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Here are some things I learned over the last year regarding class actions against a company.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you are presenting a business case to the law firm, not just a legal case. So you will have to provide more than just how you think you have been wronged. I suggest you include:

1. Who will be defending and what resources can they bring to their defence.
2. What capacity the defendant has to pay in the event of a settlement, or a judgement against the defendant.
3. What the payout is realistically likely to be.
4. Where the case is likely to be heard if it goes to court. A law firm is only likely to launch an action if they have suitable people on the ground near the relevant court.
5. Who your primary litigant will be, and who else will sign up to the action. You should have at least ten people prepared to put their names on paperwork to get the action started. The primary litigant must be prepared to meet the solicitors and attend court if called as a witness.
6. In some detail, what your case is. You will need to put some serious work into this. The law firm will do only the most superficial research to assess the case. If it doesn't look like a direct, strong case at the first sniff they won't bother with it.

If you can get the case started, things get a bit easier. In Australia a class action automatically includes every person who belongs to the class without having to explicitly sign up to it. Most class actions are funded on contingency with the law firm taking roughly 40% of the eventual payout if there is a win.

In detailing your case you need to be very, very clear!

1. Exactly who it is that you want to chase.
2. Exactly what harm – monetary harm by preference – you have suffered.
3. Exactly why you think the defendants are responsible for you suffering that harm, and why you weren't able to take responsibility for protecting yourself.
4. Any other cases – particularly class actions – you can refer to where the circumstances were similar and the action was successful.