The Centre Cannot Hold: The Need for Effective Reform of the U.S. Civil Discovery Process

May 13, 2010

This paper examines the escalating crisis in the U.S. civil discovery system and how it can be remedied. Part I discusses the origins and development of civil discovery in the U.S., which sowed the seeds of the current crisis. Part II discusses how electronic discovery has led to increased abuses of the discovery system. Part III discusses prior efforts to reform civil discovery in the U.S. and why they have been largely ineffective. And Part IV discusses potential remedies to the problem, taking particular note of the relative merits of the approaches being adopted in various states, as well as reforms suggested by practitioners, such as the American College of Trial Lawyers. Download the report and learn more.