Navigate Litigation 2.0

California courts take seriously their rules against gamesmanship in pretrial discovery – as one lawyer recently learned. A stiff sanction, nearly $10,000, was the price he paid for refusing to turn on his laptop’s webcam, despite multiple requests from the questioning attorney, in a deposition where his on-camera client was clearly looking for help answering…

Texas and Missouri, two states that have long flirted with the idea of adopting the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, now appear poised to take action sometime this year. Texas, an economically and legally significant jurisdiction, took the latest step toward adoption on April 30 when the Texas Supreme Court proposed revisions to Texas…

Most uses of artificial intelligence in litigation carry great promise but little risk. That’s not the case with generative AI tools employed to draft legal pleadings. Despite the best efforts of courts and bar groups to promote careful, ethical behavior within the legal community, generative AI tools are continuing to produce sanctionable missteps in litigation.…

Recent amendments to the federal rules governing pretrial discovery encourage courts to be more aggressive in squelching wasteful discovery practices. Litigators should be mindful that judges are increasingly taking the rules drafters up on that invitation, sometimes denying otherwise lawful discovery that, in the judge’s view, could (and should) have been conducted in a more…

New court rules went into effect in Massachusetts last month that authorize remote depositions whenever the party noticing the deposition elects that format. A prior proposal to make in-person depositions the default option was abandoned in response to overwhelming litigator disapproval. Revised Rule 30(b)(4) of the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure adds new language creating:…

Promotional material for a continuing legal education program on deposition practice that crossed our desk recently gave a “pros and cons” assessment of remote versus in-person depositions. And while the authors took care to mention the cost savings and efficiencies of remote depositions (not to mention their compelling digital search, sharing and summarization capabilities), they…