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Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque London:

On the second day of the IIEF Institutional Investor Europe conference on global shareholder activism in London, panelists discussed the possibility of Europe bringing US-style class actions to its courts. The consensus seemed to be that although Europeans are working towards providing a sensible form of collective justice, it will not replicate U.S.-style class actions.

Background A class action is a lawsuit brought by a representative member of a large group of people on behalf of all members of the group. Class actions are still by and large a U.S. phenomenon. However, in several European countries with civil law (as opposed to the English common law principle, which is used by US courts), changes have in recent years been made that allow consumer organizations to bring claims on behalf of large groups of consumers. Litigation is the process of taking a case through court.

According to a recent paper written by Steven Philippsohn, partner at the London-based law firm PCB Litigation LLP, class litigation is compelling because of the need for victims to have access to justice, and because it promotes good corporate governance in the case of shareholder claims.

Philippsohn explains the US system as such: it "is sai......................

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