Rule 590.1 - Plea Negotiations(A) At the time a defendant either waives his preliminary hearing or is bound over following a preliminary hearing, he will be given two specific dates for criminal conferences based on the annual case tracking schedule published by the court administrator. Each conference shall be held at a location and at times designated by the court administrator. Defense counsel will be required to attend each conference in person, unless leave of court is obtained prior to the time of the conference. Defense counsel is not required to attend if the defendant has previously entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, a plea date is already scheduled, or the matter is being considered for ARD disposition.(B) For each criminal conference:(1) The district attorney shall have an attorney for the Commonwealth available with authority to discuss the case on behalf of the Commonwealth in each case. The attorney for the Commonwealth and defense counsel shall attend the conference at the designated location and discuss each case and, at the discretion of counsel, the defendant may participate in all or part of those discussions.(2) At the end of the conference, a Criminal Conference Form, in a form set forth by the court administrator, shall be filled out and signed by the attorney for the Commonwealth and defense counsel. The original Criminal Conference Form shall be submitted to the court administrator by the district attorney's office. A copy of the form shall be retained by the attorney for the Commonwealth and by defense counsel. After recording the necessary information from the forms, the court administrator shall deliver the original form to the clerk of courts office so that it may be filed in the official court file.(3) Any plea reached at the conclusion of a criminal conference shall be entered before the court on a date set by the court administrator.(4) A scheduled conference may not be continued until another date unless ordered by the court upon written motion filed by a party.