The pre-trial process in which each side must hand over relevant evidence to the other.
Discovery is the stage of a lawsuit where each side is required to give the other access to relevant information: documents, written answers to questions, admissions, and sworn testimony. It is compulsory, not voluntary, and it is enforced by the court.
The design goal is to remove surprise. A civil trial in the United States is not intended to turn on evidence the other side has never seen, so the parties exchange it beforehand and the case is argued on a shared record.
Discovery is not unlimited. Requests must be proportionate to what the case is actually about, and material protected by a privilege - most commonly communications between a lawyer and their client - can be withheld, though the fact that something is being withheld generally has to be disclosed. Disputes over where those lines fall are among the most common reasons cases stall.
Discovery obligations attach as soon as litigation is reasonably anticipated, which is usually earlier than people assume, and destroying or failing to preserve relevant records can carry consequences of its own. If a lawsuit is likely, the preservation question is worth asking before anything is deleted.
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