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| 2001 News and Press Releases |
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HEADLINE ARCHIVED:
Lead Counsel Auctions: Task Force Warns Against Bidding In Class Actions
By: Tamara Loomis
New York Law Journal, Volume 226, Number 86. Thursday, November 1, 2001
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Excerpt: A TASK FORCE of federal judges, law professors and attorneys has come out with a report warning against the use of an innovative means for selecting lead counsel in class action cases. The auction method in which judges ask lawyers who want to serve as lead counsel to submit a bid as to what they would require by way of fees and expenses is a relatively new means for selecting counsel in a class action. The method was pioneered in 1990 by Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the Northern District of California in In re Oracle Securities Litigation, 131 F.R.D. 688. Since then, six other district judges, in the Second, Third, Fifth and Seventh Circuits have used auctions. The task force is the first to conduct a broad review of the auction process. According to Gregory P. Joseph, who served as the task force's co-chairman, a half-year of research went into their findings, including testimony from some 50 witnesses. Judges predicted the report, which is available on-line at www.ca3.uscourts.gov, will be read with interest by courts and practitioners alike.
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