Discovery Practice
Discovery is a core ACP focus area because it is where paralegals do the most substantive work: drafting and responding to written discovery, building privilege logs, preparing deponents, and managing ESI. Expect questions on the numeric limits in the Federal Rules and on the scope and proportionality standard.
Core rules to hold
- Rule 26(a)(1) initial disclosures are due at or within 14 days after the Rule 26(f) conference, absent a stipulation or court order.
- Rule 26(b)(1) scope: any nonprivileged matter relevant to a claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case, considering importance, amount in controversy, resources, and burden.
- Rule 33(a)(1): 25 interrogatories per party, counting discrete subparts. Rule 34(b)(2): 30 days to respond to document requests. Rule 36(a)(3): requests for admission are deemed admitted if not answered within 30 days.
- Rule 30: 10 depositions per side, 7 hours each; a Rule 30(b)(6) organization designee must testify on noticed topics.
- Rule 26(b)(5) requires a privilege log describing withheld material without revealing protected content; Rule 26(e) requires supplementation.
Worked example
Opposing counsel serves 20 numbered interrogatories; eight of them contain four discrete subparts each. Interrogatory 12 asks for the factual basis, witnesses, and documents supporting three separate affirmative defenses. Counting discrete subparts, the set exceeds the 25-interrogatory limit, and the responding party objects to the excess rather than answering all of it.
Traps that cost marks
Treating every subpart as a separate interrogatory (or the reverse) without applying the discrete-subpart test; producing documents as kept in the usual course without labeling them to the request; serving responses on the 30th day by mail without adding the 3-day extension under Rule 6(d); and waiving privilege by producing without a log.