FRCP 30 (b) (6) Designation of a Witness (E-Discovery)

The responding party has to designate at least one witness who can testify on behalf of an enterprise. That witness is cleverly referred to as the 30(b)(6) witness, and that person has a duty to be knowledgeable enough to testify.
The 30(b)(6) witness’s role is to explain your company’s operations, such as IT infrastructure, data retention policies, or accounting practices, that relate to the case as well as how and where responsive ESI is stored and managed. Often, the witness needs to testify on the steps taken to find and produce requested documents to ensure that efforts were done in good faith. This witness does not actually testify on the facts of the case.
The role of the witness is most critical if you don’t produce all the requested ESI or fail to produce meaningful documents. In those situations, the witness needs to present a convincing explanation for what appears to be the lack of good faith cooperation.
For large or complex cases, you may need more than one witness. If a witness cannot answer the questions, you’re in trouble because you’ve failed to comply with the rule and may have to either produce another witness or face a sanction. Using an unprepared or panic-stricken witness is like failing to appear, which may also lead to a sanction, and risks losing the court’s confidence, which is never a smart move. Conversely, a 30(b)(6) witness can persuade a judge you did everything you could to produce the ESI.
Be careful what you share with your witnesses because witness preparation is discoverable. If you show privileged documents to your witness, you may find them suddenly unprivileged and have to hand them over to the other party.