Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College et al

Filing 240

Letter/request (non-motion) from SFFA regarding discovery matters. (Strawbridge, Patrick)

Ten Post Office Square
8th Floor South PMB #706
Boston, MA 02109
617.227.0548
www.consovoymccarthy.com

January 5, 2017

VIA CM/ECF

Hon. Allison D. Burroughs
U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse
1 Courthouse Way, Suite 2300
Boston, MA 02210

Re: Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College,
No. 1:14-cv-14176-ADB

Dear Judge Burroughs,

On behalf of Plaintiff Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (“SFFA”), we write to
respectfully request the Court’s prompt attention to the two recent discovery
motions filed by SFFA in this matter (filed under seal in their entirety per court
order - Doc. Nos. 223 and 239). Briefing on these disputes is now complete. Because
the time for fact discovery under the operative scheduling order is now more than
half gone, and because the documents SFFA seeks may require some time to
produce and review in advance of depositions, it is urgent that these particular
motions be resolved expeditiously.

To the extent the Court would like to hear from the parties on these motions, SFFA is
available to appear telephonically at the earliest convenient time for the Court and
the parties. This approach is consistent with the Court’s indication at the initial
conference that discovery issues could be disposed of quickly in order to keep the
case moving.

SFFA continues to have broader concerns about the ongoing pace of discovery in
this case. Harvard has not yet completed its email production for any of the priority
custodians SFFA has identified in this matter, and it has not provided any estimate
of when its document production will be complete. Although Harvard has made a
few partial productions of data and email during the months of November and
December, without an end date from Harvard there simply is no assurance that
Harvard will complete its document production with adequate time for SFFA to
review everything produced and prepare for the depositions in this case. Any
additional delay in resolving discovery disputes—particularly with respect to issues

Hon. Allison D. Burroughs
January 5, 2017
Page 2

as critical as those set forth in SFFA’s motions—will only further imperil the existing
schedule.

SFFA is mindful that the Court has many matters on its docket and demands on its
time. SFFA hopes that resolving these motions in an expeditious matter will keep
the discovery process moving and help maintain the current schedule.

Respectfully submitted,

Patrick Strawbridge

cc:
William S. Consovoy, Esq.

Paul Sanford, Esq.

Paul Wolfson, Esq.

Felicia Ellsworth, Esq.