Civil Law
Feature
The New Administrative State?
by Stuart Benjamin, David Doniger, Catherine Eagles and Jennifer Zachary
Vol. 108 No. 3 (2025) | Problem-Solving CourtsHow Recent Supreme Court Decisions May Shape Regulation, Deference, and the Role of the Courts When it comes to administrative agencies, the U.S. Supreme Court has been busy. Last term, […]
Feature
Reflections from a Special Master: The Cy Pres Process in a High-dollar, Class-action Case
Vol. 108 No. 2 (2024) | Judges Under Siege?In 2018, I was appointed as special master under Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in a nationwide class action that had resulted in a judgment of […]
Feature
Invaluable Knowledge: How Trial Judge Experience Shapes Intermediate Appellate Review
Vol. 107 No. 3 (2024) | JustitiaImagine that you (a former civil trial judge) and your colleague (a former tax court judge) are on an appellate panel assigned to adjudicate two appeals. One is an appeal […]
Feature
Should the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Be Amended to Address Cross-Border Discovery?
by Michael M. Baylson and Steven S. Gensler
Vol. 107 No. 2 (2023) | Generative AI in the CourtsIn today’s world of borderless commerce, digital documents, and cloud storage, information relevant to U.S. litigation frequently is located outside of the United States. When discovery in a U.S. case […]
Briefs
On the Hill: PATENT Act Aims To Curb Patent Trolls
by Arti K. Rai
Vol. 99 No. 2 (2015) | The Mass-Tort MDL VortexOn Apr. 29, a bipartisan coalition of Senate Judiciary Committee members led by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced the Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship Act of […]
Case Note
Third Circuit Clarifies Ascertainability Standard for Class Actions
Vol. 99 No. 2 (2015) | The Mass-Tort MDL VortexThird Circuit Clarifies Ascertainability Standard for Class Actions In Byrd v. Aaron’s, Inc. (Byrd v. Aaron’s Inc., 784 F.3d 154 (3d Cir. 2015)), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third […]
Feature
A Closer Look at New Pleading in the Litigation Marketplace
by Scott Dodson
Vol. 99 No. 2 (2015) | The Mass-Tort MDL VortexCourts and parties undoubtedly are affected by the new pleading regime of twombly and Iqbal. But, as rational actors, they also are responsive to it. Their responsive behaviors both mitigate […]
Feature
Bureaucratizing the Courts? Finding MDL’s Place in the Traditional Legal Culture
Vol. 99 No. 2 (2015) | The Mass-Tort MDL VortexOver the past three decades three forces gained prominence in the narrative of the 1938 rules: the decline of trials with a companion embrace by bench and bar of arbitration and […]
Feature
The MDL Vortex Revisited
Vol. 99 No. 2 (2015) | The Mass-Tort MDL VortexOne of the more interesting cases I worked on as a young associate in the early 1980s involved george steinbrenner, the well-known owner of the New York Yankees. He had […]
Feature
Collected Wisdom on Selecting Leaders and Managing MDLs
by Elizabeth Burch and Stephen R. Bough
Vol. 106 No. 1 (2022) | Necessarily EngagedIn 2020, nearly one out of every two new suits filed in federal civil court was part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL). Initially designed to organize antitrust cases against electrical equipment manufacturers, […]