Notice of Rule 30(b)(6) Deposition
(ESI Witness) (Federal)

Summary

This template Rule 30(b)(6) notice of deposition is a standard form that attorneys can use in a federal court action to take the deposition of a corporate, government, or other similar entity through a person designated to speak for the entity on issues related to electronically stored information (ESI). This template contains practical guidance, drafting notes, and an alternate clause. To depose a party that is a corporation, governmental agency, or other organization, you must serve a notice of Rule 30(b)(6) deposition on all parties to the case. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6). You may use a 30(b)(6) deposition to learn key information about the entity that would otherwise be difficult to obtain, such as current and past document retention policies and the availability of documents. A Rule 30(b)(6) designee testifies on the entity's behalf on the topics listed in the notice of deposition. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6). For example, you may seek to depose a knowledgeable employee regarding the storage, preservation, and collection of ESI relevant to your litigation. In the notice, you must describe the topics of the deposition with particularity. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6). The organization must then designate one or more individuals knowledgeable about those topics. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6). The testimony of the designee is deemed to be the testimony of the entity itself and is admissible against that entity. Note that under a recent amendment to Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6), the serving party and the organization receiving a Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice must confer in good faith about the matters for examination. Further, a subpoena must advise a nonparty organization of its duty to confer with the serving party and to designate each person who will testify. This new amendment enables parties to handle concerns as to the matters for examination in advance, such as ambiguously worded examination topics. Since a 30(b)(6) deposition compels the deponent entity to gather information that may otherwise be difficult to discover, strongly consider taking one early in discovery. For example, if your case involves complex technical issues that a corporate designee can explain, or there are historical documents and policies at issue, an early Rule 30(b)(6) deposition would be advantageous. You can also use an early deposition instead of interrogatories or document requests to identify key witnesses and basic facts about the entity, learn about document retention policies, and obtain relevant documents. This information can help streamline discovery and avoid wasting discovery requests seeking nonexistent documents or deposing individuals without relevant knowledge. This template is tailored to cover specific topics relevant to an entity's ESI storage, preservation, and collection efforts. It also assumes that the plaintiff is the deposing party, but the defendant may also take a 30(b)(6) deposition of an entity witness. For a full listing of key content covering fundamental civil litigation tasks throughout a federal court litigation lifecycle, see Civil Litigation Fundamentals Resource Kit (Federal). For more information about depositions under Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6), see Depositions: Preparing for and Taking Rule 30(b)(6) Deposition of an Entity (Federal), Depositions: Evaluating the Need for a Rule 30(b)(6) Deposition and Drafting and Serving the Notice (Federal), and Depositions: Rule 30(b)(6) Deposition Questions Checklist (Federal). For information about electronic discovery in federal court, see Electronic Document Review Fundamentals (Federal), Electronically Stored Information: Collecting ESI (Federal), E-discovery: Planning for and Conducting E-discovery (Federal), Proportionality in E-discovery (Federal), and  E-discovery Best Practices (Federal). For an analysis of e-discovery management strategies, see Arkfeld: Elec. Disc. and Evid., §§ 5.2, 5.4, 5.6, 5.8; Arkfeld Best Practices Guide: ESI Pretrial Disc., §§ 2.2, 3.2, 3.7.