Meet and Confer
The required attempt to resolve a discovery dispute with the other side before asking the court to step in. Rule 37 and most local rules require it and require you to certify that you did it.
What It Is
Before you file a motion to compel discovery, Rule 37(a)(1) requires that you have “in good faith conferred or attempted to confer” with the other side in an effort to obtain the discovery without court action, and that your motion include a certification saying so. Most districts add their own conference requirements for other motions too, often with a required certificate of conference. Some judges require a phone or video conference, not just letters, and some require a call to chambers before any discovery motion is filed.
What Counts
A good-faith conference means a real attempt to narrow or resolve the dispute, not a formality. Courts generally look for:
- a written statement of each deficient request, the response received, why it is deficient, and what would cure it
- a proposed date for the cure
- an actual exchange, by phone, video, or in writing, in which each side states its position
- a record of what was agreed and what remains disputed
Sending one email and filing the next day is usually not enough. Refusing to confer at all can get your motion denied without reaching the merits.
What to Document
Keep a separate factual record of the conference, distinct from the letter itself:
- date, time, and method of each contact
- who participated
- each side’s position on each request
- what was agreed
- what remains unresolved
- any proposed response date and whether it was met
That record becomes the certificate of conference attached to your motion. Silence from the other side does not establish consent or agreement. State what happened and what did not.
Why It Matters in a Section 1983 Case
Government defendants often respond to discovery with boilerplate objections and partial production. The meet-and-confer letter is where you turn a request-by-request audit into specific demands the court can later enforce. A clear letter that identifies each deficiency and the rule that requires the cure often produces the documents without a motion. When it does not, it is the foundation of the motion to compel.
See the sample meet-and-confer letter and How to Audit Discovery Responses.
Key Authority
- Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1) — certification of good-faith conference before a motion to compel
- Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1) — the same requirement for a motion for a protective order
- Your district’s local rules and judge’s standing orders on conference requirements