What law schools don’t teach: discovering the what and when

For the Defense

By Donald P. Eckler

Donald “Pat” Eckler is a partner at Freeman, Mathis, & Gary LLP, focusing on professional liability defense, insurance coverage litigation, and general tort defense. He is the legislative chair of Illinois Defense Counsel. Eckler also is the co-host of the Podium and Panel podcast with Daniel Cotter. His views are his own and not those of his firm or its clients.

Posted May 11, 2023 11:25 AM

In law school, the professor gives students facts and asks them to identify and analyze the issues. Yet, investigation and discovery is at the heart of much of civil litigation, and not a minute is spent on that in law school. In real life, finding the facts, through written discovery, subpoenas, FOIA requests, depositions and other formal and informal means, often is the difference between winning and losing a case.In many cases, plaintiffs have an advantage as they can do pre-suit discovery that allows them to gather …

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