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EVENTS & CLE

Sixth Annual Class Actions and Mass Torts Regional CLE program Written Materials

How the Civil Rules Advisory Committee and Northern District of California Judges Are Modernizing

Class Action Settlement Approval

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM

General CLE Credit

Recent amendments to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the updated procedural guidelines issued by the Northern District of California provide parties with more clarity about the procedural steps necessary to obtain approval of class action settlements. The updated rule and settlement guidelines recognize the need to modernize class notice and electronic communications, set forth a more unified approach to ap-proving settlements, and discourage bad faith objectors to class action settlements. Our distinguished panelists will discuss the practical impact of the updates to Rule 23 and the Northern District’s settlement guidelines.

Moderator/SpeakerElizabeth Cabraser, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, San Francisco, CA

SpeakersJohn Barkett, Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP, Miami, FL; Caitlin C. Blanche, K&L Gates LLP, Orange County, CA; Hon. James Donato, US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco, CA

Written Materials:

Injury-in-Fact Under Article III, Three Years After Spokeo

10:15 AM – 11:15 AM

General CLE Credit

In the three years following the Supreme Court’s 2016 decision in Spokeo v. Robins, the lower courts have had to struggle in applying the “concreteness” standard and what types of injuries are sufficiently concrete even though they may be intangible. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court remanded another case, Frank v. Gaos, to the Ninth Circuit for further consideration of Article III standing in light of the Spokeo decision, sparking new life into the debate about what it means to have a “concrete” injury. This panel will discuss these decisions and other developments in Article III standing jurisprudence.

Moderator/SpeakerPaul G. Karlsgodt, Baker Hostetler LLP, Denver, CO

SpeakersRafey Balabanian, Edelson PC, Chicago, IL; Kristin Walker-Probst, Womble Bond Dickinson, Orange County, CA

Written Materials:

 

Roundtable on Virtual Law Firms: A Deep Dive into Risks, Rewards, Ethical Considerations and Best Practices

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM

Ethics CLE Credit

The virtual law team was created as an efficient response to mass tort litigation and has proven to provide strategic and cost saving advantages in multi-plaintiff litigation of all sizes, across all borders. While many of the advantages of the model are in its ability to expand and collapse to meet a company’s litigation needs at the time, there are common characteristics of virtual law teams that can help guide the development of a successful structure. In this program, we will explore how companies are using the virtual law team model to coordinate groups of collaborative law firms and resolve complex legal disputes.

Moderator/SpeakerTarifa Laddon, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, Minneapolis, MN

SpeakerPaul E. Boehm, Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, D.C.; Joshua Paul Davis, University of San Francisco School of Law, San Francisco, CA; Max Schuver, Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger, San Francisco, CA

Written Materials:

 

Class Certification - The Evolving Relationship Between Damages and Predominance

1:15 PM – 2:15 PM

General CLE Credit

The Ninth Circuit is adamant that individualized damages alone can’t defeat the predominance of common issues, but the Supreme Court and other circuits aren’t so sure. In addition, plaintiffs are coming up with newer and more creative damages models to meet Comcast (such as conjoint analysis and hedonic regressions). This panel will cover the evolving state of the law and the state of the art on class damages modeling.

SpeakersLin Y. Chan, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, San Francisco, CA; Andrew Trask, Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP, Kansas City, MO; Urmi Mukherjea, Ankura Consulting Group LLC, Oakland, CA

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