Managing Class Actions For Success Part 2: Budgeting For Success

Class action litigation is said to be the sport of kings, in the sense that only kings can afford it. Rare is the class action defendant who feels at all kingly. Judging from surveys of in-house counsel, lack of predictability in legal spend, sporadic communication about fees and strategy, costly discovery or motion practice, and perceived overstaffing are particular stress points in all complex litigation, but particularly class actions.

No matter how they are expressed, these stress points are in essence reflections of corporate counsel's concern that defending a class action is or will be too expensive relative to what is achieved. This demonstrates the critical relationship between the need to define success in a class action, the need to determine the value of success and the need for effective communication.