Discovery

The MBE rarely asks “what is discovery”; it tests the scope and limits. The classic tell is a party demanding material the other side resists, and you must choose the controlling filter. The answer almost always hinges on proportionality, not the deleted “reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence” phrase that the 2015 amendments removed from Rule 26(b)(1) (some older question banks still quote that retired language as the rule — it is now a wrong answer). Watch the work-product trap: ordinary fact work product yields only on substantial need plus inability to obtain the substantial equivalent without undue hardship, but an attorney’s mental impressions and legal theories (opinion work product) stay near-absolutely protected.

Don’t confuse the devices. Interrogatories (Rule 33) and requests for production (Rule 34) run only against parties; to reach a non-party you need a subpoena (Rule 45) — that overlap with the subpoena term is heavily tested. Distinguish discovery from pleadings: pleadings frame the claims, discovery develops the proof. Remember the expert split — testifying experts are discoverable, but a non-testifying retained expert is reachable only on “exceptional circumstances.”