Whether to facilitate representation of under-resourced clients, to hedge the risk of litigation, or pursuant to a litigation finance portfolio strategy, law firm partners are increasingly driving the decision to seek third-party funding.
Law Firms
Defense-Side Litigation Funding – In Practice
Lee Drucker
Litigation funding is not just for plaintiffs. We, at Lake Whillans, provide defense-side financing using a unique transaction structure. While our approach does not work for all defense-side litigation or arbitration, in the right circumstances, our structure provides for a straight forward transaction that allows a defendant to optimally protect its business.
Read MoreHow-To Win Clients and Influence Funders: A 2-Part Series
Marla Decker
In Part I of this series, I shared observations from my vantage point as a litigation funder on what works when pitching to potential clients. In this Part II, I will share my views on how to best present your client’s case to a financier. It may seem that to obtain financing, you would present a funder with the best aspects of your client’s case, including the facts and law on their side. At a minimum, this is of course necessary, but there is more. Here are a few tips.
Read MoreHow-To Win Clients and Influence Funders: A 2-Part Series
Marla Decker
As a member of the litigation finance community, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a varied cross-section of attorneys and one truth has emerged: business development is a pressure every practitioner is facing. Perhaps your New Year’s Resolution this year will include improving the efficacy of your business development efforts. If so, this series is for you. In Part I of this series, I’ll share my observations about what I’ve seen work in winning business. In Part II, I’ll share my thoughts on the related skill of how to best present your client’s case to a funder.
Read MoreUK High Court Affirms Arbitral Ruling that Party Can Recover Litigation Finance Costs
Marla Decker
The High Court decided an appeal brought by Essar Oilfield Services, which challenged an award granted in an ICC arbitration to Norscot Rig Management, in which the arbitrator directed Essar to pay not only Norscot’s damages and attorneys’ fees, but also Norscot’s costs of litigation financing. In the dispute between the two oil and gas companies, Norscot used financing to pay for its £647,000 in attorneys’ fees, and, as a result of the successful arbitration, Norscot was obligated to the funder for the greater of three-times that amount or 35% of the damages award. (The amount of the damage award has not been reported.) Essar challenged the arbitrator’s authority to award the litigation finance costs in the High Court.
Read MoreLitigation Finance: Creating a Code of Conduct
Lee Drucker
In mature industries, there is usually a set of rules outlining best practices for individuals and organizations. In newly developing industries, however, best practices are less clear, and once established spread more slowly. In order to promote the development of best practices in litigation finance, we recently identified key aspects of a funding arrangement that we believe will lead to the best results for a claimholder. Companies considering a litigation financing offer should consider the following principles and their importance:
Read MoreThree Ways Litigation Finance Changes Your Job: Inside & Out
Lee Drucker
This post was contributed by Bill Patterson; he was the general counsel of Business Logic where he oversaw a “bet-the-company” litigation. He now manages complex litigation at Swanson, Martin & Bell. You can contact Bill at bpatterson@smbtrials.com.
Litigation finance is here to stay. Having worked as outside counsel, in-house and now as outside counsel again, I can confidently make that statement. There are three fundamental ways litigation finance changes your job, whether you’re inside or out.
Read MoreLake Whillans’ Life Sciences Law Firm Index
Lee Drucker
In order to help entrepreneurs in the life sciences sector, we are creating an annual ranking of the top law firms that help these entrepreneurs protect their interests throughout the lifecycle of their business.
Read MoreLitigation Finance; a Financial Perspective
Lee Drucker
On November 20th, the Center on Civil Justice at NYU School of Law hosted an in-depth conference dedicated to the subject of litigation finance, Litigation Funding: The Basics and Beyond. It was a great opportunity to interact with many of the people that are devoting their time and energy to thinking about and building this new ecosystem of law and finance. David Lat (among others) covered the event, and you can read some of his takeaways here.
Personally, I was able to glean from the perspective of other professionals in the industry; some perspectives were new and interesting, and other perspectives I disagreed with, but in either case it was it was worthwhile to learn what perspectives others were bringing to bear. One of the big take-aways for me was that each funder seems to be taking a slightly different approach to the industry. Next week, I will write an article to distill these differences.
Read MoreLitigation Finance: a Symposium at NYU
Lee Drucker
On November 20th, the Center on Civil Justice at NYU School of Law will be hosting an all-day conference, Litigation Funding: The Basics and Beyond.
To my knowledge, this is the first law school to host an in-depth conference dedicated to the subject of litigation finance, and it is a great opportunity for those interested in the topic to learn more and interact with some of the people that are currently shaping the industry.
Read MoreProtecting Energy Technology
Lee Drucker
One of the biggest challenges energy and technology companies face is protecting innovation. How do you make sure other companies or individuals don’t steal valuable new intellectual property?
Below is an article written by Deborah Huso in which Lisa Adams, partner in the IP section, and Tom Burton, chair of the energy technology practice, at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.’s Boston offices, talk about how to make money from your innovations without risking theft or loss of proprietary technology.
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