Following up on the same kind of conference last May, RAND’s Institute for Civil Justice is hosting another great looking seminar with experienced and smart people talking about litigation funding. The agenda is here; some excerpts are set out below. It will be interesting to see what new research RAND is going to issue, as is mentioned in the agenda (see below). The seminar is in DC (Arlington, Va) on May 20 and 21.
Some interests strongly dislike litigation financing. Indeed, The US Chamber of Commerce previously attacked litigation financing as a bad idea – see this prior post on the topic, with a link to the Chamber’s paper. My personal view remains that litigation financing is here to stay, especially since mass tort and mass fraud litigation is now global in many cases, and other countries have squarely embraced litigation financing. The Chamber’s paper does, however, provide a nice overview of developments to date in other nations.
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"The RAND Institute for Civil Justice recently launched a research initiative to analyze and explore the convergence of law, finance, and capital markets in the United States, including phenomena such as outside capital invested in law firms, alternative fee structures, and third party litigation funding. The Program endeavors to examine the effects of alternative litigation finance on the efficiency, fairness, and transparency of the American civil justice system through policy analysis, events, and a comprehensive Web presence at http://www.rand.org/icj/programs/law-finance/.
The 2010 Conference will bring together practitioners, policymakers, judges, and researchers to discuss and debate issues and trends related to alternative litigation finance in the United States. The extensive program will feature presentations, panels, and speakers on practice and policy topics as well as offer continuing legal education.
The conference agenda is designed for interaction and will be based on soon-to-be-released RAND research." (emphasis added)
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