Law Commons^™

Tailoring Discovery: Using Nontranssubstantive Rules To Reduce Waste And Abuse, Joshua Koppel

Joshua M. Koppel

This article proposes reforming discovery in the federal courts through a switch to a system of nontranssubstantive discovery rules. Because the current discovery rules, like nearly all of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, are transsubstantive—meaning that the same rules apply in every type of case—they cannot be narrowly tailored to the requirements of any particular case. The creation of substance-specific (“nontranssubstantive”) rules holds promise for reducing costs by replacing broad rules with rules better fitted to particular types of litigation. Nontranssubstantive rules can be particularly effective in the area of discovery, where overbroad rules can be exploited by litigants …