Entrepreneurial Litigation

Uniquely in the United States, lawyers litigate large cases on behalf of many claimants who could not afford to sue individually. In these class actions, attorneys act typically as risk-taking entrepreneurs, effectively hiring the client rather than acting as the client’s agent. Lawyer-financed, lawyer-controlled, and lawyer-settled, such entrepreneurial litigation invites lawyers to sometimes act more in their own interest than in the interest of their clients. And because class litigation aggregates many claims, defendants object that its massive scale amounts to legalized extortion. Yet, without such devices as the class action and contingent fees, many meritorious claims would never be asserted. John Coffee examines the dilemmas surrounding entrepreneurial litigation in a variety of specific contexts, including derivative actions, securities class actions, merger litigation, and mass tort litigation. His concise history traces how practices developed since the early days of the Republic, exploded at the end of the twentieth century, and then waned as Supreme Court decisions and legislation sharply curtailed the reach of entrepreneurial litigation. In an evenhanded account, Coffee assesses both the strengths and weaknesses of entrepreneurial litigation and proposes a number of reforms to achieve a fairer balance. His goal is to save the class action, not discard it, and to make private enforcement of law more democratically accountable. Taking a global perspective, he also considers the feasibility of exporting a modified form of entrepreneurial litigation to other countries that are today seeking a mechanism for aggregate representation.

In class actions, attorneys effectively hire clients rather than act as their agent. Lawyer-financed, lawyer-controlled, and lawyer-settled, this entrepreneurial litigation invites lawyers to act in their own interest. John Coffee’s goal is to save class action, not discard it, and to make private enforcement of law more democratically accountable.

Learn how to recognize and avoid legal risks for venture growth and success. Entrepreneurs need to be familiar with a number of legal issues in order to protect the ideas and investments in their enterprises. "The Entrepreneur's Legal Companion" provides practical information on how entrepreneurs can manage and minimize legal risks.

Modern cases highlight the legal principles involving parties and situations that are entrepreneurial in nature in this one-of-a kind text. Students are presented with solid doctrine in the various disciplines covered in Entrepreneurship Law and come to understand their interrelatedness. A chronological approach, from the conception of the idea through all stages of the business, includes potential exit strategies such as the sale of the venture or an initial public offering. Hypotheticals based on the authors' vast experience as practicing attorneys focus on the very real issues entrepreneurs face. The authors teach at Northwestern Law, well-known for its entrepreneurship course, which is one of the longest-running in the U.S. Entrepreneurship Law: Cases and Materials is the only law school casebook of its kind. Features: modern cases highlight legal principles solid doctrine in the various disciplines covered in Entrepreneurship Law, emphasizing their interrelatedness chronological approach from the conception of the idea through all stages of the business, includes potential exit strategies such as sale of venture or initial public offering hypotheticals highlight actual issues entrepreneurs face informed by authorsand’ vast experience as practicing attorneys authors teach at Northwestern Law well-known entrepreneurship course one of the longest-running in the U.S. only law school casebook of its kind

This text identifies the legal challenges entrepreneurs face and then suggests strategies to meet those challenges while continuing to maintain a successful business. CEOs, managers, and other business persons will be trained to spot legal issues before they become legal problems. This is achieved by learning from the advice/mistakes of other entrepreneurs and their lawyers. Entrepreneurs and attorneys whose experiences highlight valuable lessons, offer tips and guidance to new or future entrepreneurs. The features From the Trenches also provides actual examples of reported court cases that entrepreneurs have faced.

The Law and Business of Litigation Finance considers the international development of the law and practice of high value litigation and arbitration funding. It is an essential guide for those who provide or seek such funding, as well as for anyone who wishes to understand the litigation funding process and to avoid pitfalls. It answers questions such as: - How do litigation funders raise capital and how do they spend it? - What are their corporate and financial structures? - What type of cases do they invest in and what are their returns? - What are the key legal issues relating to litigation funding? The Law and Business of Litigation Finance assists various parties, including: - Those who do not have the resources or risk appetite to proceed in litigation or arbitration without financial support - Law firms who are interested in a significant business development opportunity, and fairer outcome for litigants - Insolvent estates, whose biggest assets are their potential claims - Judges, arbitrators and other neutral parties in funded dispute resolution cases - Regulators, legislators and policymakers in the fields of legal and financial services - Investors who seek high risk, high return opportunities The book is edited by one of the most accomplished litigation funders in the international market and has contributions from leading experts drawn from legal practice, financiers and academia. The focus is on the UK and the US, the two main centres for the international litigation funding industry, with reference to Australia, New Zealand and other select jurisdictions. As the first book on litigation finance to take an international, and particularly transatlantic, perspective, this is a must-have guide for all lawyers, commercial court judges, legal policy makers, regulators, investors, and academics in these jurisdictions.

