Discovery. Painless Methods to Extract Documents from Clients

• Author: Naomi M. Berry
• Pages: 10-11

Published in Litigation, Volume 48, Number 1, Fall 2021. © 2021 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be

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St. Helen became the first Christian em-

press in the Roman Empire when her son

gave her the title of Augusta Imperatrix in

325 AD. Helen would have likely become

an obscure footnote in the history books,

if not for what she then did.

At the age of 79, Helen embarked on an

arduous pilgrimage to Jerusalem in search

of Christian relics. It is believed that her

journey took her about three years from

start to finish. She discovered buried un-

der the foundation of a pagan temple what

Biblical scholars believe were the three

crosses of Calvary. Irrespective of its as-

serted accuracy, the story of St. Helen

presents a courageous octogenarian who

threw caution to the wind in pursuit of her

passions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she is

regarded by the Roman Catholic Church

as the patron saint of archeologists as well

as the patron saint of “new discoveries.”

With baby boomers retiring at a rate

of roughly 10,000 per day, many lawyers

of that generation face a mixed bag of

welcome and unwelcome changes. The

unwelcome changes may include loss of

status or public voice, decrease in income,

lack of purpose or meaning, and changes

in social circles or activities. No wonder

some practitioners cling to their corporate

jobs or law firms like a child clinging to a

bedraggled doll or security blanket.

It need not be so. Indeed, it could be ar-

gued (and we litigators love to argue) that

lawyers are especially equipped—given

their intelligence, education, and expe-

rience—to produce third acts or encore

performances that rival or exceed what

preceded their retirements from litigation

practice. At a minimum, retirement is an

excellent opportunity to give back, pay it

forward, or pursue unrealized dreams in

countless ways. Studies have even shown

that learning a new skill or the pursuit

of new knowledge can reap both cogni-

tive and emotional rewards, especially for

those at an advanced age. Many litigators

from the baby boomer generation have al

-

ready moved on to do extraordinary work

in a wide range of fields. The Life After

Litigation Headnotes will tell some of

their inspiring stories.

At the pinnacle of an illustrious legal

career, Meredith Landy made a series of

very bold moves. In 2009, Meredith was

an equity partner in the Menlo Park office

of a global law firm, O’Melveny & Myers.

She was head of the litigation securities

practice group for the Silicon Valley and

Asian offices of the firm. She had just com-

pleted an executive management leader-

ship program at the Kellogg School of

Management at Northwestern University.

The Daily Journal placed Meredith on a

list of top 100 litigators. Although her le-

gal career was soaring, her marriage to

another lawyer was souring.

As a child growing up near Baton

Rouge, Louisiana, Meredith had excelled

at academics and equine sports. She was a

highly accomplished equestrian who had

world and reserve world titles in numer-

ous events. After college, she had taken

a respite from the horses to pursue law

school, a legal practice, and marriage.

Nearly 20 years would pass before she

would return to the stables. Once back in

the saddle and on the competition circuit,

Meredith continued to win titles while

practicing law.

By late 2009, Meredith had finalized

her divorce and adopted two baby girls.

Soon thereafter, she decided to retire

from the practice of law to build a ranch

for the breeding and training of the horses

that she loved so much. A decade has now

passed and Meredith’s ranch, children,

and equine career have flourished.

What is your third act? Only you can

decide.Imagine your deathbed scene

and anticipate the possible regrets. Pick

anything and make it yours. Tutor a child.

Volunteer with a service organization. Go

back to school. Mentor a young lawyer.

Travel. Start a business. Become an ac-

tivist. Learn a new skill or new language.

Do pro bono. Consider public service.

Join the board of a local or national char-

ity. Journal. Publish. Podcast. Broadcast.

Change your community for the better. In

the immortal words of Nelson Mandela,

who was himself a lawyer turned activist,

“There is no passion in living small—in set-

tling for a life that is less than the one you

are capable of living.” q

DISCOVERY

Painless Methods

to Extract

Documents from

Clients

NAOMI M. BERRY

The author is with Carlton Fields in Miami.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably not

a dentist, but I bet you sometimes feel like

you pull teeth for a living. There are many

reasons clients are slow and hesitant to

turn over the documents you need for dis-

covery. Some clients want to cherry-pick

what they think are the best ones for their

version of the story and just give you those.

Others think everything is confidential

and proprietary, so they shouldn’t have to

turn it over. Especially when you are deal-

ing with businesspeople who don’t have a

lot of litigation experience, discovery can

be quite trying for all involved.

So how can you make the process less

painful (without laughing gas)?

Start early. It is exceedingly rare that I

receive or serve a discovery response on

or before the original due date. But the

sooner you can get the requests on your

client’s radar, the more time you and your

client will have to work on it. You don’t

want every discovery request to become

a fire drill for the client, and you don’t

want to find out on day 29 that the peo-

ple you need to provide the responses are

on vacation or tied up with another big

project. A fire drill will not only annoy

the client; it will increase the chances of

making mistakes.