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December 05, 2006
Slick Answers to Lazy Interrogatories.
Color me silly, but I love and respect written discovery during the pretrial process in American federal courts. Years ago, a fed-up U.S. district court judge, throwing up his hands during arguments by lawyers on a motion to compel discovery responses, referred to answers to interrogatories as "slick lawyer answers to lazy lawyer questions".
I feel his pain. Once a new second year associate who worked briefly for our firm (after one year at another firm) complained that we were putting too much thought into a set of interrogatories under Rule 33, Fed. R. Civ. P. Our new hire patiently explained to me that interrogatories and other written discovery were in fact "simply a way for lawyers to bill time so they could make money, and nothing more." He was adamant about it, too.
Nice guy, and I liked him--I always try to take his cab when I'm in Pittsburgh.
But complex and hard-fought civil cases really do turn about 90 per cent on the quality of the discovery questions and requests, including deposition questions, and the responses to them. And well-thought out and strategically-timed written discovery is the best way there is to prepare great depositions--and get ready for trial.
Posted by JD Hull at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)
Boola Boola, Balkin, Blogging.
If you haven't yet, see Balkinization, which focuses on First Amendment and individual liberty issues. Popular, and created by Yale Law professor Jack Balkin in 2003, shortly before the U.S. invaded Iraq, this blog is worth the time of busy people in practice or academia. It's intelligent and lefty without being and preachy and shrill--a risk with this kind of blog. It has a sense of humor. If Balkin promises in a tangible way to help WAC? with battles against lame forms of legalese, faux lawyer professionalism, and/or pointless regimes of "PC", I will: (1) fly to New Haven first chance I get and buy Balkin and two of his talented writing team members dinner, and (2) not turn R over the sight of liberals emascualting the First Amendment, keep reading Mother Jones and the New York Times, and continue raising money for sane Ds. Save me, guys.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)