CEI Congratulates Ted Frank and CCAF on the Launch of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute

Since merging with CEI in 2015, the Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) has continued the mission Ted Frank began nearly a decade ago.  CCAF has protected consumers and shareholders from being preyed upon by their own attorneys in numerous class actions.  CCAF’s record of success is well-documented, winning hundreds of millions of dollars for consumers and shareholders, winning landmark precedents, and taking the fight against abusive class-action settlements all the way to the Supreme Court with Frank v. Gaos. CEI has played an important role in the program as it reached new levels of success.

After a great deal of reflection, we have decided it is the right time for the program to chart its own course as part of a new organization solely focused on public-interest litigation. 

In January 2019, CCAF will become part of the new Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, a free-market nonprofit public-interest law firm created by CEI/CCAF litigators Ted Frank and Melissa Holyoak.  HLLI will litigate for free markets, free speech, limited government, separation of powers, and animal welfare; and against regulatory abuse and rent-seeking.  And, of course, HLLI will continue the important work that CCAF does ensuring that the class-action system puts the interests of class members ahead of the interests of attorneys.  Melissa Holyoak will be president and general counsel of the new organization, and Frank will be director of litigation.  CEI attorneys Anna St. John, Adam Schulman, and Frank Bednarz will join Frank and Holyoak at HLLI. 

“We are proud of being part of CEI’s rich history, and grateful for the support of the entire CEI team and our mutual donors as we move on to grow the program.  We wish CEI continued success.  Alexander Hamilton and Abraham Lincoln were not only great Americans, but great litigators.  We are excited about the new opportunities for ‘HamLinc’ to expand the CCAF model that led to a revolution in the class-action field to other under-served areas of the law, as well as to continue the fight for class-action fairness,” said Frank. 

“Public interest litigation is vital to our legal system.  We are all better for the successes of CEI and CCAF litigators and look forward to continued collaboration.  We will work together on pending cases such as Competitive Enterprise Institute v. FCC, and continue to seek opportunities to support our shared objectives of a government bound by the rule of law and the legal system unhampered by bad incentives,” said CEI president Kent Lassman.

CEI’s website is http://cei.org.  HLLI’s website is http://hlli.org and http://hamlinc.org.

Contact:
Travis Burk, 202-331-1010, [email protected]
Ted Frank, 703-203-3848, [email protected]

Ted Frank

Melissa A. Holyoak

Kent Lassman

Since merging with CEI in 2015, the Center for Class Action Fairness (CCAF) has continued the mission Ted Frank began nearly a decade ago.  CCAF has protected consumers and shareholders from being preyed upon by their own attorneys in numerous class actions.  CCAF’s record of success is well-documented, winning hundreds of millions of dollars for consumers and shareholders, winning landmark precedents, and taking the fight against abusive class-action settlements all the way to the Supreme Court with Frank v. Gaos. CEI has played an important role in the program as it reached new levels of success.