Ted Frank is on a mission to curb abusive class action settlements. Since mid-2009 his nonprofit Center for Class Action Fairness has filed objections to 17 settlements that he believed offered too little to class members and too much to plaintiffs lawyers. As of April, Frank, 42, had convinced federal district court judges to reject or revise six settlements. One example: a $16.5 million payout in a securities class action against Apple Inc. that Frank opposed, in part, because $2.5 million was to go to corporate governance programs at universities with ties to the plaintiffs lawyers. Frank, who began his career as an associate at Kirkland & Ellis, Irell & Manella, and O’Melveny & Myers, currently has nine objections pending in federal district court (including one involving Cobell v. Salazar, see “How Much is Too Much?,” page 9). He spoke with American Lawyer senior writer Susan Beck in March.
Q What made you decide to get into the role of challenging class action settlements?
