On November 25, 2013, Catherine Weiss, Pro Bono Partner at Lowenstein Sandler, along with her colleagues Michael Hahn and Andrew S. Zimmerman published an article in The National Law Journal, entitled States Provide Model for Handling Controversial Class Action Awards, addressing the issue of cy pres awards in class action litigation and applauding states that grant such awards to legal services organizations. In their conclusion, the authors argue: “Federal courts would do well to follow the lead of states at the forefront of reform and amend the federal class action rule to designate legal services organizations as cy pres recipients, either in all cases or at least in those in which there is no obvious nonprofit recipient with a nexus to the lawsuit. Such a rule would assist the courts by relieving the burdens associated with unrepresented litigants and help to restore the legal services sector, which serves as a bulwark against injustice for the neediest clients.”
