On December 14, Rita Maimbourg spoke at “Federal Civil Rule One and More – A Change in Culture, Cost, and Complexity,” sponsored by the Federal Bar Association, Northern District of Ohio Chapter, in Cleveland, Ohio.  Rita discussed from a defendant’s perspective a sweeping set of amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure stemming from a nationwide concern that the cost of civil litigation in federal courts has become prohibitively high and that discovery demands and obligations are no longer commensurate with the stakes involved in the case.