II. ARGUMENT The work product doctrine is "an intensely practical one, grounded in the realities of litigation in our adversary system." United States'. Nobles 422 U.S. 225, 238 (1975).. Relying on Sporck Peil, 759 F.2d 312 (3d Cir. 1985), and its progeny, Plaintiff contends that the compilation of non-privileged documents by attorneys is "opinion work product," and seemingly asserts that the documents themselves, and not just the compilation, can be kept from the defense. These sweeping claims, belied as they are by the record in this case, should be rejected. A. The Supposedly Unassailable Sporck Plaintiff's Memorandum makes it appear as though the principle announced in Sporck has been accepted as gospel throughout the federal court system. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only was Sporck a 2-1 decision with a strong dissent, later cases and commentators have criticized its expansion of the work product doctrine. In Sporck, a civil securities fraud case, the attorney for the plaintiff deposed a defendant and requested the "identification and production" of documents that the defendant's attorney had used to prepare the defendant for the deposition. 759 F.2d at 313-14. The documents in question, which were not themselves protected from disclosure, had "previously been produced" to the plaintiff. Ad. at 314-15. The defendant's attorney refused to comply with the request, and sought mandamus relief on work product grounds when the district court ordered disclosure and production. A divided panel of the Third Circuit granted the petition, holding that the district court EFTA00177847