Erica P. John Fund, Inc. v. Halliburton Co. - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
SCOTUScast 07-25-11 featuring Adam C. Pritchard
SCOTUScast 07-25-11 featuring Adam C. Pritchard
On June 6, 2011, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Erica P. John Fund, Inc. v. Halliburton Co. The question in this case was whether securities fraud plaintiffs must prove "that the defendant's deceptive conduct caused their claimed economic loss" in order to be certified as a class.
In an opinion delivered by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court held unanimously that securities fraud plaintiffs do not need to prove that the defendant's deceptive conduct caused their claimed economic loss in order to be certified as a class.
To discuss the case, we have Adam C. Pritchard, who is the Frances and George Skestos Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School.
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Frances and George Skestos Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School
Adam C. Pritchard, the Frances and George Skestos Professor of Law, teaches corporate and securities law. He is the author, with Stephen J. Choi, of Securities Regulation: Cases and Analysis, currently in its fifth edition. His research focuses on securities class actions, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement, and the history of securities law in the U.S. Supreme Court. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Law and Economics, American Law and Economics Review, the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Law, Economics, and Organizations, and various law reviews. Professor Pritchard holds BA and JD degrees from the University of Virginia, as well as an MPP from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. While at Virginia, he was an Olin Fellow in Law and Economics and served as articles development editor of the Virginia Law Review. After graduation, he clerked for the Hon. J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice. After working in private practice, Professor Pritchard served as senior counsel in the Office of the General Counsel of the SEC, where he wrote appellate briefs and studied the effect of recent reforms in the areas of securities fraud litigation. He received the SEC's Law and Policy Award for his work in United States v. O'Hagan, in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the misappropriation theory of insider trading. Professor Pritchard has been a visiting professor at the Northwestern University School of Law, the Georgetown University Law Center, and the University of Iowa School of Law. He also has been a visiting scholar at the SEC and a visiting fellow in capital market studies at the Cato Institute. He was previously a member of the FINRA National Adjudicatory Council and the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel.