COVID-19 Updates

DRI for Life Does the COVID-19 pandemic have you bouncing off the walls at home? Compliance with a “stay-at- home” order. Social distancing. Inability to visit with family or friends. Restaurants closed. Yes, you do need a haircut! For me, cancellation of March Madness and postponement of The Masters golf tournament. The death, the hurt, the unemployment. We are all grieving in our own way—grieving the loss of normalcy, grieving the economic loss, grieving the loss of connection. How do we handle this discomfort, this grief? As a volunteer for the South Carolina Bar Lawyers Helping Lawyers program, and as a mental health advocate, I have read countless articles on lawyers and mental health. As a result, I...

Rule 30(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure was envisioned to be a rule which empowered litigants to control the costs and time expended and litigation and messaging. Historically, the rule was developed to avoid unnecessary costs of litigation due to corporate witnesses who had some but not all information being sought. The cases which discuss the rule note that it was not uncommon for individual officers and employees to disclaim knowledge of facts “clearly” known to the corporation forcing litigants to depose a laundry list of corporate officials to obtain necessary information related to the dispute. The rule was intended to streamline the discovery process by allowing a unique and specialized form of...