Legal researcher. Legal writer. Attorney-at-law.
Whether you are an attorney needing to serve a nonparty subpoena or you’ve been served, there are posts below for you.
Attorneys: My most popular post is my detailed overview of serving nonparty subpoenas in federal court. I’ve also written on the federal courts’ split on Rule 45 and personal service, and I’ve covered Georgia’s more definitive answer on the matter.
Wondering if you need local counsel to assist you with a federal subpoena? This post may help you decide.
Nonparties: So you’ve been served. No one wants to be involved in litigation when they aren’t even a party. But you may have some options. I’ve written on what to do when you are served with a subpoena and what kind of questions I or another attorney would ask to determine your rights in responding. You may have also been served a subpoena for a case out of state and need to know whether to comply. The posts in this category will begin to answer those questions and more.
I’ve written before about a Georgia advisory opinion that addresses the misuse of subpoenas and requires attorneys to either notice or jointly schedule a deposition before having a subpoena issued. The advisory opinion is treated as persuasive authority, and it has now been cited in a trial-court opinion discussing discovery abuses. Trial court ruled that [...]
There is no procedure to compel a Georgia witness to travel for a civil trial outside the state. Subpoenas are powerful documents, but their power is limited. If you have a civil case outside Georgia and you want a Georgia witness to testify live at that trial, there is only one viable option: Secure the [...]
In Georgia, the answer is no—even though substituted service can be good service for a complaint. Service of a complaint and service of subpoenas are governed by different rules. Don’t get them mixed up! When you need to subpoena an individual, the only ways to serve that individual are outlined in O.C.G.A. § 24-10-23. If [...]
Last night I spoke to the Atlanta chapter of the NALS on out-of-state subpoenas. I was honored to be asked to speak and enjoyed the group. Below is the presentation.
With all the different procedures outlined in my recent article for obtaining evidence outside Georgia, and with the procedures varying by the over 3,000 counties and parishes in the U.S.*, the temptation is there. You, as the Georgia attorney, are thinking: Can’t I just serve the Georgia subpoena and see what happens? Maybe I’ll get [...]
I love a good chart. Whether it is for knitting a scarf, being team coordinator for my daughter’s soccer team (Go, Cheetahs!), or for 50-state surveys, I find them to be a necessity. So clean and clear-cut, imposing order. I also have a chart, thanks to Google, to know what my most viewed page is [...]
A Georgia witness has no excuse to ignore a subpoena based simply on the fact that the case is pending outside Georgia. That’s the shortest answer I can give. Both federal and Georgia law allow parties in cases pending in other states to obtain testimony and documents from nonparty witnesses outside that state. But you [...]
Because federal subpoenas for any district can be issued by an attorney in the pending litigation and one rule governs, obtaining documents and testimony from across the country can be smoother than in state court cases. If your case calls for a subpoena to be served to get the documents or testimony, there are technicalities [...]
I am a Georgia attorney with over nine years' experience. For the past two years, I've been providing independent contract-attorney services to other attorneys. Whether it is research and writing, litigation support, legal editing, a short-term project, or long-term, I can help.
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