Tips From the Bench: Better Motions to Compel

“Even at their best, motions to compel are usually one of the least favorite parts of the job. They are tedious and very fact intensive.”

The Honorable Randy Wilson, a District Court judge in Harris County, Texas, and a seasoned trial lawyer, wrote the above sentiment in ”The Motion to Compel.”  Judge Wilson describes “bad” and “good” motions to compel from the Court’s view, which comes down to overall organization, not  poor writing or derogatory language, per se.  In Judge Wilson’s opinion, the best Motions to Compel group the disputed discovery requests by issue instead of methodically listing each request and leaving the judge to sort out which legal issue applies (note: make it easy for your reader).

For example, the “bad” Motion to Compel diligently listed each disputed request, stated the relevant objection, and argued why the requested information is relevant and why it should be produced. This “bad” type of Motion to Compel could have tens or even hundreds of objections and leaves the reader (ahem, the JUDGE who you are asking for help) to sort out the requests for him or herself and find the common denominators.  In other words, the “bad” Motion to Compel focused the judge’s attention on the trees with no direction as to how the trees were relevant to the forest.

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