The Cambridge Handbook of Class Actions

Brian T. Fitzpatrick is Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School. His research focuses on class action litigation and federal courts. In 2010, he published what is still the most comprehensive empirical study of class action settlements in American federal courts. He is also the author of the provocative book, The Conservative Case for Class Actions (2019). Professor Fitzpatrick joined Vanderbilt's law faculty in 2007 after serving as the John M. Olin Fellow at New York University School of Law. He has clerked for Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Fitzpatrick practiced commercial and appellate litigation for several years at Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C., and served as Special Counsel for Supreme Court Nominations to U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Randall Thomas holds the John S. Beasley II Chair in Law and Business, Vanderbilt Law School. He works on issues such as hedge fund shareholder activism, executive compensation, corporate voting, corporate litigation, shareholder voting, and mergers and acquisitions. He joined the Vanderbilt law faculty in 2000 to develop and direct the Law and Business Program, having served previously for 10 years on the law faculty of the University of Iowa.

1. The U.S. Class Action from a Utilitarian Perspective: Balancing Social Benefits and Social Costs Robert G. Bone; 2. Civil Rights, Access to Counsel, and Injunctive Class Actions in the United States Maureen Carroll; 3. Class Action Nuisance Suits: Evidence from Frequent Filer Shareholder Plaintiffs Sean J. Griffith; 4. The Future of Aggregate Litigation in the United States Robert Klonoff; 5. Mandatory Arbitration of Intra-Corporate Disputes in Brazil: A Beacon of Light for Shareholder Litigation? Patricia Gil Lemstra and Joseph A. McCahery; 6. Cold Facts from the Great White North: Empirical Truths, Contemporary Challenges and Class Action Reform Jasminka Kalajdzic and Catherine Piché; 7. Class Action in Brazil: Overview, Current Trends and Case Studies Carlos Portugal Gouvêa and Helena Campos Refosco; 8. English Systems of Multi-Party Litigation Neil Andrews; 9. Class Actions in Switzerland Beat Bräendli; 10. Class Actions in Belgium Hans De Wulf; 11. The New Italian Regulation on Class Actions Paolo Giudici and Beatrice Zuffi; 12. Collective Litigation in German Civil Procedure Axel Halfmeier; 13. Class Action à la Française Maria José Azar-Baud and Véronique Magnier; 14. The Solid Dutch Mechanisms for Collective Settlement C.F. Van der Elst and W.C.T. Weterings; 15. The Emergence and Reform of the New Zealand Class Action Nikki Chamberlain and Susan Watson; 16. Representative Proceedings in Singapore: Is the Time Ripe for Reform? Eunice Chua; 17. Class Action in China: Challenges and Opportunities Robin Hui Huang; 18. Class Actions in Australia Michael Legg and Samuel J. Hickey; 19. Empirical and Practical Perspectives on 27 Years of Product Liability Class Actions in Australia Julian Schimmel, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, Nina Abbey and Vincent Morabito; 20. Securities Class Actions in Korea Hai Jin Park and Hyeok-Joon Rho; 21. A Review of the Current Status of, and Future Issues Facing, Consumer Class Action Systems in Japan Taeko Morita, Daisuke Eguchi, Nishimura and Asahi; 22. The Indian Securities Fraud Class Action: Is Class Arbitration the Answer? Brian T. Fitzpatrick and Randall Thomas; 23. Class Actions in South Africa: A Need for Certainty Theo Broodryk; 24. Class Actions and the Regulatory State – Lessons from Israel Shay Lavie; 25. The Israeli Public Class Action Fund: New Approach for Intergrating Business and Social Responsibility Eli Bukspan.