Directors as Guardians of Compliance and Ethics Within the Corporate Citadel — Aug. 9, 2010
RAND convened a symposium on the perspective and role of corporate boards of directors in overseeing their firms' ethics and compliance matters. These conference proceedings summarize the event and the discussions, which focused on oversight challenges that directors face, board responsibility for corporate culture, and steps that business leaders and policymakers might take to better encourage and empower directors in their oversight role.
Conference Proceedings
Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts: An Overview of Trust Structure and Activity with Detailed Reports on the Largest Trusts — Jul. 30, 2010
While legislative and judicial reforms have made it increasingly difficult to obtain compensation for nonmalignant diseases in the tort system, the trust system remains a source of compensation for such injuries. This report describes the creation, organization, and operation of asbestos personal-injury trusts and compiles publicly available information on the assets, outlays, and governing boards of the 26 largest ones.
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Alternative Litigation Financing in the United States: Issues, Knowns, and Unknowns — May 17, 2010
Alternative litigation financing (ALF)—also known as "third-party" litigation financing—refers to provision of capital by parties other than plaintiffs, defendants, their lawyers, or defendants' insurers to support litigation-related activity. This paper describes the ALF industry as of early 2010 and discusses the legal ethics, social morality, and, especially, potential economic effects of ALF.
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Research Brief
Liability and Regulation of Autonomous Vehicle Technologies — Apr. 7, 2010
This research is an initial step toward creating policies to address autonomous vehicle technologies—which have the potential to enormously benefit humankind but raise substantial concern about tort liability for damages that may result from their use.
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Judicial Expenditures and Litigation Access: Evidence from Auto Injuries — Jan. 5, 2010
Using data on thousands of auto injuries covering a 15-year period, the authors of this report measure the relationship between state-level court expenditures and the propensity of injured parties to pursue litigation.
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The Abuse of Medical Diagnostic Practices in Mass Litigation: The Case of Silica — Nov. 13, 2009
Claims for injuries caused by inhaling silica dust skyrocketed from 2001 to 2003, and silica was compared to asbestos—having the potential to be a mass tort that would last for decades. This report reviews the court proceedings that led to the uncovering of abusive diagnostic practices in silica litigation, then identifies several ways to uncover and prevent similar diagnosing practices in the future.
Full DocumentResearch Brief
More »Featured News
For ICJ Overseer Kenneth R. Feinberg, Administering BP's $20 Billion Oil Spill Compensation Fund May Prove as Challenging as the September 11 Victims Compensation Fund — Aug. 21, 2010
Feinberg will have to sift through claims that will require him to estimate the amount of money that people in off-the-books jobs like fishing were earning, as well as the amount of income they stand to lose from a disaster whose long-term impact is still unclear.
Read More at nytimes.com
ICJ Launches New Program for Leading Southern California Attorneys — Jul. 28, 2010
ICJ has created an elite program to convene thought leaders in the Southern California legal community for meaningful discussions and interactions relating to law and public policy. The RAND ICJ Southern California 50 Leadership Council (RAND ICJ So Cal 50) offers the first forum in Southern California for prominent, policy-oriented attorneys to regularly convene and address the most pressing issues facing the civil justice system and legal profession today.
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ICJ Researcher Presents Plenary Address at the National ADR Research Forum in Australia — Jul. 17, 2010
ICJ researcher Geoffrey McGovern presented the plenary address at the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council's (NADRAC) National ADR Research Forum in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, on July 17, 2010. His presentation, Building an ADR Compass: Gathering Useful Empirical Data on Where We Are, Where We Might Go, and How to Get There, discussed the challenges policymakers face in obtaining useful and comparable data on ADR needs, usage, and successes, and presented a range of options for moving the ADR research agenda forward. As part of his visit to Australia, Geoffrey met with representatives of the state and federal governments, and the academic and non-profit research communities to discuss the future of ADR and court research.
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How Globalization Will Drive Change in the International Practice of Law: Lessons Learned from one of India's Most Prominent Law Firms — July 1, 2010
On July 1, RAND Institute for Civil Justice and the Kauffman-RAND Institute for Entrepreneurship Public Policy hosted Nishith Desai, the founder of Nishith Desai Associates, one of the most prominent law firms in India. The interactive roundtable lunch assembled a diverse group of thirty local thought leaders for a discussion on how globalization is driving innovation and change in the practice of law.
Beyond Compliance: The Hidden Consequences of the Medicare Secondary Payer Rules — June 22, 2010
While the new procedures required by the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act (MMSEA) create new compliance requirements, their impacts on access to justice, settlements, decisions by claimants, and mass litigation are difficult to understand and fully appreciate. ICJ and O'Melveny & Myers hosted a symposium in Washington, D.C. designed to expand this policy debate beyond the compliance requirements and costs, and add significant value and texture to stakeholders from insurance companies to corporations to the plaintiffs' bar to CMS to academics.
ICJ Conference—Alternative Litigation Finance in the U.S.: Where Are We and Where Are We Headed with Practice and Policy? — May 20-21, 2010
The 2010 Conference brought together practitioners, policymakers, judges, and researchers to discuss and debate issues and trends related to alternative litigation finance in the United States. The extensive program featured presentations, panels, and speakers on practice and policy topics and offered continuing legal education.
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