Third Party Litigation Funding and Claim Transfer: Trends and Implications for the Civil Justice System

RAND Institute for Civil Justice and UCLA School of Law have a new initiative designed to identify and analyze the biggest and most influential trends in civil justice. Litigation claim transfer (also referred to as third party litigation funding) is one such trend. While the practice is gaining prominence in Europe, Canada and Australia, the confluence of the recent credit shortage, the enormity of the overall market for legal services, and the search for investment opportunities unrelated to general economic risk has created the environment for debate about its role, if any, in the American civil justice system.

UCLA-RAND Center for Law and Public Policy is bringing together stakeholders to not only discuss this phenomenon, but to frame how it is debated in government, law schools and state bars across the country. A conference designed to address these important issues on June 2, 2009 at RAND's Santa Monica headquarters. Visit the conference website for more information.

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Preventing and Detecting Corporate Misdeeds: Ethics and Compliance Officers Offer Advice for Policymakers

Improvements in corporate compliance, ethics, and oversight have been a significant policy goal for the U.S. government at least since the enactment of the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines in 1991 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. Notwithstanding these earlier government initiatives, the collapse of financial markets in late 2008 has invited renewed questions about the governance, compliance, and ethics practices of firms throughout the U.S. economy. On March 5, 2009, RAND convened a conference in Washington, D.C., on the role and perspectives of corporate chief ethics and compliance officers (CECOs) in supporting organizations in the detection and prevention of corporate misdeeds. The conference brought together leaders from among ethics and compliance officers in the corporate community, as well as stakeholders in the nonprofit sector, academia, and government. Discussions focused on the challenges facing corporate ethics and compliance programs as a first line of defense against malfeasance and misbehavior; on the role of CECOs as champions for implementation in their companies; and on potential steps that might be taken by government to empower CECOs and, by extension, the corporate ethics and compliance programs that they oversee.

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Neal Wolin Accepts Position as Deputy Counsel to the President for Economic Policy and Deputy Assistant to the President

Neal Wolin, a longtime member of RAND Institute for Civil Justice's Board of Overseers, has recently accepted a position in the White House as Deputy Counsel to the President for Economic Policy and Deputy Assistant to the President. We congratulate Neal on his tremendous accomplishment, and are reassured that the new administration will have the benefit of his guidance and leadership.

President-Elect Obama Chooses Mary Schapiro, Advisory Board Member, to Lead the SEC

President-elect Obama has chosen Mary Schapiro, Advisory Board Member to the RAND Center for Corporate Ethics and Governance (CCEG), to lead the SEC. We are encouraged that the SEC will have the benefit of her outstanding leadership. Ms. Schapiro will join Timothy Geithner, a member of the RAND Board of Trustees and nominee as Treasury Secretary, in steering the country toward economic recovery and renewed confidence in our financial markets. While we regret Ms. Schapiro will no longer be available to advise RAND, we wish her the best of luck and are committed to providing her with the unbiased, objective information she will need to be successful in her new position.

What the Policy Community Should Know About Corporate Compliance, Ethics, and Misdeeds

Improving corporate compliance, ethics, and oversight has been a significant policy goal for the U.S. government for decades, and made more salient by the collapse of financial markets in late 2008. On March 5, 2009, RAND convened a conference in Washington, D.C., on the role and perspectives of corporate chief ethics and compliance officers in the detection and prevention of corporate misdeeds.

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Analyzing the UK and EU's Civil Justice Arena

RAND Europe and RAND Institute for Civil Justice have joined to create a center of excellence to deliver objective and empirical analysis of the UK and EU's civil justice arena. Professor Neil Rickman has been appointed as the director of ICJ Europe and is currently in the process of recruiting a blue-ribbon advisory board to include stakeholders in the civil justice system, including consumer attorneys, policymakers, academics, general counsel and corporate representatives.

More about Neil Rickman RAND Europe

The Legal and Economic Implications of Electronic Discovery

Pretrial discovery is central to the American civil legal process, however the growing volume of electronically stored information has led to concerns over the effects of electronic discovery (e-discovery). A preliminary model explores the range of plausible effects that e-discovery might have on case outcomes.

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Mandatory Workplace Safety and Health Programs: Implementation, Effectiveness, and Benefit-Cost Trade-Offs

In 1998, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began efforts to require all workplaces to establish a safety and health program to reduce the risk of occupational injuries and illnesses. By 1999, it had stopped pursuing these federal standards, partly due to intense criticism of their value. This report assesses the standard, concluding with recommendations should authorities revisit the initiative.

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A History of Chinese Corporate Governance Sheds Light on Economic Growth and Reform

As China has moved toward a stronger role for private enterprise and capitalism it has also sought to adopt more Western-style oversight mechanisms and legal standards for corporate governance - a history of which is found here with an examination of attendant problems and their policy implications.

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Behavioral Finance Forum to be Hosted by RAND

The Behavioral Finance Forum, an organization dedicated to helping consumers make better financial decisions, will become an initiative of the nonprofit RAND Corporation.

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