At the start of the new year the Michigan Supreme Court released a comprehensive and revised set of civil discovery rules. Created by the State Bar of Michigan’s Civil Discovery Court Rule Committee, the changes offer a significant change in structure that is more closely tied to today’s legal environment.
Chief Justice Bridget M. McCormack states about the new revisions “This package of rule changes represents the most comprehensive effort to improve civil discovery rules in at least a generation. The Court is grateful to the State Bar for its hard work to update and streamline discovery, to make it more efficient and effective for the public.” [1]
The updated guidance and set of rules went into effect January 1, 2020. In addition to these revisions the State Bar of Michigan has also released various resources to better equip legal practitioners to adopt this change. Notably a series of online educational webinars with correlating reference materials, a deep dive into the purpose and goals underlying each new rule ammendment, and a in depth civil discovery guidebook (linked below).
For the Civil Discovery Guidebook a 100+ comprehensive guide is available online now for free, or for a small fee you can order a paper back version of the guide. The guide was created in parternship with the Detroit chapter of the Association of Certified eDiscovery Specialists (ACEDS) and various attorneys at Dickinson Wright and Warner Nocross + Judd. The guide covers various scenarios complete with analysis and practice tips.
Michigan Civil Discovery Resources:
[1] New Civil Discovery Rules (June 30, 2020) Web. State Bar of Michigan.https://www.michbar.org/civildiscovery