Since the original publication of A Practitioner's Guide to Class Actions, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Wal-Mart Corporation v. Dukes—and has continued to decide class action issues each year, involving everything from standards of proof to pre-certification expert witness challenges to class action waivers in arbitration. Those decisions have had a trickle-down effect on the federal circuit and district courts, as well as the jurisprudence of the many states.

As a much-needed current resource for practitioners, this comprehensive guide provides in-depth knowledge of the many intricacies of a class action lawsuit along with a valuable, state-by-state analysis of the ways in which the class action rules differ from the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. Most chapters have been substantially rewritten in light of the massive changes in the class action and multidistrict litigation landscape since 2011.

Following recent Supreme Court decisions, new chapters consider the effect of standing of class representatives and offers of judgment to class members. This edition provides an expanded chapter on multidistrict litigation and new chapters on bellwether trials, life insurance and annuities, and food and beverage class actions. In addition, chapters address and analyze the current draft of proposed changes to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 by the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure.

Now published in two volumes, A Practitioner's Guide to Class Actions is organized in three sections for ease of reference: Anatomy of a Class Action and Special Issues in Class Actions (Volume 1), and Jurisdictional survey of Local Requirements Governing Class Actions (Volume 2). Includes discussions on:

• Precertification
• Ethical and practical issues of communications with members of a class
• Interlocutory appeals
• Settlements
• Claims administration
• The Class Action Fairness Act
• Bankruptcy and class actions
• Arbitration, and more