Reach CaseRight

Reach CaseRight is an innovation from The Reach Agency designed to provide representative law firms with a whole-of-life solution for class actions.

Leveraging the latest in online technology, Reach CaseRight provides the tools and resources needed to seamlessly manage the process of promoting, collecting and verifying an applicant's personal information and case-related documents.

Regardless of the size or value of the lawsuit, the CaseRight technologies present an opportunity for firms to increase engagement with applicants from the start of the suit until a settlement is reached, whilst benefiting from best practice online security.

At the start of each lawsuit, CaseRight generates beautifully designed, firm-branded online application forms. These forms generate collected data into our Verification Workspace; This technology is designed to manage the process of cross-referencing applicant claims against subpoenaed data sources.

Finally, when a settlement has been reached, applicants are invited to the claim phase of the lawsuit. Here, using our secure CaseRight Settlement Claims Portal, each applicant is presented with a personalised settlement calculation. The facility allows the applicant to nominate their preferred method to receive their settlement monies and this information can be used by the firm or a Settlement Distribution Scheme provider to reconcile and process payments.

What can CaseRight do for you?

1

Maximise participation by increasing engagement with applicants during the bookbuild or registration phase of your class action. This is done through CaseRight's secure, easy to use, online registration forms.

2

Applicants can register and verify their case online, uploading documents and logging key dates in the timeline of their case. CaseRight's Applicant Microsite has a best practice, user-friendly design making the process simple. This actively works to reduce the timeframe of the suit by helping applicants collate and submit their evidence quickly.

3

CaseRight's cloud-based Verification Workspace provides a dashboard of analytics as evidence is submitted and a full suite of workflow tools designed to help reduce the time spent cross-referencing and verifying submissions.

4

Finally, CaseRight sends email or SMS notifications to applicants when a settlement has been reached, with a link to their personalised settlement facility. Here they can see their unique settlement calculation and confirm their preferred transfer method, along with making any required tax declaration and accepting the firm's terms and conditions.


Here's a closer look at how CaseRight applies to class actions.

Background

In a 2018 example, CaseRight was used for a shareholder class action. It achieved an impressive 92% verification success rate and saved the law firm a significant amount of time during this phase of the case.

Making a case for shareholders

As is commonplace during shareholder class actions, Computershare Limited as Transfer Agent for the defendant, was subpoenaed to verify claims made by checking that claims corresponded with the Registry at the time in question.

The litigators shared their interest in finding a technology solution that could help them to collect claim-related documentation and statements from applicants.

Computershare introduced the litigators to The Reach Agency, a specialised development firm that provides digital services and technologies to the financial services industry.

Central to the litigators immediate needs was to have an online facility that made it as easy as possible for holders to register a claim and upload documents and/or key dates that could then be used by Computershare to verify facts for the case.

Reach designed an online solution which could securely collect an applicant's personal details and sensitive case-related information. This laid the foundation for the Reach CaseRight suite of services and led to the full range of features and benefits we offer today.


Situation

It became clear to us that it would have been advantageous if we had used Reach during the bookbuild for the class action. I'm almost certain we would have saved time in this phase and it would have helped us to build early stage awareness with shareholders.

Comments from a recent client and leading Australian law firm.

Figure 1.1 - Overview of a typical class action lifecycle and the process involved in traditional case filings.

The Class Action Lifecycle

The situation for law firms is greatly affected by traditional methods of communication and the existing way of doing things.

As demonstrated in Figure 1.1, the class action lifecycle can be divided into four main stages; capturing registrations, collecting evidence, validating evidence and distributing settlements. During each phase, distinctly different business processes are being achieved.

Traditional methods of working through these stages see each phase handled in isolation. The process of promoting the suit and recruiting applicants finishes, then the process of collecting the applicants' documentation begins. Each phase has its own timeline and challenges.

There's a significant amount of the firm's time spent trying to first connect with those affected, then trying to remain connected with applicants over the course of a trial until a settlement is eventually reached.

There are now several technologies that can be applied to the class action lifecycle that can automate communication with applicants and achieve time and cost savings for the firm. These technologies have been wrapped into CaseRight.

The bottom line is that the whole lifecycle could benefit from
process improvements

Understanding the key challenges for law firms.

Increase Settlement

A high priority is to engage with potential class action applicants, as the more registrations received the higher the settlement value for all involved.

Reduce Timeframes

There's a need to meet court-enforced deadlines and to maintain pressure on staff and applicants to avoid long, drawn-out lawsuits that burn a lot of time and resources.

Reduce Drop-out Rates

Making the entire engagement process digital and automated, greatly reduces defective claims and plaintiff drop-out rates. CaseRight's smartphone friendly and highly-branded solutions increase participation rates.

Mitigate Risks for the Firm

It is imperative to collect and handle case-related personal and banking information in-line with online security best practices to verify and settle claims with minimal risk to the firm.


