Peter F Vaira

April 15, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

This column is for civil practitioners whose professional or corporate clients become involved in a Pennsylvania state grand jury investigation. A Pennsylvania investigating grand jury is a complex institution, and the law governing it is developing and not uniformly applied.

By Peter F. Vaira

7 minute read

February 18, 2014 | The Legal Intelligencer

In 2009, the American College of Trial Lawyers issued a white paper by a Joint Task Force on Discovery. The task force concluded that the civil discovery system in American courts was in grave need of repair.

By Peter F. Vaira

6 minute read

November 19, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

In a boxing match, at the end of each round the boxers return to their corners for one minute. In that time, their corner man, a trainer, goes over the past round and gives advice of what is wrong, how to adjust the strategy, and applies some ointment to cuts and bruises.

By Peter F. Vaira

8 minute read

August 31, 2009 | The Legal Intelligencer

Suppose you are a business lawyer sitting in your law office and get a telephone call from a client. He tells you there are several federal agents at his company premises with a search warrant for documents and computers, and they are proceeding to open file drawers and are downloading information from computers.

By Peter F. Vaira

4 minute read

September 17, 2013 | The Legal Intelligencer

In 2009, the American College of Trial Lawyers published a report by a task force on discovery. The overall conclusion was that discovery was destroying the civil judicial process: It costs too much, and can become an end in itself.

By Peter F. Vaira

8 minute read

January 11, 2011 | The Legal Intelligencer

Not long ago members of the business community were seldom interviewed by a federal criminal investigator, except when the business person or his company was the victim of a crime, or the person was a witness to some event under investigation unrelated to the business.

By Peter F. Vaira

8 minute read

December 21, 2009 | The Legal Intelligencer

Officials in northeastern Pennsylvania have removed a pair of religious holiday symbols from a public space after being threatened with legal action.

By Peter F. Vaira

4 minute read

November 08, 2011 | The Legal Intelligencer

In a recent case in the Eastern District, Judge Legrome Davis upheld court costs of $510,137 for pretrial discovery, most of which involved e-discovery. In doing so, Davis staked out new areas of accepted costs for e-discovery that should be a guide for future litigation.

By Peter F. Vaira

6 minute read

September 11, 2007 | Law.com

A federal grand jury witness, recalled to testify before the grand jury, should have a right to examine the transcript of his or her prior testimony.

By Peter F. Vaira

8 minute read

November 11, 2011 | Legaltech News

Attorney Peter F. Vaira writes that new areas of e-discovery costs were explored when an Eastern District of Pennsylvania judge upheld court costs for pretrial e-discovery.

By Peter F. Vaira

6 minute read