---
title: "Respond to a subpoena served on the client"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/commercial-litigation-and-dispute-resolution/respond-to-a-subpoena-served-on-the-client-as-addressee/united-states"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A5-K20261018-2-US"
practice_area: "Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution"
tier: "red"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["US"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-22"
---

# Respond to a subpoena served on the client

> List the issuing court, the action number, the command, the date for compliance, and the documents or testimony called for. Flag whether the time to serve a written objection has passed.…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/commercial-litigation-and-dispute-resolution/respond-to-a-subpoena-served-on-the-client-as-addressee/united-states  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution](https://ailawframework.com/practice/commercial-litigation-and-dispute-resolution.md) |
| Human involvement | Red: Lawyer writes; AI may check, clarify or collect data |
| How AI is used | List the issuing court, the action number, the command, the date for compliance, and the documents or testimony called for. Flag whether the time to serve a written objection has passed. Do not write the objection, the motion to quash, or any paper that is served or filed. |
| What the lawyer must review | Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45(d)(2)(B), a person commanded to produce documents or tangible things, or to permit inspection, may serve on the party or attorney designated in the subpoena a written objection to inspecting, copying, testing, or sampling any or all of the materials, to inspecting the premises, or to producing electronically stored information in the form or forms requested. The objection must be served before the earlier of the time specified for compliance or 14 days after the subpoena is served. If an objection is made, the serving party may move the court for the district where compliance is required for an order compelling production, and that order must protect a person who is neither a party nor a party's officer from significant expense resulting from compliance. On timely motion, that court must quash or modify a subpoena that fails to allow a reasonable time to comply, requires compliance beyond the geographical limits in Rule 45(c), requires disclosure of privileged or other protected matter if no exception or waiver applies, or subjects a person to undue burden. Rule 45(e)(2) requires a person withholding subpoenaed information as privileged or as trial-preparation material to expressly make the claim and to describe the nature of what is withheld without revealing the protected information. The lawyer writes anything that is served or filed. A state-court subpoena is not governed by Rule 45. |
| Written for | United States |
| Applies to | [Respond to a subpoena served on the client as addressee](https://ailawframework.com/practice/commercial-litigation-and-dispute-resolution/respond-to-a-subpoena-served-on-the-client-as-addressee.md) |

## Checking plan

- What the AI does: List the issuing court, the action number, the command, the date for compliance, and the documents or testimony called for. Flag whether the time to serve a written objection has passed. Do not write the objection, the motion to quash, or any paper that is served or filed.
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 22 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Notes

- The tool does not calculate the objection deadline. It records the service date and the compliance date the lawyer supplies so the lawyer can apply Rule 45(d)(2)(B).
- Do not load the client's documents into a public tool. Model Rule 1.6 bars revealing information relating to the representation except as the rule allows.

## Sources

- [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45 (subpoena)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_45) (checked 2026-10-22)
- [ABA Model Rule 1.6, Confidentiality of Information](https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_1_6_confidentiality_of_information/) (checked 2026-10-22)

## Forms and precedents for this task

| Form or precedent | Kind | AI level | Summary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Discovery meet-and-confer letter](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/commercial-litigation-and-dispute-resolution/us-discovery-meet-and-confer-letter.md) | Letter | Yellow | Letter that identifies a specific discovery failure, proposes a cure, and sets up the good-faith conferral a motion to compel or for a protective order must certify. |

Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*