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Unclaimed Property - Best Practices for State Administrators and the Use of Private Audit Firms
Authored by Maeve O'Connor of Debevoise & Plimpton, this best practices guide offers recommendations to unclaimed property administrators who engage private audit firms to ensure responsible and fair enforcement of state unclaimed property laws....Read More
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Economic Consequences: The Real Costs of U.S. Securities Class Action Litigation
The recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal in Halliburton v. Erica P. John Fund has revived the questions about the societal utility of securities fraud class action lawsuits. Since the passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) in 1995, thousands of such class action lawsuits have been filed alleging trillions in shareholder damages. The principal argument in support of the current system of private securities class action litigation, typically advanced by the securities class action plaintiffs' attorneys whose fees are contingent on the size of any recovery, is that this type of litigation provides a significant benefit to their clients by winning billions of dollars in settlements from companies to be distributed back to allegedly harmed investors....Read More
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Frequent Filers: The Problems of Shareholder Lawsuits and the Path to Reform
Frequent filers - professional plaintiff investors who file lawsuit after lawsuit - have been a long-standing phenomenon in shareholder litigation in both state and federal courts. Nearly twenty years ago, Congress attempted to remove professional plaintiffs from federal securities class actions by adopting the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) of 1995. Yet, this legislation fell short of achieving its goal of eliminating professional plaintiffs....Read More
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- Unclaimed Property - Best Practices for State Administrators and the Use of Private Audit Firms
- Economic Consequences: The Real Costs of U.S. Securities Class Action Litigation
- Frequent Filers: The Problems of Shareholder Lawsuits and the Path to Reform
- What's Wrong with Securities Class Action Lawsuits?
- Obstacles to Fair Trial: Asbestos Cases in West Virginia
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How Are Businesses Affected by Latin America's Legal Environment?
Join ILR at the “Latin America: The Legal Environment Through a Business Lens” premiere event on Thursday, May 1, 2014, in Coconut Grove, Miami. ILR will be joined by legal experts and business leaders from across the globe who will address the rule of law in Latin America and its critical importance in fostering a viable and profitable global business environment.
Review Unclaimed Property - Best Practices for State Administrators
As states attempt to use collected unclaimed property to fill holes in the government budget, state officials often turn to profit-motivated contingency fee audit firms to audit and assess whether businesses are properly reporting unclaimed property. However, in the interest of profit, these state deputized private firms are pursuing increasingly aggressive tactics against the business community.
Securities Class Actions: Solving Frequent Filer Abuses
Frequent filers—professional plaintiff investors who file repeated shareholders lawsuit—have been a long-standing phenomenon in both state and federal courts. Frequent filers are unlikely to have the interests of shareholders at heart. Congress and the state legislatures should consider targeted reforms to limit the abuses associated with these frequent filers so that shareholders suits do a better job of advancing the interests of all shareholders.
Who Benefits from Securities Fraud Class Actions?
A recent Navigant study establishes that private securities class actions, even taking them on their own terms, destroy the wealth of the very shareholders on whose behalf they are filed and also of innocent subsequent investors in the defendant company. The inescapable conclusion is that the true beneficiaries of securities class actions are contingency-fee lawyers, not investors.
State Lawsuit Climate Report
ILR’s Lawsuit Climate report explores how reasonable and balanced the states’ tort liability systems are perceived to be by U.S. business.
Download Report »News & Blog
Best Practices: Bringing Rationality to the Unclaimed Property Quagmire
States should take proactive steps and adopt best practices that ensure the fair and transparent enforcement of state unclaimed property laws. Read More »
14th Annual Legal Reform Summit
The US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform held our signature Annual Legal Reform Summit on October, 23, 2013, ‘Healing the U.S. Lawsuit System’. We had a steller line-up of experts providing remedies to help heal the U.S. lawsuit system.
Some of the topics discussed included False Claims Act reforms, closing class action loopholes, emerging litigation trends, improving the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the effect of U.S. – style litigation across the globe, and privacy in the digital age. Click here to view the summits related videos and topical research materials.
Save the Date: The 15th Annual Legal Reform Summit will be held on October 21st, 2014.