Judge Lawrence Riff has an ambitious aim to tame discovery abuses

(Subscription required) By any measure, civil discovery is supposed to be the engine of truth in American litigation. In practice, however, over many years it has become something else entirely: bloated, combative, expensive and often untethered from the merits of the case. Now, a coalition led by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lawrence P. Riff is attempting something far more ambitious than another round of calls for civility. They are trying to change the culture itself.