FRCP 26(a)(2)(B) governing the disclosure of expert witnesses in federal court was adopted in 1993 with the hope that “the length of the deposition of such experts should be reduced, and in many cases the report may eliminate the need for a deposition” altogether. Advisory Committee Notes, Fed. R. Civ. Pro., Rule 26, 28 U.S.C.A. (1993).
Despite widespread adoption and enforcement of the expert disclosure rule during the past 4 years (following imposition of a “nationally uniform practice” in December 2000, see Advisory Committee Notes, Fed. R. Civ. Pro., Rule 26, 28 U.S.C.A. (2000)), ample anecdotal evidence suggests that expert witness depositions today are nearly as lengthy – and just as common – as they were before the 1993 amendments.
