litigation finance firms

Pick the Right Lawyer for a Royalty Contract

Lee Drucker

Role play with me for a moment. Imagine you’re going in for surgery and you can choose between two surgeons: a doctor who performs that surgery twice a year, or one that does it twice a month?

It’s a no brainer. The same should apply to lawyers – particularly when it comes to the mission-critical task of negotiating royalty contracts. These key agreements will make or break a company. Plus, if things go bad between your company and other parties, these documents will be what separates losing millions (and sometimes more) and remaining intact.

Here are some ways to vet your attorneys to see which ones know enough about royalty agreements.

Litigation Finance for Boutique Law Firms

Lee Drucker

Several months ago I described how litigation finance can be used by entrepreneurial litigators at large law firms to build sustainable high-end litigation practices outside the traditional route of cultivating relationships with the largest corporations and their general counsel.

Many of the same challenges that I discussed facing young partners at large law firms manifest more acutely at emerging law firms trying to sustain and grow a business as they attract new clients, build brand awareness, manage salaries, and generally maintain operations.

How to Build a Quality Litigation Finance Firm

Lee Drucker

It might seem pretty obvious that picking smart investments is critical for developing a successful litigation funding company, but what might not be obvious are all of the reasons why.

Lake Whillans is NOT the Iron Bank of Braavos

Lee Drucker

With all the hype surrounding the first episode of this season’s Game of Thrones, I figured it was time to dispel the rumors: Lake Whillans is NOT the Iron Bank. While both entities can be a great resource in your campaign to vanquish an opponent, there remain a couple key differences.

Life Science Entrepreneurs Facing Litigation

Lee Drucker

Developing a new product or business in the healthcare space is rife with complexity. Whether it be creating a new medical device, an innovative pharmaceutical, or a digital health business, healthcare entrepreneurs must identify a valuable opportunity, assemble a dedicated and talented team, potentially invest years and abundant resources in R&D – all of which may occur before seeking FDA approval, finding manufacturing partners, or even knowing whether you have a viable product for the market. Given these challenges, the last thing on a CEO’s mind when raising capital or finding partners to navigate these complexities may be how to defend the company if one of these partnerships goes sideways. But what happens if one of these partnerships does go awry? If a partner, having learned the secrets of a company’s technology determines to take that knowledge for itself? (Last week, F. Nicholas Franano, MD, a radiologist and chief executive officer at two cardiovascular medical device companies, Flow Forward Medical and Metactive Medical discussed how companies can best protect themselves when entering these partnerships.) Or if a competitor takes action to derail the company? (here is an in-depth article about a company in that position). Is all of the work of the talented and dedicated people that helped drive the initial success of the company lost?

Above The Law Interview with Lake Whillans

Lee Drucker

We recently sat down with above the law to discuss how we found our selves in the legal claim finance business and answer some questions about the industry:

http://abovethelaw.com/2015/02/a-conversation-with-the-founders-of-lake-whillans-litigation-finance/

Venture Capital & Litigation Finance

Lee Drucker

Venture capitalists invest in early stage growth companies, typically in high technology industries, such as biotechnology, energy, or IT. While many of these investments go on to become Tesla, Amazon, or the next life-saving pharmaceutical, about 65% of venture financings return 0-1x. Many of these investments fail simply by virtue of the high-risk nature of…

Lake Whillans Featured in Crain’s New York

Lee Drucker

Lake Whillans was recently featured in an article in Crain’s New York on the role of litigation finance in helping small and mid-size companies to receive justice when victimized by larger companies. Link to the article after the jump.

Opportunities for Entrepreneurial Litigators in Biglaw

Lee Drucker

The so-called rainmakers in biglaw firms throughout the country have traditionally built high-end business litigation practices by cultivating relationships with the largest corporations and their general counsel, clients that generally were less financially constrained and thus more likely to accept the hourly rate billing structure over the long course of complex litigation. With the advent of litigation finance, and firms such as Lake Whillans, entrepreneurial litigators at large firms have a new path to building sustainable high-end litigation business that is attractive to biglaw firms. Rather than the more traditional focus on companies with relatively unconstrained litigation budgets and strong balance sheets, entrepreneurial litigators at large firms have begun to realize that litigation financing affords them the opportunity to build practices by targeting companies with often severe financial constraints but meritorious claims, often against larger companies, requiring complex and expensive litigation. Lawyers in biglaw that have had experience in third party funded cases find that litigation finance can overcome the common practical constraints that have made biglaw often resistant to contingency fee arrangements, reduced or capped fees with success premiums.

Those constraints flow from a number of challenges facing large law firms:

Contact Us

The best way for companies and their counsel to determine if litigation finance is an attractive option is to discuss it with us.

Lee Drucker drucker@lakewhillans.com