[JURIST] In a CATO Institute [official website] study released Friday, University of Michigan Law School professor Adam Pritchard [faculty profile] considers whether Congress should repeal securities class action reform [executive summary]. From the Executive Summary: "The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 was designed to curtail class action lawsuits by the plaintiffs' bar. In particular, the high-technology industry, accountants, and investment bankers thought that they had been unjustly victimized by class action lawsuits based on little more than declines in a company's stock price. The plaintiffs' bar and its allies in Congress have [now] called for a repeal or modification of the PSLRA. This paper evaluates the operation of class action lawsuits before and after the act." Read the full policy analysis [PDF].