May 6, 2024
8th Annual Class Action Money & Ethics Conference

On May 6, 2024, Legal Director Ross Weiner attended the 8 th Annual Class Action Money & Ethics Conference at the Harmonie Club in New York City. Ross moderated a lively panel on fraud in class actions that featured Rebecca Gilliland (Beasley Allen), Kyle Mason (EisnerAmper), Franco Corrado (Morgan Lewis), Jeff Wilkerson (Winston & Strawn), and Etia Rottman Frand (Darrow). The panel discussed many hot-button topics including:
- How best to draft class action settlement documents to combat fraud;
- Which types of settlement notice yield the highest levels of fraud;
- The promise and pitfalls of digital payments; and
- How technology can be utilized to mitigate fraud.
The rest of the conference featured engaging conversation on an array of topics related to class actions. Of particular interest were the following observations:
- While wiretapping class actions possess an interesting legal theory, the dearth of case law and abundance of private settlements have made it hard to predict how these cases will perform in the long run should they go to trial and beyond.
- The presence and threat of mass arbitrations are impacting how companies settle their class actions, with more importance given to certain “blow” provisions and termination rights.
- There is serious concern about how much verification goes into plaintiff’s counsel’s claims re the number of “clients” it represents in a mass arbitration. But the more defendants that settle these cases early, the less incentive plaintiff’s counsel has to spend time, money, and effort on vetting.
The post 8th Annual Class Action Money & Ethics Conference appeared first on Certum Group.
Recent Content

By Certum Team
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March 5, 2026
Above the Law, a leading blog focused on the legal industry, recently highlighted Certum Group’s litigation finance fellowship, noting the opportunity for law students and business students to gain “a four-week, hands-on immersion in what it actually looks like when capital meets complex litigation.” “To succeed, lawyers need to understand not only doctrine but also finance. Law schools are beginning to reflect that shift, and students want to understand it,” Certum’s William Marra told Above the Law. “Our Summer Fellowship is about opening that door for both law and business students, and giving them meaningful exposure to the capital side of litigation.” Applications for the fellowship are due on March 31, 2026, and should include a resume, law school transcript, and a brief 250-word statement of interest. Applications should be sent to SummerFellowship@CertumGroup.com . Above the Law’s coverage is available here , and Certum’s application page for the fellowship is available here .

By Certum Group
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March 2, 2026
For the third consecutive year, Certum Group will host one or more summer fellows, introducing accomplished law students and business students to the growing field of litigation finance. The Certum Group Litigation Finance Fellowship provides top law students with an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the rapidly growing fields of litigation finance and litigation insurance. Fellows will evaluate litigation funding submissions, draft memoranda analyzing legal and damages issues, help structure and negotiate funding agreements, and contribute to marketing and business development initiatives. They will work closely with Certum’s experienced team of litigation finance, litigation insurance, and investment professionals. Throughout the program, Fellows will develop a practical understanding of how claimholders, law firms, insurers, and capital providers assess litigation risk — and how capital can be deployed as a strategic tool in complex disputes. Further information about the fellowship and instructions about how to apply are available here.

By Certum Group
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February 24, 2026
Columbia Law School’s blog on corporations and the public markets, The CLS Blue Sky Blog, recently featured the scholarly work on litigation finance written by Indiana University Business School Professor Suneal Bedi and Certum’s William C. Marra. In their blog post, Bedi and Marra discuss their article Litigation Finance in the Market Square , which was recently published in the Southern California Law Review. Their work reframes litigation finance as a capital markets innovation rather than solely a civil justice mechanism. While much of the public debate has centered on questions of disclosure, control, and settlement incentives, Bedi and Marra emphasize that legal claims often represent significant but illiquid contingent assets on a firm’s balance sheet. When policymakers regulate litigation finance, they are regulating not just the legal business but the capital markets. And they are regulating capital markets in a way that is more likely to harm small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) while protecting large companies from competition. The full blog post is available here.
