Last week, the Supreme Court approved the proposed amendments to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8, 26, and 56, and Illustrative Form 52, and transmitted them to Congress. The amendments were approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States last fall (as covered earlier here).

Readers will recall that with regard to Rule 26, the amendments would extend work-product protection to the discovery of draft reports by testifying expert witnesses and, with three important exceptions, to the discovery of communications between testifying expert witnesses and retaining counsel. The amendments also provide that a lawyer relying on a witness who will provide expert testimony but is not required to provide a Rule 26(a)(2)(B) report – because the witness is not retained or specially employed to provide expert testimony and is not an employee who regularly gives expert testimony – must disclose the subject matter of the witness’s testimony and summarize the facts and opinions that the witness is expected to offer. The prior 1993 amendments to Civil Rule 26 have been interpreted by some courts to allow discovery of all draft expert witness reports and all communications between counsel and testifying expert witnesses. The experience under those amendments revealed significant practical problems in the eyes of many litigators.

Absent congressional intervention, the amendments will become effective on Dec. 1, 2010.