How can litigation finance help lawyers and their clients achieve business and litigation objectives? Who are the parties involved? What are the steps in the funding process? What are the various investment structures? What is the role of litigation finance firms in case strategy? What is the difference between consumer and commercial lawsuit funding? How can third-party funding promote access to justice?
Litigation Finance Basics
Champerty, Maintenance, and Barratry
Boaz Weinstein
Champerty, maintenance, and barratry are related doctrines that trace their roots back to medieval England. The United States Supreme Court has succinctly described the three doctrines as follows: “Put simply, maintenance is helping another prosecute a suit; champerty is maintaining a suit in return for a financial interest in the outcome; and barratry is a…
Read MoreEthical Considerations for Counsel
Boaz Weinstein
As we discussed in our article on the process of securing commercial litigation finance, the first step in the litigation finance process typically involves a decision by a company, perhaps with its counsel, that it makes sense to explore whether litigation finance is an attractive option. Let’s view this from counsel’s perspective. Imagine the following…
Read MoreProtecting Privilege in Litigation Finance
Boaz Weinstein
As we discussed in our articles on the process of securing commercial litigation finance and claim valuation, litigation funders perform due diligence on potential investment opportunities, including evaluating the merits of the claim, the likely damages, the likely duration of the claim, and other factors. This diligence process typically includes the exchange of documents and…
Read MoreHow to Value a Litigation or Legal Claim
Lee Drucker
When pricing a litigation or Legal Claim (sometimes referred to as a litigation-related asset), there are four primary components of analysis. The first component is the probability of success on the merits. Litigation is inherently uncertain. Each side has its own story, which may or may not be fully revealed at the time of evaluation.…
Read MoreWhat to Expect When Raising Litigation Finance
Lee Drucker
The first step in the litigation finance process typically involves a decision by a company, perhaps together with its counsel, that it makes sense to explore whether litigation finance is an attractive option. There are many reasons why a company may choose to do so. Consider, for example, a company that has been wronged but…
Read MoreTransaction Structures in Litigation Finance
Lee Drucker
While the adoption of commercial litigation finance is on the rise, the particulars of the practice are still not widely understood. How are litigation finance deals structured? How do lawyers and clients work with funders without jeopardizing the attorney-client relationship? How are litigation-related assets valued? How relevant are champerty issues?
We at Lake Whillans Litigation Finance will be addressing these and other questions; discuss topics of interest around commercial litigation finance; and spark an informative dialogue. We will kick things off by shedding some light on a few frequently asked questions about the structure of litigation finance deals.
Q. Who are the parties to a transaction?
Generally, litigation finance companies transact directly with the claimholder. While the claimholder’s counsel is typically involved throughout the investment process—helping to answer due diligence questions and providing a case budget, for example—the investment contract is structured as a bilateral agreement directly with the claimholder. The attorney-client relationship remains exclusive to the claimholder and its attorney.
Q. Can litigation finance provide capital for activities other than litigation?
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