PART 1
I Introduction
A party's attorney often plays the role of discovery of
fact-finding in common law countries. This can be routinely
observed in litigation in the United States. In civil law
countries, the judge plays an investigatory role with minimal
intervention from the attorney in civil law countries.
Discovery to many foreign observers is considered an American
attorney's "fishing expedition."1 But to American litigation,
discovery is as important as the trial process itself. This is
because both the plaintiff and defendant use discovery to
investigate and further explore each other's case. As noted in
the California Rutter's Guide (a seminal attorney practice
guide used by for understanding different civil procedure
practices), the basic purpose of discovery is to take the
"game" element out of trail preparing by enabling parties
to obtain evidence necessary to evaluate and resolve their dispute
beforehand.2 This is because
discovery can be so
