Class Action Strategy and Practice: Initial Defense Strategy
ABA Section of Litigation
Class Actions & Derivative Suits Committee
Antitrust Litigation and Pretrial Practice & Discovery Committees
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
10:00-11:00 AM PT | 11:00 AM-12:00 PM MT | 12:00 -1:00 PM CT | 1:00-2:00 PM ET
Program Description:
This Roundtable explores the important decisions that class-action defendants must make quickly: (1) Forum choice. Should they remove? Is an MDL possible? Which court will have broader discovery or better appeal rights? Should they make a venue motion? Should they invoke arbitration? (2) Case assessment. What are the steps? Should they explore individual or early class settlement? Should they make voluntary changes? (3) Motion to dismiss. Will they educate the court or prompt a narrowed complaint, or merely educate plaintiff’s lawyers? (4) Motion to strike class allegations. (5) Answer, affirmative defenses, or counterclaims. (6) Summary judgment. Move before class certification?
The first in a series of Roundtables based on the Committee’s 2018 book,
Class Action Strategy and Practice Guide.
Providing practical guidance to lawyers on how to conduct a class action, starting with the filing of the action, through key decision points, and ending at settlement decisions. Authors and editors Gregory Cook and Jocelyn Larkin, master class-action strategists and litigators, worked with other seasoned class-action lawyers from both the plaintiff and defense perspective to produce this essential guide for lawyers, judges, advocates, and decision makers at every level.
Greg Cook is a Partner at Balch & Bingham LLP, in Birmingham Alabama. Greg is one of the most experienced class action defense lawyers in the Southeast, having defended over 60 class actions for a wide variety of claims. Greg served as co-chair of the ABA Class Action and Derivative Suits Committee and has held numerous other ABA positions. Greg is the Editor of the ABA’s Book on the Class Action Fairness Act and co-Editor of the ABA’s just published book entitled “Class Action Strategy and Practice Guide.”
Robert J. Herrington is a Shareholder at Greenberg Traurig in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. Co-Chair of the firm’s Class Action Litigation Group, Rob focuses his practice on defending consumer products companies in complex, multi-party litigation, including class actions, government enforcement litigation, product defect litigation and mass torts. Rob is the author of the best-selling book, Verdict for the Defense (Sutton Hart Press 2011), and a co-author of The Class Action Fairness Act: Law and Strategy (ABA Publishing 2013) and Class Action Strategy and Practice Guide (ABA Publishing 2018). Rob was recognized as the "Class Action Litigation Lawyer of the Year" (2017) by the Century City Bar Association. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, Rob was named in Law360's list of "Top Attorneys Under 40" for Class Actions.
Steven C. Corhern is an Associate at Balch & Bingham LLP, Birmingham, Alabama. Steven’s practice focuses on complex litigation, appeals, and insurance coverage disputes. Steven has defended numerous class actions in both state and federal court. He is a member of the ABA’s Tort, Trial, and Insurance Practice Section, where he serves as the young lawyer representative on the TIPS Business Litigation Committee and as a member of the TIPS Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee. Along with Greg Cook, Steven recently co-authored two book chapters in the ABA publication “Class Action Strategy and Practice Guide.”