Week 6 – Feb. 25, 2019
Multistate Advocacy & Private Counsel
Syllabus: The Role of the State Attorney General
Although State Attorneys General engaged in multistate matters for years, they burst onto the national scene with the over $200 billion settlement against the tobacco companies, with many of the States relying on outside plaintiffs’ contingency counsel. Following that case, there was a backlash against the use of plaintiffs’ contingency counsel, with court decisions and legislative efforts to curtail the use of such counsel, or at least provide greater transparency.
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- Baldwin Accord Criticized, New York Times (Feb. 5, 1985)
- Thomas A. Schmerling,Stag Hunting with the State AG: Anti-TobaccoLitigation and the Emergence of Cooperation Among State Attorneys General, 25 Law & Policy 429 (2003) (supplemental reading)
- Tobacco (review the stateag.org archives for articles on the tobacco case) (supplemental reading)
- Jason Lynch, Federalism,Separation of Powers, and the Role of State Attorneys General in Multistate Litigation, 101 Colum. L. Rev. 1998 (2001)
- Standard and Poor's Articles
- AG Release,Ct. Leads Settlement with Career Education Corp. (Jan. 2019)
- State v. Lead Industries Association, Inc., 951 A.2d 428 (R.I. 2008) (Edited)
- American Legislative Exchange Council,Private Attorney General Retention Sunshine Act
- Ryan Luby, Attorney general [Hector Balderas] unveils changes on hiring private lawyers, KOB Eyewitness News 4, March 30, 2015
- Leah Godesky,State Attorneys General and Contingency Fee Arrangements: An Affront to the Neutrality Doctrine?42 Colum. J. of Law & Social Problems 587 (2009) (supplemental reading)
- Potential Multistate Case Hypothetical