Navigating the Discovery Process: A Guide for Law Firm Clients
In the legal world, the discovery process is crucial for gathering and sharing evidence before a trial. Unlike the dramatic courtroom surprises depicted in movies like "My Cousin Vinny," real-life discovery is designed to avoid such scenarios. Discovery is the pretrial phase where both parties gather and share evidence to avoid trial whenever possible, as trials are costly and time-consuming. By resolving issues during discovery, you can save both time and money.
Discovery is governed by the Rules of Civil Procedure in Civil Cases – specifically, Rules 26-37. These rules ensure that both parties have access to the necessary information to build their cases. And yes, we can request the same information from the opposing party, ensuring a fair process. This guide aims to help our clients understand the discovery process, its importance, and how to navigate it efficiently to save time and legal fees.
What to Expect During Discovery
You’ll receive a set of documents, which usually includes two things, sometimes three:
Interrogatories: These are questions that you will need to answer.
Requests for Production of Documents: These are papers that you either have in your possession or can easily obtain from your ‘agent’, like your bank or employer.
Requests for Admission: These are requests for you to admit or deny certain things. They aren’t used often, but when they are, the other attorney thinks they can corner you into an admission that makes their case.
Our Firm’s Approach
At our firm, we review your answers before they go out. Sometimes we will offer objections. If there is a reason you don’t want to answer an interrogatory or provide documents requested, we should discuss it. However, understand that the discovery rules are broad. Absent a clear privilege protected by law, it is usually difficult to completely prevent the disclosure of known, relevant documents and information.
Discovery answers are the same as sworn testimony and should be truthful, even if the answers given are couched in your perspective. If you lie or mislead, that could come back to bite you at trial.
Common Questions
How long do I have to complete discovery?
If you look in the packet, the deadline to get the answers back to the attorney’s office is 28 days (about 4 weeks). While it is common to ask for extensions, the most efficient thing for a client to do is gather all responsive documents and answer all interrogatories within 14 days (about 2 weeks) of receipt. Take the time on the weekend to make it happen. That way, we have time to review and object where necessary.
Do I really have to do this?
Yes! There are many reasons: avoiding sanctions, the ability to force the other side to disclose something they might want to hide and looking responsible to the court. Also, in divorces, it is a legal requirement that each party has a full and fair disclosure of all assets and liabilities. There are penalties for hiding assets in divorce proceedings.
What about my medical/mental health records?
The law is clear that parties contesting custody of children before the court put their own mental and physical health at issue. It is also usually the case that your children’s medical history is relevant and could be examined by the court in determining whether and what parent is providing appropriate care for the child.
Do I have to get three years of financials?
Probably. In divorce cases or any family case involving children, your income and/or bank history is relevant to child support calculations and/or discovery of assets/debts. Some common limitations on this are when your last case was more recent than three years ago, or if there is no reason to believe a record is relevant to income when only child support is at issue. The best policy is to gather the records and then discuss them with us. We may not need them.
What if I need more time?
It is generally the Court’s policy to let the parties work out discovery issues and is permissive of extra time if the parties get discovery done in enough time before trial that the parties can review and prepare. If you need more time, let the office know and we’ll request it from the other side.
What Happens Next?
We’ll look at your answers, offer some objections, and review with you one final time before it goes out.
Conclusion
I’ve created this blog because, during my years of practice, I’ve found that people either don’t understand or don’t prioritize discovery. That leads to last-minute scrambling and more attention to the process from our office, meaning more legal fees. If you want to save money, this process should be as streamlined and seamless as possible. If you follow the advice given, you’ll put yourself in the best position to save legal fees in this process.
Contact N.P. Weiss Law if you're facing challenges with legal matters relating to family or real estate law. Our skilled attorneys are here to support you through every step.
This blog was drafted by Eric Cherry, an experienced attorney at N.P. Weiss Law. For more information about Eric, visit his bio page.
