George Mason University

SCJI Global Conference on Third-Party Financing of Litigation

The Searle Civil Justice Institute (SCJI) at George Mason University’s Law & Economics Center is hosting a global conference on Third-Party Financing of Litigation to be held at the Royal Windsor Hotel Grand Place on Wednesday, November 9 and Thursday, November 10, 2011.  The conference will begin early afternoon on Wednesday and conclude by early afternoon on Thursday.  A cocktail reception will be held on Wednesday evening.

Click here for agenda.

OVERVIEW:

This second of two policy conferences will feature the work product of SCJI’s public policy initiative entitled Third-Party Financing of Litigation: Civil Justice Friend or Foe?  SCJI has commissioned ten papers by leading international scholars to evaluate the legal and economic issues likely to arise with the expansion of third-party financing of litigation.  Particular attention is paid to the potential impact of third-party financing on economic growth and free enterprise systems throughout the world.

In addition to the participating scholars, the conference will feature legal practitioners, financiers, and others with an interest in third-party financing of litigation.  By bringing together a group of leading scholars and front-line practitioners, SCJI hopes to stimulate an informative and balanced discussion of third-party financing and potential policy concerns.

Please click here to read a summary of our prior conference on this topic, held in New York, NY on October 5, 2011.

REGISTRATION:

There is no registration fee. Please click here to register online.

Contact: Scott Hazelgrove
Email: dhazelgr@gmu.edu

PARTICIPATING SCHOLARS:

Participating scholars for this conference are:

• Joanna Shepherd Bailey, Associate Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
  • Ideal Versus Reality in Third-Party Litigation Financing

• George Barker, Director, Centre for Law and Economics, The Australian National University
  • Third-Party Funding in Australia and Europe

• Michelle Boardman, Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
  • Insurers Defend and Third-­‐Parties Fund: A Comparison of Litigation Participation

• Alexander Bruns, Director of the Institute for German and Foreign Civil Procedural Law, Freiburg University
  • Third Party Financing in the Perspective of German Law — Useful Instrument for Improvement of the Civil Justice System or “Speculative Immoral Investment?”

• Jef De Mot, Professor of Law, Center for Advanced Studies in Law and Economics at Ghent University
  • Comparing Third-Party Financing of Litigation and Legal Expenses Insurance

• Michael Faure, Professor of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam School of Law and Maastricht University
  • Comparing Third-Party Financing of Litigation and Legal Expenses Insurance

• Keith N. Hylton, The Honorable Paul J. Liacos Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
  • The Economics of Third-Party Financed Litigation

• Jeremy Kidd, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law
  • To Fund or Not to Fund: The Need for Second-Best Solutions to the Litigation Finance Dilemma

• Geoffrey J. Lysaught, Deputy Executive Director, Law & Economics Center
  • Economic Implications of Third-­Party Litigation Financing on the U.S. Civil Justice System

• Ianika Tzankova, Professor of Comparative Mass Litigation, Tilburg Law School
  • Cost and Funding of Mass Disputes: Case Study the Netherlands

• Cento Veljanovski, Managing Partner, Case Associates, London; IEA Fellow in Law and Economics; Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Regulatory & Market Analysis, University of South Australia
  • Third Party Litigation Funding in Europe

CONFERENCE HOTEL:

Royal Windsor Hotel Grand Plac
5 Rue Duquesnoy
1000 Brussels, Belgium

To make a reservation, please call the Royal Windsor Hotel at +32 2 505 5555, or email resa.royalwindsor@warwickhotels.com, and mention the conference in order to receive the conference rate.

Please click here to register.

Brussels, Belgium – Royal Windsor Hotel Grand Place (http://www.royalwindsorbrussels.com/)

These are the final drafts awaiting publication in Spring 2012. The papers will all be published as part of a dedicated symposium edition in the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy.