Mass litigation defence_


The challenge

  • Mass litigation, i.e. the legal assertion of a large number of similar but not identical claims. Although this is a new challenge for many companies, it has recently gained some notoriety in Germany. What started with air passenger rights soon reached new dimensions with the headlines surrounding the diesel emissions scandal.
  • From the automotive industry and airlines to banks, insurance companies, auditors and federal agencies, all industries that have a large customer base or are listed on the capital markets now face the risk of mass litigation.
  • Given the volume of litigation, a new industry has emerged between legal tech and claimant law firms. These law firms pursue alleged claims on an industrial scale.

  • Supported by professional litigation funding and amplified by targeted marketing campaigns, law firms can motivate consumers to sue in unprecedented numbers. In addition, the use of technology means that processing individual cases requires far fewer resources than in the past. This dramatically increases the profitability of these proceedings for plaintiffs’ law firms.
  • A high volume of lawsuits requires a scalable and reliable defence. The large number of parallel proceedings and the arguments raised in them must be considered simultaneously in order to avoid devastating domino effects on related proceedings.
  • Mass claims also cause enormous reputational damage to companies, as they can jeopardize existing customer relationships, future business relationships and perhaps even stock prices.

Claims brought forward on an industrial scale need to be defended on an industrial scale.

Efficient and proactive defence

An effective defence begins as early as possible, not only after the first claims have been filed. This includes good communication with clients and the development of a strategy in dealing with the potential subject matter of the dispute. Ideally, a class action lawsuit is prevented in advance through skilful management. We will support you from the start in order to determine the right course of action for the future.
When litigation is inevitable, we combine legal expertise, the most advanced technologies and efficient processes with a data-driven approach. In doing so, we want to comprehensively represent our clients – even beyond individual cases. We take the resources and strategies of claimant law firms into account and incorporate them into our defence strategy. We view class action lawsuits primarily from an economic perspective as a financial liability to companies that must be avoided.

Tailored legal strategy

  • Fieldfisher employs experienced lawyers all across Europe in every area of law. We possess one of the largest litigation practices in Europe and have handled large amounts of different cases. We are familiar with the strategies of claimant law firms and know how to counter them effectively.  
  • We are also experienced in protecting your company’s valuable customer relationships and avoiding unnecessary legal costs.  

State-of-the-art Legal Operations

  • We break down legal issues to make them standardisable and automatable – saving costs and allowing us to devote key legal resources to advancing strategy and pleadings. What‘s more our technological approach minimises human error.

Technology & Data Management

  • The foundation of our work is the use of technical solutions enabled by strong, centralized data management.  
  • Leveraging all available data allows us to track mass proceedings in real time, giving our clients transparent, direct insight into their cases. This enables us to constantly adjust the strategy, optimizing it for each individual case.  
  • Natural language machine processing enables us to analyse documents thoroughly and quickly. Combined with workflow and document automation to speed up work, we can respond to mass claims in a scalable, industrialized manner. 

Cost-efficient solutions

  • Intelligent automation enables us to identify and automate standardized tasks. This allows us to ensure that different steps in the process are assigned to the relevant expert or the most suitable technology – enabling clear and accurate costs forecasts. 
  • At the same time, this allows us to achieve an unprecedented level of efficiency in the use of resources. This reduces the need for personnel, which in turn significantly lowers the cost risk for our clients.
  • Analysis of all data ensures that the right team is deployed to anticipate, identify and resolve issues before they reach their full impact. In turn, we can keep operating and damages costs to a minimum. 

Combined expertise

Fieldfisher

Market-leading practice in the world’s most dynamic sectors. Our outstanding lawyers deliver commercial, pragmatic & innovative solutions within given budgets.

Fieldfisher X

Cross-functional teams of lawyers, developers , as well as data and process experts combine Fieldfisher’s legal expertise with technology and entrepreneurial thinking.

We know how plaintiffs’ law firms think and can apply the right defence strategies.

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