Federal Motions to Compel

Some of the amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure last year dealt with changes to motions to compel discovery responses.  One of the changes required conferences with the court and with opposing counsel prior to filing a motion to compel.   It made this matter optional within the Court's discretion must several magistrates now have it in the scheduling orders.  In some ways this is good as it saves the Court time.  However, it other ways it is time consuming as most discovery issues get worked out prior to getting to a motion to compel.  It is only when opposing is normally being unreasonable that it gets to the point of court intervention.