Jess Askew III and Andrew King, partners in the firm’s Little Rock office, will speak at the Arkansas Association of Defense Counsel’s Annual Meeting on Friday, August 2 in Fayetteville. 

The presentation, titled “Taking a Class Action to Trial” will examine several open questions about class action practice in state and federal courts after a class is certified. Mr. Askew and Mr. King will explain the reasons they believe more Arkansas class actions defendants should go to trial rather than settling. They will also compare federal and state class action outcomes, discuss the pro-certification case law that creates pressure to settle class actions, using class notice as a vehicle for formulating a trial plan, and changing the dynamics of class-action defense.  

Since 2014, Jess Askew III and Andrew King have defended dozens of class actions and secured favorable outcomes on a multitude of topics, including consumer rights, shareholder litigation, oil-and-gas leases, wage-and-hour claims, health care, insurance and products liability. They are the authors of “Shattered Class: Looking Beyond Certification in Arkansas Class Actions” published in the Spring 2019 edition of Arkansas Lawyer magazine.