Breaking litigation finance news and analysis of interest to the full range of stakeholders, including claim holders, law firms, corporate legal departments, investors, and more. Industry trends, emerging practices, and expert insight and commentary on subjects ranging from international arbitration to access to justice.
News
Litigation Funding Disclosure in Delaware: Emerging Standard?
Marla Decker
Mandatory disclosure of litigation funding has arrived in the District of Delaware — at least in the courtroom of Chief Judge Connolly. In an April standing order, the Chief Judge directed parties appearing before him to disclose the identity of any third-party funders within 45 days for currently pending cases and 30 days for newly filed actions.
Read MoreWhat a Litigation Funder Learned from A Litigation Funding Conference
Marla Decker
I recently attended the LITFINCON conference in Houston, Texas. This was my first in-person conference I attended in 2+ years, and it was a welcome breath of fresh Texas (blissfully warm) air.
The conference organizers (Siltstone Capital and Litigo Financial) did a great job of creating a diverse set of topics and finding great panelists. Speakers included funders, law firm partners, general counsel, brokers, investors and even judges. We covered a wide range of topics including the basics of litigation funding, litigation finance as a maturing asset class, the role of brokers, rise of secondary markets, and even the intersection of litigation funding with block chain. The stars of the show were probably the judicial panelists, including two federal judges from the Southern District of Texas, and a Texas state court judge. It’s unusual to get a view from the judiciary outside of the courtroom, let alone one on litigation finance, and this panel was particularly engaged and candid about their knowledge and impressions.
Read MoreInternational Arbitration and Third Party Funding in Hong Kong: Q&A with the Secretary-General of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre
Marla Decker
As jurisdictions compete for status as premier international arbitration hubs, a differentiating factor (or, increasingly, a must-have factor) is whether the jurisdiction’s legal framework allows for third party funding in arbitrations seated there. We have followed the development towards a more permissive environment for third party funding in Asia closely, recently asking members of Freshfields’ international arbitration group to provide an update on developments in Asia with Singapore and Hong Kong leading the charge. Today, we focus in on Hong Kong, which on February 1, 2019, put into effect previously enacted legislative changes to permit third party funding in international arbitration. In connection with this development, the Ministry of Justice has released the Code of Practice for Third Party Funding of Arbitration, which sets out practices and standards with which third party funders are expected to comply in connection with funding of arbitrations in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (“HKIAC”) amended its rules to harmonize with the legislative changes and to address disclosure requirements, confidentiality, and costs in third party funded matters. We asked Sarah Grimmer, Secretary-General of HKIAC to discuss the changing landscape.
Read MoreHow to Choose A Litigation Funder
Marla Decker
It’s 2019, and litigation finance is going to play prominently in the legal industry this year. Lawyers and claimholders increasingly desire the utility and flexibility of what litigation finance can offer. As demand for litigation funding has increased, so too has the number of litigation funders in the market. Some funders (like Lake Whillans) focus exclusively on litigation financing, while others have added litigation finance investments as part of a larger investment portfolio. The field has matured to the point that Chambers & Partners ranked litigation funders in the U.S. and U.K. last year. (Lake Whillans as a firm, and Lake Whillans co-founder Boaz Weinstein individually, each were ranked among the top bands in the 2018 Chambers rankings).
So if you are a claimholder, a lawyer seeking funding for your client or firm, or law firm management trying to differentiate between funders, how should you be analyzing the options? We suggest there are key differences among funders that you can use to compare:
Read MoreThird-party funding in Asia: Arrived, and Set to Thrive
Marla Decker
Over the last few years, third‑party funding has become a hot topic in Asia. As we previously reported, in 2017, the two leading arbitral seats in Asia, Singapore and Hong Kong, enacted legislation that opened the door to third‑party funding of arbitration proceedings. As well as fundamentally changing the legal framework in those jurisdictions, these developments made third‑party funding a major talking point across Asia. In this article, we reflect on the current landscape for third‑party funding in the region.
Read MoreUsing Litigation Finance to Close the Gender Gap in Law
Marla Decker
The advancement of women lawyers has been a discussion in the legal profession for decades, and one that I’ve followed closely. As a young associate, I was encouraged by the efforts underway at various firms to attract and promote women into senior positions. While women were admittedly underrepresented in leadership roles at law firms, the tide seemed about to shift.
Read MoreTurning the Law Department Into a Profit Center
Lee Drucker
Perhaps the biggest trend in corporate law departments over the past few years has been the rise of the legal ops function. Ten years ago there were only a handful of law department operations professionals (LDOs), typically only in large sophisticated organizations. Today, about a third of the Fortune 500 law departments have at least one professional in such a role. All these professionals have one thing in common: their job is to bring business discipline to the legal function.
Read MoreHow Litigation Finance Can End the Partisan Practice of Law
Marla Decker
No, I’m not talking about politics. I’m talking about a different partisan divide: the division in the legal-services market between so-called “Plaintiffs’ Firms” and “Defense Firms” and how litigation finance can mitigate the division.
Read MoreLitigation Finance Evangelism
Lee Drucker
If you have been looking for a niche that will help you attract new business from inside and outside your firm, one of the most promising areas is litigation funding. A wide range of lawyers in your firm need to be able to navigate litigation funding: transactional lawyers need to advise clients on the finance aspects of major litigation; litigators must advise clients who are considering potential claims of the various financing options available to them; and law firm leaders routinely evaluate the security and profitability of the firm’s fee arrangements with clients. Expertise in litigation funding has become a core competence. Being an expert in litigation funding used to be a competitive advantage. http://www.newellis.com/PDFs/2017/NewEllis-030617.pdf. But with the increased availability and acceptance of litigation funding, lawyers’ having experience with litigation funding– and funders—is a necessity and any firm lacking in this area will be at a distinct disadvantage.
Read MoreWhy did I go from BigLaw to litigation finance? Good question.
Garrett Ordower
Since joining the Lake Whillans team this summer, I’ve been asking a lot of questions. To effectively finance litigation our team must completely understand the factual and legal basis for the claim. So we ask questions. But they have to be the right ones — informed by diligent research on the particular case and our legal knowledge and experience.
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