Edelson P.C. decided it wanted to spark a national conversation about how plaintiff’s class action settlements often failed the public by intentionally depressing claims rates (i.e., the number of class members who actually claim benefits from a settlement). The issue is incredibly important but also, let’s be honest, a bit of a snooze-fest. We tried the traditional route first, speaking at conferences, finding allies in academia, trying to get the media to cover this issue. It went nowhere. The feedback we received was resounding: you might be right, but this is all too much “inside baseball” to get people’s attention.
Instead of hanging our hats, we came up with a plan, consisting of several related parts. First we wrote an opinion piece for law360 (a popular news source for lawyers) where we provided a traditional legal analysis of the issue. This allowed us to have a solid foundation to give some specifics to the problem we were addressing and the new way in which courts were reacting. (Our kids call this “showing the receipts.”). The article got a bit of buzz, but nothing groundbreaking.
We then produced a high-quality music video called “We don’t talk about claims rates (A “Bruno” parody)” where we balanced the fine line between getting our message across (reform is needed) while making it interesting for the legal world and the lay public alike. Because we always think in terms of secondary and tertiary goals, we also wanted to convey our firm culture so that people would have a better understanding of who we are.
The video broke through. Soon it was reported on by national publications including Reuters, Above the Law, and the National Law Journal. The video was being sent around at law schools, law firms, and even those in the political arena. Within a short period of time, it got 70,000 views on YouTube (not bad for a very niche issue) and provided the broader springboard to talk about this issue on podcasts, at legal conferences, and in front of courts. A short time after, the defense bar got into the fray, writing articles about their views on claims rates and, amazingly, even doing some fun social media around the issue.
In under 6 months, we brought an issue that was on no one’s radar to the forefront of the debate for class action reform.
