The desire to do well on the exam creates its own incentive for participation. Because the students share all results, they think cooperatively, not competitively. Finally, they begin thinking about discovery as a related series of rules that they can use. I try to have about fifteen groups and divide the class into groups of from two to four members, depending on class size. Each group must act unanimously and can request the production of documents, ask an interrogatory, or designate someone to ask a deposition question.
Discovery is in waves.
I allow an initial deposition, followed by submissions of interrogatories and requests for production, followed by my reply to the interrogatories and requests for production, followed by a final deposition. I prohibit physical and mental examinations, on the grounds that a physical exam is irrelevant and that the instructor is conclusively presumed sane. I encourage different groups to coordinate with others to eliminate duplicative questions. I tell the students that ideally they will collaborate on an overall, class-wide plan for discovery and that they may want to select one member from each group to participate in an overall allocation of responsibility and then meet separately as groups for drafting. Thus, pre-trial discovery has become one of the most important skills for litigators.