On Feb. 21, Mr. Hood hired the firm to represent the Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System in a securities-class action against Delphi Corp.

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In states like Mississippi, which respondents to ATRA's survey described as particularly hostile to class-action defendants, local business defendants often have a home-field advantage, whereas other states like New Jersey--home to many of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, and highlighted as a bad place for them to get sued--treat in-state defendants as roughly as out-of-state defendants.

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In Mississippi, the state attorney general determines when the public employees retirement fund should bring a securities class action and which outside firms will represent the fund.

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