Analysis

It's my view that Reach would be of value to any firm looking to establish class action practices or planning to do more class actions going forward.

With an increase in litigation funds and fewer legal expenses class action filings continue to grow.

Figure 1.2 demonstrates the common types of class actions litigated in Australia. The statistics below represent the average number of cases filed annually; the duration of cases; the most common outcome; and the total number of class actions over 25 years of litigation in Australia.

Figure 1.2 - Class actions by type filed between 1 June 1992 to 31 May 2017.

  • Shareholder or Investor - 34.9%
  • Product Liability - 13.6%
  • Employment - 10.9%
  • Mass Tort - 10.5%
  • Consumer Protection - 9.1%
  • Migration - 6.6%
  • Other - 14.4%

Source: "The First Twenty-five Years of Class Actions in Australia". by Prof. Vince Morabito Department of Business Law and Taxation Monash Business School, Ethical Regulation Research Group, MOnah University; July 1017


30

Number of state & federal Australian class actions filed from 4/3/2016 to 3/3/2017.

940

Average number of days to settlement of state & federal class actions in Australia.


52%

of all resolved class action cases in Australia result in a judicially-approved settlement.

513

state and federal class actions have been filed in Australia from 1/6/1992 to 31/5/2017.



CaseRight

The CaseRight Applicant Microsite

Introducing the Reach
CaseRight
Applications & Services


The CaseRight Applicant Microsite

The CaseRight Applicant Microsite presents a beautifully designed online application facility that professionally represents the firm and formalises the application process.

The Applicant Microsite comes with a promotional landing page for official information about the class action and encourages interested parties to submit a registration to participate and remain informed. This facility becomes a centralised online information resource for word of mouth, printed mail, digital marketing, social media and public relations campaigns undertaken to engage with potential applicants.

The solution can be tailored to suit a wide range of class action types. It can be used to capture a simple registration or support the upload of evidence in the form of key dates, photos and documents which can later verify claims.

The CaseRight facilities are securely hosted, providing firms with a high-quality solution that ensures the privacy and protection of the applicant data submitted.


CaseRight

The CaseRight Verification Workspace

Introducing the Reach
CaseRight
Applications & Services


The CaseRight Verification Workspace

The CaseRight Verification Workspace is an application for law firms that has been designed to help staff and subpoenaed parties through the process of verifying claims in a class action.

Firms can benefit from a single location to track and verify the progress of one or more class actions. From the Litigators' Dashboard, a full range of analytics can be seen including the number of claims, the total claims value, the geodiversity of a suit, and claims in various stages of verification.

CaseRight employs best practice time and workload management techniques, making it easy to process claims and communicate with applicants when required.

With CaseRight you can get through this phase of your case much faster, managing staff and applicants simultaneously.


CaseRight

The CaseRight Settlement Application

Introducing the Reach
CaseRight
Applications & Services


The CaseRight Settlement Application

Leveraging years of experience meeting the regulatory requirements for Australian corporate actions, Reach can deliver firm-branded, secured microsites to present successful claimants with a personalised settlement application form to complete the distribution process.

This facility is designed to be easy for anyone approved for a claim to follow a simple declaration and acceptance process to close out the settlement and for the firm to finalise arrangements with applicants.

Designed to integrate with Settlement Distribution Scheme (SDS) providers, this application provides an applicant-facing service for clean data, easy reconciliation and emailed receipts.

CaseRight benefits from The Reach Agency's ISAE3402 accreditation. This internationally recognised certification qualifies Reach to deliver a highly secure and reliable online service.


Outcomes

We can definitely see ourselves using the Reach team and these technologies again. Everything has been handled with great professionalism. The data that has been collected is of high quality and Reach have demonstrated that they are committed to finding new ways to add value.

5,400

The number of shareholders on registry at the time of the alleged offence in a recent class action.


3%

Only 3% of shareholders had email addresses recorded on the registry.

97%

of shareholders required expensive mailed communications.


1,238

Number of applicants who registered their claim online.

1,148

Number of applicants who were successfully verified.


43Days

Number of days claims were registered online and verified.

92%

Verification success rate



Why Reach

As part of the world's largest share registry firm, Computershare, we have successfully delivered high-volume, high-value investor web solutions for all the largest banks and law firms in the world. We have delivered over 600+ projects involving complex financial transactions and processing requirements for everyday investors. Our solutions have been deployed on individual deals involving more than 4 million participants and have processed over $70Bn in transactions.

We bring these skills; our experience and our software to each deal so you know you will have the highest quality engagement and retention, access to bank-grade security and maximum levels of efficiency.

Why Reach key points graphic

Meet With Us

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79 Commonwealth Street
Surry Hills, NSW, 2010

P +61 (0)2 8278 7110

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New York, NY, 10010

P +1-855-215-5480

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