This report presents the results of interviews of a small group of attorneys who had completed the Center's case-based survey on the costs of litigation under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The attorneys discuss the principal factors associated with higher litigation costs, particularly discovery, and they also discuss pleading standards, summary judgment, and other procedural matters.

This report presents preliminary findings from a survey of attorneys in recently closed civil cases which the Federal Judicial Center conducted in May and June 2009. Nearly half of the attorneys invited to participate responded. The report covers discovery activities and case management in the closed cases; electronic discovery activities in the closed cases; attorney evaluations of discovery in the closed cases; the costs of litigation and discovery; and attitudes toward specific reform proposals and, more generally, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The preliminary findings presented in this report suggest that, in diversity class actions, there is less to class allegations than one would expect. There was relatively little motions activity in the typical case, and the majority of cases not remanded to state court were voluntarily dismissed. Most plaintiffs did not move to certify a class. But all class actions in which a class was certified, whether for litigation or settlement purposes, ended with class settlements.