Events

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The Economics Institute for State Attorneys General was a three-and-a-half-day educational program that helped AG staff attorneys improve their understanding of the basic economic principles often found at the heart of legal and public policy disputes. During the Institute and through interactive, classroom-style lectures, participants received a solid grounding in economic concepts and methods and … Continue reading “Economics Institute for State Attorneys General”

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Advanced technology has become both a necessity and convenience of everyday life. With those advancements, policymakers and regulators are faced with the difficult task of protecting consumers in the wake of rapid technological innovations. The Workshop on the Law & Economics of Privacy for State Attorneys General was designed to provide Attorneys General and their … Continue reading “Workshop on the Law & Economics of Privacy for State Attorneys General”

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  For several years now, plaintiffs — and, in particular state and local city or county governments — have been filing claims against energy producers and others, including trade associations for these companies seeking billions in climate change damages in civil lawsuits where they claim these defendants are liable for climate change harms.  The dominant … Continue reading “The Evolving Climate Change Litigation Landscape: The Rise of Consumer Deception Claims”

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Existing state and federal statutes and proposed bills with “private rights of action,” or PRAs, seek to deputize ordinary citizens to file civil lawsuits to enforce laws and vindicate the public policies in legislation that authorizes the PRAs. These lawsuits can be brought by what are sometimes called “private attorneys general” or “bounty hunters” regardless … Continue reading “State and Federal “Private Right of Action” Legislation: Are These Mechanisms Wise or Worrisome?”

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2023 is turning out to be an eventful year for privacy policy.  The FTC has proposed modifications to its Facebook order that would keep Facebook from monetizing data from minors, and has flexed its enforcement powers through a broad interpretation of its Health Breach Notification Rule—one that it now wants to codify.  At the same … Continue reading “2023 Privacy Update: FTC, Congress, and the States (Webinar)”

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Third Party Litigation Funding (TPLF) is an increasingly used mechanism for financing lawsuits that is similarly coming under increasing scrutiny. With TPLF, third part financiers “invest” in lawsuits with an expected return on their investment by getting a cut of any judgment award or settlement received by their funded plaintiff. Sophisticated funders develop diverse portfolios … Continue reading “Update on the Debate Over Third Party Litigation Finance”

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Our panel of experts, each with deep experience litigating before the US Supreme Court, provided analysis on some of the most important decisions released by the Court across its past term.  The panelists particularly focused on those cases decided by the Court that are most relevant for the future of civil justice, those to which … Continue reading “Civil Justice Review of the Supreme Court’s 2022-2023 Term”

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Key to understanding law and economics is mastering an appreciation for the idea that resources are scarce, that with every choice there is a cost (i.e. life is full of tradeoffs and opportunity costs), that market order emerges spontaneously through a complex system of human interactions made easier by specialization of labor and the coordinating … Continue reading “How Little Policymakers Know About What They Imagine They Can Design”

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The 13th Annual Henry G. Manne Faculty Forum is an annual Roundtable where junior tenure-track faculty at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School presented draft papers for comment, discussion, and critique by senior faculty at the law school. Each author also invited one other discussant of their choice to participate. Following the Forum, the … Continue reading “13th Annual Henry G. Manne Faculty Forum”