Legal scholars explore evolution of the modern class action


LAWRENCE — Fifty years ago, the modern class action lawsuit was born. When the U.S. Supreme Court amended Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1966, it radically transformed the way plaintiffs could sue on behalf of a group. Half a century later, legal scholars will gather in Lawrence to discuss the changing effects of the guidelines. 

The 2016 Kansas Law Review Symposium, “50th Anniversary Perspectives on the Modern Class Action,” will run from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, at the University of Kansas School of Law. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Register and preview the complete schedule online.

Speakers will discuss the ascertainability of class members, post-Comcast heightened scrutiny of class damage models, dual certification of money damages and injunctive class actions, application of the cy-pres doctrine to class actions, and the expansion of class actions globally.

“Class actions involve high-stakes litigation, potentially millions of plaintiffs, and important consumer and civil rights,” said Laura Hines, a KU law professor who studies aggregate litigation. “This symposium brings together nationally prominent class action scholars, judges, and attorneys from both sides of the bar to discuss recent Supreme Court cases, emerging trends, and the global expansion of class actions.”

Speakers will include:

  • Myriam Gilles, professor of law, Cardozo School of Law
  • Suzette Malveaux, professor of law, The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law
  • Robert Bone, G. Rollie White Teaching Excellence Chair in Law, University of Texas School of Law
  • Laura Hines, professor of law, KU School of Law
  • Deborah Hensler, Judge John W. Ford Professor of Dispute Resolution and Director of Law and Policy Lab, Stanford Law School
  • Adam Zimmerman, professor of law, Gerald Rosen Fellow, Loyola Law School

A judges’ panel will feature Judge Robert Dow of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Judge John Lungstrum of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, and Judge Laura Denvir Stith of the Supreme Court of Missouri.

A practitioners’ panel will feature Eric Barton of Wagstaff & Cartmell; Molly Carella of Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Robert Coykendall of Morris Laing; Rex Sharp of Rex A. Sharp PA; Holly Pauling Smith of Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Victoria Smith of Stinson Leonard Street and Patrick Stueve of Stueve Siegel Hanson.

Scholarship associated with the symposium will be published in a spring 2017 issue of the Kansas Law Review. For more information, contact Symposium Editor Skyler Davenport at kulawrevsymposium@gmail.com.