Colloquium on Current Issues in Complex Litigation
The Colloquium on Current Issues in Complex Litigation offers law students and faculty an opportunity to read and discuss cutting-edge scholarship in the area of complex litigation, typically authored by non-UT faculty members. The Colloquium meets each week during the semester, alternating between seminar and colloquium formats. During the colloquium format meetings, the students will convene with the instructors and all interested faculty for an intensive two-hour exploration of the speaker’s paper with its author. The seminar format meetings are open only to the enrolled students.
Fall 2023 Events
Colloquium Seminar on Current Issues in Complex Litigation -- Jessica Erickson, University of Richmond Law School
Speaker
- Jessica Erickson Professor, University of Richmond Law School
Moderator
Guest speaker Jessica Erickson (University of Richmond Law School) -- The Business Of Securities Class Action Lawyering
This Article looks inside the black box of securities class action lawyering to explore the business behind these cases. Our study includes hand-collected data on all securities fraud class actions against public corporations filed between 2005 and 2018, a total of nearly 2500 cases. We find that the business of securities class action lawyering is far more complex than prior scholarship has recognized. Contrary to conventional wisdom, there are not two tiers of plaintiffs’ law firms; instead, there are multiple tiers of firms, each with its own client base, litigation patterns, and revenue model. Our study gives lead plaintiffs and judges the data and tools they need to understand these tiers and to compare the performance of the law firms within them. We also examine how these law firms are compensated, finding that judges’ fee awards fail to account for the difficulty of cases or the risk of non-recovery in any systematic way. These fees are crucial to ensuring that law firms pursue the right cases on behalf of shareholders, so we suggest ways that judges can use data to improve fee awards. As we will see, the path to reforming securities class actions starts with understanding the business behind them.
Colloquium Seminar on Current Issues in Complex Litigation - Pamela Foohey, Cardozo School of Law
Speaker
- Pamela Foohey Professor, Cardozo School of Law
Moderator
Guest speaker -- Pamela Foohey
Colloquium Seminar on Current Issues in Complex Litigation - Bob Bone, Texas Law
Speaker
- Robert G. Bone G. Rollie White Teaching Excellence Chair in Law, University of Texas
Moderator
Guest speaker Bob Bone
Colloquium Seminar on Current Issues in Complex Litigation - Joshua Macey, University of Chicago
Speaker
- Joshua Macey Professor, University of Chicago
Moderator
Guest speaker Joshua Macey
Colloquium Seminar on Current Issues in Complex Litigation - Jay Tidmarsh, University of Notre Dame
Speaker
- Jay Tidmarsh Professor, University of Notre Dame
Moderator
Guest speaker Jay Tidmarsh
Colloquium Seminar on Current Issues in Complex Litigation - Judge Robert Dow, Judge David Proctor, Judge Robin Rosenberg
Speaker
- Judge Robert Dow Judge, USDC Northern District of Illinois
- Judge David Proctor Judge, Northern District of Alabama
- Judge Robin Rosenberg Judge, Southern District of Florida
Moderator
Guest speakers: Judge Robert Dow, Judge David Proctor, Judge Robin Rosenberg