Battle-Tested Discovery
Tactics and Weapons
Most
litigation and settlement outcomes are determined in quarrelsome discovery
fights. Coercion and confrontation are usually necessary to obtain evidence
on the hotly-contested issues.
To help you
win more of these important discovery skirmishes, Ashley Lipson's
Guerrilla Discovery offers dozens of clever strategies, novel arguments,
direct answers, cautionary instructions, helpful timelines,
tactically-annotated rules, and over one hundred innovative forms that will help you:
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Capture evidence establishing your claims and defenses
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Secure admissions
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Settle issues and disputes
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Impeach the enemy and its witnesses
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Uncover what the enemy is hiding
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Learn what the enemy has on you
How to handle defiant
deponents and uncooperative attorneys with innovative discovery tactics and
weapons. Just a few tips from the book include:
Initial Steps
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"Getting the truth out of your own client
can be difficult. I have found a trick that always works. After your
client has told you his side of the story, look him in the eye and say,
'I believe everything you told me. But in order to be ready for the
enemy, I need you to tell me something else. When that #!$?&! comes into
court, what…?' The truth is sure to follow this question." §1.51
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"Is It Discoverable?" annotated checklist.
Here are fast, direct, and detailed answers to the most common discovery
questions. Includes "Six Degrees of Discoverability" quick-reference
chart. §2.10
Requests for Admissions
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"Countless times practitioners waltz into
court, dumb and happy because they have under their arms papers labeled
'business records,' as if those papers were self-authenticating and
self-admitting. They are not! This blissful ignorance, however, is
counterbalanced by attorneys on the other side who, upon hearing the
magic words 'business records,' lay down and assume that there are no
defenses to admissibility. Both positions are incorrect." §5.34
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23 requests for admission that are
specifically designed to solve document admissibility problems ignored
by discovery rules and universally omitted by forms books and treatises.
§5.34
Interrogatories
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"A well-drafted set of interrogatories
should never receive fast answers. On the contrary, you know you have
done your job when the enemy is forced to duck, weave, squirm and
refuse. Take the greatest pride in questions that simply cannot be
answered by the enemy." Dozens of artfully-crafted, precisely-focused,
and complete sets of interrogatories are provided. They establish
elements, identify and locate evidence, attack pleadings, and assail
experts. Chapter 6
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How to mix boilerplate and specific facts
to create effective objections, with checklist of objections. §6.65
Depositions
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Tricks for catching liars, showing bias,
not accepting evasive answers (including "I don't remember"),
establishing a range for quantitative information, and generally
handling difficult deponents. §10.52
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How to counter verbal and nonverbal
coaching, coaching off the record, and obnoxious objections. §10.53
Shields
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Here is the dream responsive pleading … a
Motion for Protective Order that contains every possible challenge to
every type of discovery request. Form 12.1
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Before responding, review these 12 grounds
for objecting to discovery requests. Then check the lists of objections
specific to each discovery device. §12.30
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16 objections to physical examinations.
§9.54
You receive
complete and targeted sets of strategically-annotated discovery documents,
complete with responses and shields for each weapon: requests for
admissions, interrogatories, deposition checklists, notices for production,
and notices for inspection.
This book and its free
CD are designed to help you efficiently and with less aggravation get more
from your discovery efforts:
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Firmly establish
your allegations
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Learn of additional
counts or causes of action
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Discover and weaken
the enemy's defenses
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Quickly eliminate
fictitious and boilerplate defenses
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Obtain concessions
and admissions
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Coerce settlement
Use Ashley Lipson's Guerrilla Discovery to strike and parry quickly
and painfully during your next discovery confrontation.
Updated annually. Published
October 2003. ISBN 1-58012-086-5. Book Price: $99.00
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