Question

What is the Discovery phase of a trial?

Answer 1

Filing a lawsuit by yourself can be a daunting task..Discovery, in the law of the United States and other countries, is a pre-trial procedure in a lawsuit in which each party, through the law of civil procedure, can obtain evidence from the other party or parties by means of discovery devices such as a request for answers to interrogatories, request for production of documents, request for admissions and depositions.

The idea behind discovery is that both sides should share information before going to trial. That way, a trial can proceed smoothly, without parties requesting information from each other and otherwise holding up the process. During the pre-trial phase of filing a lawsuit, discovery, you will be asking for information from the other party and responding to their inquiries as well.

Create a Discovery Plan

The best way to organize yourself for trial is to create a trial binder that outlines the basic elements of what you need to prove, and how you are going to respond to points that the other side will likely make. Next to each of these points, write in how you plan on proving that point.

For some of these points, you can likely go find the information you'll need by yourself or you may already possess the information that you need. Often, however, the opposing party has the valuable information that you need, and that is why we have the discovery process. Determine which pieces of information your opponent has that you need to ask for, and create discovery requests to get them. there are two types of discovery formal discovery and informal discovery.