News - 2021

Benjamin Wish offered analysis on the potential impact of proposed amendments to Massachusetts court rules concerning presumptive limits on the number and length of depositions in civil lawsuits.

The Supreme Judicial Court Standing Advisory Committee on the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure recently proposed creating a presumptive limit of 10 depositions for each side in most cases, as well as a presumptive limit on the time period for the taking of a deposition to one day and a maximum of seven hours.

Mr. Wish told Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly that many cases, including complex business disputes, may require a greater number of, and longer, depositions.

However, he said the proposed limits would provide helpful “guardrails” in other cases.

“In more simple cases, in which there may be the opportunity for abuse of discovery tools, there are guardrails in place for court intervention to ensure that does not happen,” Mr. Wish said.

A partner at the firm, Mr. Wish concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation, shareholder and real estate disputes, and white-collar criminal defense.