EU opens the door to group actions

Wednesday March 25 2022

The collective power of people to take legal action has already dramatically affected the legal sector in the UK, Australia, and for many years, the United States. Now law firms in Europe are witnessing the birth of the EU class action. So, how can law firms across all member states keep consumers, funders, and their fellow partners happy when dealing with cases which have the potential to triple current client bases practically overnight?

The rise in collective actions in the EU follows the endorsement by the European Parliament of a directive ‘on representative actions to protect the collective interests of consumers’ on 24 November 2020, as part of the European Commission's 2018 "New Deal for Consumers" initiative.

It covers all infringements of EU law within various sectors, including health, cosmetics, food information, data protection, environment, energy, and passengers’ rights. It allows "qualified entities" such as consumer organisations or independent public bodies to bring representative actions to seek both injunction and redress measures.

In the UK, the vast rise in collective actions has also been fuelled by favourable legislation, digitalisation, and globalisation. The latter two factors expose many more consumers to unlawful behaviour. Third-party litigation funding has also made these lengthy and costly types of legal redress far more palatable for law firms.

Whilst law firms have welcomed the group or collective action; it has not come without significant challenges for a sector much more used to dealing with individual claims. The industry finds itself now having to be more speedboat in changing direction than its traditional oil tanker approach to meet demand and expectation.

Law firms planning to handle collective actions will be expected to respond to the onboarding, management, and maintenance of potentially thousands of new clients. This of course depends on the effectiveness of its marketing, which is itself struggling to abandon its traditional professional services approach and adopt one more suited to mass consumer appeal.

Law firm legacy systems within these firms may not be able to handle the demands of consumers who expect an immediate response and real-time satisfaction from an inquiry leading to many prospective but sceptical claimants wondering why it seems so difficult to join a claim when buying insurance or getting a loan online is so much easier.

Technology is the answer and one of the platforms looking to solve this issue for claimants and law firms is Find Others. The full-service platform aims to bring people together who have a collective interest, putting the tools in their hands to campaign, find others and find the right lawyer.

Group of people at old tow square. Prague

While the platform also allows law firms to campaign, it uniquely enables them to manage and maintain their clients through a simple subscription model. It provides a client relationship system that meets the demand of today’s consumers looking for instant gratification from interaction online.

Find Others, having been established in the UK with financial backing from the UK regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, is now looking to Europe and the US to see how its technology can extend into these new markets and has received funding from the UK Government’s Innovate UK fund to make this possible.  

These claims will grow. The need for law firms to meet this demand will be paramount. Without it, new entrants will take the lead through their ability to adapt to new technology more quickly and not be encumbered with internal systems that are not fit for purpose.

The firms that prosper will be quick to react to scandal and have the means to form a genuinely collective action through technology that makes the claimant feel a belonging to a movement rather than just a number on a spreadsheet.  

Find Others is currently speaking to several law firms, funders and advocates across Europe and the United States. If you would like to discuss how the Find Others platform could benefit your firm or your fight, please get in touch with me and I’d be happy to take you through the platform.