During my time advising Congress, I also advised many law firms, including Schlichter Bogard & Denton of St. Louis, Missouri, one of the most successful tort litigation firms in the United States. The purpose of the work was to require retail investment providers to disclose fees and costs so clients could make better choices. My work on Capitol Hill contributed to a wave of litigation. More than one-third of Fortune 100 companies were eventually sued by the firm. As the firm succeeded in the lower courts, defendants appealed and often found relief in the appellate courts. Several cases reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Because the lawsuits drew on my economic research, I was asked to co-author and submit an amicus brief with Brooks Hamilton of Dallas, Texas, in Hecker v. Deere (2010). The Supreme Court denied certiorari on January 19, 2010 (Docket No. 09-447). Subsequent, similar cases also reached the Court. In Tibble v. Edison International (2015), the Supreme Court ruled unanimously for the plaintiffs, in line with reasoning set out in my prior amicus brief. This ruling affected more than 70 million Americans and helped save an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars annually in previously hidden fees or other losses caused by market opacity.

The Amicus Brief may be seen here.