to book with the court.
Booking the hearing dates with the court
Different courthouses schedule hearings in different ways. You should speak with the staff at the courthouse where you filed your papers or check the Supreme Court’s website for how to book court dates in each courthouse. You need to check the process for booking “long chambers” or “lengthy chambers” (Although WCAT judicial reviews happen in a courtroom, they are considered to be “in chambers”).
In places like Vancouver that have one day a month you call in to book hearing dates, make sure you call in right when the phones open in the morning (usually 8:30 am). Most of the hearing dates will be gone in just a few minutes!
Once you have booked court dates, confirm the date with everyone right away.
Notice of hearing
Once you have a court date set, you must fill out and file a court form called a Notice of Hearing. Once the Notice of Hearing is filed and stamped, you must serve it on everyone who filed a response to petition. Even if you have already told the other people about the hearing date, you must formally file and serve a Notice of Hearing.
You must file and serve the Notice of Hearing at least seven days before the hearing date. When counting seven days before the hearing date, do not include either the day of the hearing or the day you serve the Notice of Hearing. For example, if your court dates start on a Wednesday, then you have to serve the filed Notice of Hearing no later than the Tuesday of the week before.
This is a blank Notice of Hearing that you can download and fill in: Blank Notice of Hearing
This is an example Notice of Hearing that you can use as a guide: Example Notice of Hearing