Upon receipt of discovery requests, determine the date the responses are due. Usually a party is given 30 days to respond (50 days if served with the citation and petition). Count 30 days from the date of hand delivery; 33 days from the date the discovery requests were mailed or faxed; or 34 days if the requests were faxed after 5:00 p.m.1 I make it a practice to immediately send a copy of the discovery requests to the client with a cover letter from the attorney explaining the importance of answering each interrogatory fully and producing all responsive documents, without regard to whether the client believes the other side is entitled to such information or documents, and without regard to whether the client believes the information or documents requested are relevant to the case. Your client should know that if an interrogatory asks for more information than the rules permit or if a document request is inappropriate, proper objections will be filed.
The client should also be advised of the need to timely respond to discovery requests and of the potential consequences if answers and responses are not timely served on opposing counsel of record. Equally important, the client should be made aware of his duty to supplement his answers to discovery requests if he learns that the response was incorrect or incomplete when made or learns that the response, although correct and complete when made, is no longer true and complete and a failure to amend the answer would in substance be misleading.2 If not previously disclosed, the identity of testifying experts and the subject matter of their testimony must be disclosed as soon as practical, but in no event less than thirty (30) days prior to the beginning of trial except on leave of court.3 The legal assistant should monitor the case to make sure supplemental responses are timely filed before trial.
While the client is preparing his answers and responses to the discovery requests, you can begin working on a draft of answers and responses based on information and documents contained in the client's file (checking your answers with the client's answers may sometimes reveal factual inconsistencies). Be sure to read each question carefully to determine whether any valid objections can be made (e.g., the interrogatories call for more than 30 answers, an interrogatory requests the identification of witnesses to be called at trial, a request which asks the party to admit matters that are hearsay, a production request for trial exhibits, a request which requires the creation of a document or which would be unduly burdensome to produce).
Keep in mind that any objections must be made by the deadline or they are waived, unless an extension is obtained from the court or from the other party before the deadline.4 To enlarge the time to respond, obtain a written agreement from opposing counsel extending the time in which to answer and to object to the requests.5 Alternatively, a motion must be filed with the court before the time to answer expires (the burden to show good cause will be more onerous if the motion is filed after the deadline).6
To object to a discovery request, a written objection should be made to the particular discovery request and should state the specific reasons why the discovery should not be permitted. Review Tex. R. Civ. P. 166b(3) for matters that are privileged or otherwise exempt from discovery, such as the work product of an attorney, the identification or opinions of consulting-only experts, witness statements, and party communications. Remember, it is generally permissible to "fish" for information in interrogatories, but not in production requests (which must specify the items to be produced).7 Once your client's objections have been filed, the other side will need to secure a hearing on any disputed matters to avoid waiving the requested discovery.8
After the client has provided you with his answers to interrogatories and has produced documents responsive to the other party's requests, it may be necessary for the legal assistant to obtain more information from the client to make the interrogatory answers complete and to determine whether additional documents exist. If an interrogatory requests the identification of persons with knowledge of relevant facts, make sure the list includes the name, address, and telephone number of all persons who have any knowledge of relevant facts, including trial witnesses, deposed witnesses, all of the parties to the suit, the other party's fact witnesses, and any custodians of record.9 If there are a large number of documents involved, you may want to inspect them at the client's facilities first to determine the exact quantity, the manner in which they should be produced, and the amount of time that will be needed to review the documents before a response can be filed.
The answers to interrogatories should be signed and properly verified (the affidavit cannot be made "to the best of my knowledge") by the party who supplied the information.10 Likewise, supplemental answers to interrogatories should be in writing, signed and verified by the party supplying the information.11 Responses to requests for admissions need not be verified, but should be signed by either the party or the attorney.12 You may want to review the requirements of Tex. R. Civ. P. 169(1) before responding to admission requests since evasive or incomplete responses are treated as a failure to answer, resulting in deemed admissions.13
The attorney in charge has the ultimate responsibility to review the answers and responses to discovery requests before they are filed, but the time saved by having an experienced paralegal prepare the responses can be a tremendous assistance. The more involvement legal assistants have in the pretrial process, the more detailed knowledge of the case they will gain, and the better prepared they will be to assist the attorney at trial.