America
The
Skadden’s new group has been set up by Washington-based litigation partner Andrew Sandler with litigation counsel Penny Madden, who joined the firm from Shearman & Sterling earlier this year, heading the team in
Skadden’s move comes as
Key developments this year have seen the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) float plans to encourage private actions in competition law, while in March the influential National Association of Pension Funds said
In addition, a pioneering claim last month saw Royal Dutch Shell pay out $450m (£226m) to European investors in relation to allegations of securities fraud.
Skadden European arbitration head Paul Mitchard (pictured above) commented: “Throughout
David Greene, head of litigation at
However, sceptics argue that restrictions on grouping claims and bans on aggressive success fee deals will hamper the development of class action challenges in
Class Law founder Stephen Alexander told Legal Week: “Class Law is no longer doing class action work as there is not enough out there.”
Linklaters head of advocacy Mark Humphries was also sceptical about the potential for class actions. He said: “Only time will tell, but there is not much point having a class action defence capability if there are not many class actions.”
Talkback: The start of the class action era in the UK - or has Skadden jumped the gun? Click here to have your say.