Entrepreneurial litigation is litigation in which the plaintiff's attorney functions as a risk-taking entrepreneur, financing, organizing, managing, and settling the litigation on behalf of numerous clients (who generally hold “negative value” claims), but with only modest oversight from the clients. Although well established in the United States (and to a lesser extent in Australia, Canada, and Israel), it has long been resisted in Europe, the U.K., and elsewhere, where local rules both preclude the opt-out class action, contingent fees, and jury trials in civil cases, and mandate a “loser pays” rule with respect to legal fees. Yet, despite these obstacles, entrepreneurial litigation appears now to be coming to both Europe and Japan, with large settlements having recently been struck in securities litigation (most notably $1.4 billion this year in the Fortis litigation). Perhaps surprisingly, the driving force leading this transition has been American plaintiff law firms, who do not litigate the action, but do organize it, using third party funding and litigation insurance as functional substitutes for the contingent fee and the American Rule on fee shifting. Some have explained this phenomenon as a response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., which barred U.S. courts from exercising extraterritorial jurisdiction over the federal securities laws, and thereby arguably encouraged other jurisdictions to compete for the cases that formerly were litigated in the U.S. Although the Morrison decision was a catalyst, this article rejects the claim that foreign jurisdictions are engaged in any competition for securities litigation, finding instead that defense counsel have found that they can sweep absent class members into a low cost settlement class action under The Netherland's WCAM statute by discriminating between “active” and “non-active” class members.This article examines these developments and the issues they pose for Europe and Japan. Ultimately, despite early successes, the long-term question becomes: How successful can legal entrepreneurs be when operating in a different and skeptical legal culture?

Modern cases highlight the legal principles involving parties and situations that are entrepreneurial in nature in this one-of-a kind text. Students are presented with solid doctrine in the various disciplines covered in Entrepreneurship Law and come to understand their interrelatedness. A chronological approach, from the conception of the idea through all stages of the business, includes potential exit strategies such as the sale of the venture or an initial public offering. Hypotheticals, in the form of a running case study based on the authors’ vast experience as practicing attorneys, focus on the very real issues entrepreneurs face. The authors teach at Northwestern Law, well-known for its entrepreneurship course, which is one of the longest-running in the United States. Entrepreneurship Law: Cases and Materials is the only law school casebook of its kind. New to the Second Edition: New cases and readings reflecting changing doctrine in employment law, intellectual property, and securities law (including crowdfunding) Greater attention to social entrepreneurs, including the addition of public benefit corporations, L3Cs, and nonprofits to the chapter on creating an entity Refreshed and updated readings and materials reflecting current trends and practices in financing of entrepreneurial ventures Updates reflecting feedback from current adopters and students in the authors’ course at Northwestern Professors and student will benefit from: Modern cases that highlight the legal principles involving parties and situations that are entrepreneurial in nature Presents solid doctrine in the various disciplines covered in Entrepreneurship Law while also emphasizing their interrelatedness Provides a chronological approach to the subject, from the conception of the idea through all stages of the business, including potential exit strategies such as the sale of the venture or an initial public offering Contains hypotheticals and involved, practice-oriented skills-based problems that focus on actual issues entrepreneurs face that are informed by the authors’ real experiences as practicing attorneys Classroom tested by faculty at multiple law schools. Authors teach at Northwestern Law, well-known for its entrepreneurship course, one of the longest-running in the United States The only law school casebook of its kind Teaching materials Include: Website for adopting faculty with resources including sample syllabi, practice problems, and other curricular materials

The last fifteen years have seen a tremendous growth in the number of health rights cases focusing on issues such as access to health services and essential medications. This volume examines the potential of litigation as a strategy to advance the right to health by holding governments accountable for these obligations. It includes case studies from Costa Rica, South Africa, India, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, as well as chapters that address cross-cutting themes. The authors analyze what types of services and interventions have been the subject of successful litigation and what remedies have been ordered by courts. Different chapters address the systemic impact of health litigation efforts, taking into account who benefits both directly and indirectly—and what the overall impacts on health equity are.