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CHICAGO, Oct. 24, 2005 -- U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah will be a keynote speaker as leading plaintiff and insurance lawyers gather to examine the impact of the recently passed “Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.” How has the litigation landscape changed? Will the law achieve the goals its proponents hoped for? Will there be a seismic shift as new tactics are tested, new approaches identified?
A “who’s who” of the class action world will be in attendance at the American Bar Association Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section program, “The Future of Class Action Litigation in America,”
Nov. 9 - 11 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington D.C. Hatch will speak Thursday morning, Nov. 10 at 8:30 a.m.
Dean Edward F. Sherman, Moise F. Steeg Jr. Professor of Negotiations at Tulane University Law School and chair of the ABA Task Force on Federal Class Action Legislation, will give the daily program overview on Thursday; and Professor Martin H. Redish, professor of law and public policy at Northwestern University School of Law, will provide Friday’s overview.
Nationally recognized experts and practitioners will address trends and hot topics in the following sessions:
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An Overview of the “Class Action Reform Act of 2005.” U.S. District Court Judge Jed Saul Rakoff of the Southern District of New York will participate in this discussion with Marci A. Eisenstein, Chicago.
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State v. Federal Jurisdiction: Multi-State Class Actions, State Class Actions, Representative Claims and Aggregation. Panelists include Professor Samuel Issacharoff, Columbia University School of Law; Russ M. Herman, New Orleans; John H. Beisner, Washington, D.C.; and Edith M. Kallas, New York.
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Notice Issues, Opt Ins & Outs, Class Management. Speakers will be Dawn Barrios, New Orleans; Joseph B.G. Fay, Philadelphia; Professor Laura J. Hines, University of Kansas School of Law; and Katherine M. Kinsella, president, Kinsella Communications, Ltd.
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Post-Bazzle Class-Wide Arbitrations and Use of Arbitration. Associate General Counsel Neal S. Berinhout of Cingular Wireless will join retired U.S. District Court Judge Fern M. Smith of San Francisco, Professor David Schawarts of the University of Wisconsin Law School and F. Paul Bland Jr. of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.
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Class Actions Without Borders: Foreign Plaintiffs in U.S. Courts and U.S. Defendants in Foreign Courts . Canadians J. J. Camp Q.C. of Vancouver and Professor Garry D. Watson of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University will join Charles F. Rysavy of Newark, N.J., for a discussion of the challenges facing cross-border classes.
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Recent Developments from the Judiciary/Case Law Update . Federal judges D. Brock Hornby of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine and Lee H. Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas are featured in this discussion.
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Settlements, Class Actions, Fees and Ethics . Speakers for this segment include Professor Howard M. Erichson of Seton Hall University; Joe R. Whatley Jr. of Birmingham, Ala.; G. Edward Pickle Jr., senior government affairs counsel at Shell Oil Company; and Richard H. Redfern, president, Rust Consulting, Inc.
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Preclusion, Due Process and Adequacy of Representation . Discussing constitutional issues will be Professor Tobias B. Wolff, University of California Davis Law School; William H. Narwold, Hartford, Conn.; Steven R. Brock, Uniondale, N.Y.; and Professor Richard A. Nagareda, Vanderbilt University School of Law.
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Bankruptcy and Class Actions; Settlement Funds and Related Issues. Bankruptcy is often a result of class actions. Addressing this very current and important issue will be Michael S. Etkin, Roseland, N.J.; Allan Kanner, New Orleans; and Peter A. Antonucci, New York.
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Class Actions and MDLs – Hot Topics in Class Actions . Plaintiff and defense lawyers will join a federal judge and consultant in this roundtable discussion that will focus on multi-district litigation. Participants include Craig C. Corbitt, San Francisco; Karen Barth Menzies, Los Angeles; Richard J. Arsenault, Alexandria, La.; David B. Tulchin, New York; U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon, Eastern District of Louisiana; and Todd D. Menenberg, managing director, Navigant Consulting, Inc.
A full brochure for the meeting, including a list of speakers, can be found at www.abanet.org/tips.
The ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section is the only national professional group to bring together plaintiffs’ lawyers, defense lawyers and insurance and corporate counsel for the exchange of information and ideas. The section has more than 36,000 members and 34 general committees that focus on substantive and procedural matters in areas including aviation and space law, fidelity and surety law, medical malpractice, transportation law and others.
With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.
Editors Note: Reporters are invited to cover sessions at the TIPS class action meeting free of charge. Media credentials can be obtained by contacting Deborah Weixl, ABA Division for Media Relations and Communication Services, at 312/988-6126 or e-mail weixld@staff.abanet.org.
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