About the Notice Project
Brief History of the Notice Project
The Notice Project, led by the Impact Fund, began in response to public confusion about class actions.
Initial focus groups revealed that people got most of their information about class actions from the Class Notices - and class members found these notices incomprehensible.
Rather than pursuing rule changes, the team focused on redesigning class action notices with the help of graphic designers, plain language experts, and legal practitioners. Through years of development, testing, and feedback, the project produced suite of templates for notices that are easier to understand.
The team also launched NoticeAssist, an AI-powered tool that litigators can use to simplify notice language.
Today, the templates have been approved by judges in dozens of cases, and the project continues to grow with expanded formats, languages, and outreach.
Our Team
Jocelyn Larkin - Of Counsel, former Executive Director of the Impact Fund
Ms. Larkin joined the Impact Fund in 2000 and served as its Executive Director from 2010 until February 2024. She is now Of Counsel to the organization with a focus on the Notice Project initiative. She also serves as a member of the Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Civil Rules.
Larkin's practice has focused on complex employment discrimination and class action practice on behalf of plaintiffs. Ms. Larkin has served as class counsel in many major class actions, including Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Ellis v. Costco Wholesale Corp., Parra v. Bashas’ Inc, Williams v. City of Antioch, and Stender v. Lucky Stores. Ms. Larkin first developed the Impact Fund’s Class Action Training Institute and its annual Class Action Conference.
Ms. Larkin has been a frequent speaker and author on issues concerning class actions, employment law, ethics, and civil rights. Ms. Larkin is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, and the UCLA School of Law.
Alex Lara - Product Manager
Alex joined Impact Fund in February 2020, where he worked alongside then-Executive Director Jocelyn Larkin to establish the Notice Project. More recently, he led the development of NoticeAssist, the organization’s first AI-driven tool aimed at enhancing access to justice.
With hands-on experience in product management, design, and engineering leadership, Alex has guided cross-functional teams in developing cutting-edge solutions. He excels at distilling complex, diverse information into clear, actionable insights, effectively bridging the gap between technical teams and broader organizational objectives.
Born and raised in Porterville, CA, to an immigrant family with roots in Michoacán, Mexico, Alex’s early experiences instilled in him resilience and a deep sense of responsibility—qualities that fuel his passion for innovation and ability to bring bold ideas to life. In addition to his work at Impact Fund, Alex serves on the Board of Directors for the Foothill-De Anza Foundation. His career includes roles as a Product Marketing Manager at View, Inc., and as an Analyst at Colliers International. He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Davis.
John Henry Frankel - Communications Lead
John Henry is the communications lead for the Notice Project initiative. Prior to joining the Impact Fund, John Henry worked in PR and content, writing Forbes articles, Wikipedia pages, LinkedIn blog posts, and technical press releases across multiple tech verticals as well as the music industry.
John Henry has two history degrees, and his historical area of focus is the intersection of colonialism, gender, and the media in the 20th and 21st centuries. In his free time, he enjoys watching Nicolas Cage movies.
Please reach out to us if you have any questions, comments, or need assistance.
The Notice Project is an Impact Fund initiative.
Our Objective: Improving Class Notices
We believe that class actions are a powerful vehicle for justice, and they can be made even more effective by improving the communication between litigators and class members.
Notices exist to tell the public about their legal rights – they shouldn’t make class members feel frustrated for not being able to understand complex legalistic jargon.
If class members can’t understand notices, or are too frustrated to read them fully, then they will struggle to understand their legal rights and how to participate in the class action lawsuits.
Our objective is to improve access to justice in class action lawsuits and make class notices easier to understand. With that goal in mind, we're developing tools and resources to enable litigators to draft notices that are more accessible for class members.
You can find our Notice Templates here, and our NoticeAssist software here.
The Notice Project is a program created by the Impact Fund, a charitable nonprofit that funds and fights for economic, environmental, racial, and social justice.