Thursday, June 4
Mega Summit Synopsis: Experts Dove Deeply into Today’s Class Action, Mass Tort, and Claims Administration Challenges
The 2026 Angeion Group Mega Summit kicked off with a packed day one that reflected the momentum and purpose behind this year’s event. Senior attorneys and legal professionals from across complex litigation and restructuring gathered for practical programming, peer-to-peer exchange, and curated networking — all centered on the challenges and opportunities shaping class actions, mass torts, settlement administration, legal noticing, and bankruptcy.
Angeion Group President and CEO Steve Weisbrot opened the day with a warm welcome to attendees gathered in the Four Seasons Hotel Ballroom in Philadelphia. Weisbrot encouraged attendees to spend the next few days sharing insights, strategies, and innovations to help shape the future of complex litigation.
Following the opening remarks, attendees chose from a variety of presentations that suited their interests. This first day of sessions ranged from wildfire litigation and bankruptcy strategy to trauma-informed administration and fraud prevention. The agenda reflects an industry increasingly shaped by scale, data, compliance, and claimant experience.
Here are the sessions that drove discussion throughout the day.
Philadelphia Class Action Legends
Moderated by Weisbrot, this session offered both historical perspective and practical insight from some of the legal professionals who helped shape modern complex litigation. Beyond storytelling, attendees heard how class action strategy, plaintiff leadership, and settlement administration have evolved over the years — especially as litigation becomes more data-intensive and multi-jurisdictional.
The discussion highlighted how long-standing legal principles are adapting to today’s realities, including digital notice, cybersecurity risks, and increasingly sophisticated defense strategies.
Climate & Infrastructure Torts: When Wildfires Meet Chapter 11
Climate-related litigation continues to reshape the legal landscape, and this session examined one of the most consequential intersections in mass tort law: environmental disaster claims and bankruptcy proceedings.
As wildfire litigation grows in size and complexity, courts, law firms, and administrators are increasingly navigating questions around liability, compensation structures, insurance exhaustion, and reorganizations under Chapter 11.
Led by Emily Gottlieb, Executive Vice President of Bankruptcy at Angeion, the panel discussed past litigation, ongoing cases, recent settlements and what the future might bring. The hottest topic in this discussion centered around California’s wildfire fund, which is under strain, keeping Chapter 11 squarely on the table for future climate-driven events. The conversation delivered valuable insight into how future climate and infrastructure disputes could affect claims resolution and claimant recovery.
We Know Who They Are — Now What? The Challenges of Noticing and Administering Known Class Settlements
Notice strategy remains one of the most important — and misunderstood — aspects of class action administration. Session moderator Dawn McPherson, Vice President of Class Action & Mass Tort Services at Angeion, centered the discussion on situations where defendants already possess substantial claimant data, raising important questions around outreach, engagement, accuracy, and participation rates.
Attendees explored how administrators balance compliance obligations with practical realities such as outdated contact information, changing consumer behavior, and digital communication preferences. The discussion examined how courts increasingly evaluate whether notice programs are truly designed to reach affected individuals effectively.
Medical Records at Scale: Building a Compliant, Tech-Enabled Pipeline for Speed and Accuracy
In high-volume mass torts, medical record retrieval can quickly become one of the most complex and time-sensitive parts of administration. Moderated by David Warren, Vice President of Mass Tort & Class Action Services at Angeion, this session examined what it takes to build a records retrieval process that is fast, compliant, and reliable at scale.
The discussion covered HIPAA considerations, workflow automation, quality control, and the practical steps case teams can take to reduce delays without compromising accuracy or defensibility. As litigation portfolios continue to grow in size and complexity, scalable infrastructure for medical records management is becoming increasingly critical to keeping matters moving efficiently and securely.
Antitrust in the Age of Data: How Economists and Lawyers Use Analytics to Prove Market Power
Data analytics now sit at the center of many modern antitrust matters. This session looked at how economists, litigators, and experts use large datasets, algorithms, and market modeling to establish competitive harm and market dominance.
The conversation led by moderator Christian Clapp, Angeion’s Senior Vice President of Class Action & Mass Tort Services, touched on how evolving technology markets are changing traditional definitions of competition, pricing power, and consumer impact — particularly in digital industries where data itself has become a strategic asset.
What Every Plaintiff's Lawyer Needs to Know About Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy issues increasingly intersect with complex litigation, particularly in large-scale tort matters involving corporate restructuring. Led by Jessica Liou, Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, this session focused on practical considerations for plaintiff firms navigating bankruptcies while protecting claimant rights and preserving recovery opportunities.
Attendees took part in discussions around automatic stays, trust structures, creditor negotiations, and how litigation strategy changes when defendants pursue restructuring.
Fraud-Zero by Design: Building Claims Programs that Deter, Detect, and Document
As digital claims programs scale, fraud prevention remains a top concern for administrators, counsel, and courts alike. This session examined how organizations can proactively design claims programs that balance accessibility with verification and oversight. Moderator Eric Schachter, Executive Vice President of Class Action Services for Angeion Group, discussed how to build end-to-end fraud defense (bot mitigation, identity proofing, anomalous-pattern detection, human review) and produce court-ready audit trails without adding friction for legitimate claimants.
Rather than relying solely on reactive investigations, the discussion centered on building fraud-resistant systems from the outset through identity validation, behavioral analytics, audit trails, and documentation protocols.
Do No Further Harm: Trauma-Informed Administration
One of the most important emerging conversations in claims administration involves claimant experience — particularly in sensitive mass tort and survivor-related cases. Nick Primerano, Angeion Group’s Senior Manager, Client Success – Mass Tort & Personal Injury, moderated this session focused on trauma-informed approaches to intake, communication, and claims handling.
The discussion covered how administrators can reduce retraumatization, improve claimant engagement, and support more accurate information gathering through empathetic, carefully designed processes. The discussion emphasized that trauma-informed administration is not simply a procedural consideration; it is part of doing claims administration responsibly. Clear communication, accessible processes, and claimant-centered design can help reduce barriers to participation and advance the broader goal of access to justice.
In-House Playbook: Managing Multi-Jurisdiction Litigation
As litigation spans multiple courts, states, and even countries, coordination challenges continue to grow. This session focused on how in-house legal teams manage consistency, risk, communication, and operational oversight across overlapping proceedings. Moderator Charstie Enders, Vice President, Client Strategy and Solutions, Angeion Group, guided a panel discussion on how in-house legal teams are increasingly responsible for building a single defense strategy that holds up across multiple jurisdictions, regulators, and parallel proceedings.
Attendees heard about practical strategies for handling discovery coordination, vendor management, reporting structures, and cross-functional collaboration while maintaining efficiency in highly complex litigation environments.
Looking Ahead
Day one set the tone for this year’s Summit, with sessions focused on smarter data use, scalable administration, claimant-centered processes, and the operational realities of increasingly complex disputes.
Across the opening sessions, the programming reflected an industry moving beyond traditional administration models toward technology-enabled systems that emphasize accuracy, defensibility, accessibility, and trust — all while adapting to new forms of litigation risk and regulatory scrutiny.
More tomorrow as the sessions continue.