Delegates Pass Measure To Shield Experts’ Drafts From Discovery

Jeffrey J. Greenbaum, a Member of the Firm, is co-chair of the ABA Federal Practice Task Force that authored the resolution that protects expert draft reports from discovery. According to this August 14, 2006 New Jersey Law Journal article, “After vigorous debate, the ABA’s House of Delegates voted 207-137 to recommend adding to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26 (a)(2) a privilege for draft reports and communications between attorneys and their experts. The measure will be forwarded to the U.S. Supreme Court’s advisory Committee on Civil Rules.” “We believe counsel and experts should be subject to the same rules and court expectations around the country” says Greenbaum. This article also discusses some of the other measures the ABA delegates approved, including one that would “amend the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or the Federal Evidence Rules to allow parties to reassert privilege for inadvertently disclosed material. The resolution, proposed by Greenbaum’s task force, passed unanimously.”