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Readers of our previous issues understand that litigation finance is a tool for the legal department to control spending and help contribute to the company’s bottom line. Indeed, companies with litigation portfolios are more frequently using litigation funding to manage budgetary pressures and mitigate litigation risk. Notwithstanding the growth in this market, the companies still exploring litigation finance have questions about how it works and whether it can advance their strategic interests. This two-part series will answer some of the most prevalent questions from corporate legal departments that are considering litigation funding for their affirmative claims.

The United States has long purported to be a champion of arbitration. This stance is embodied both in the “pro-arbitration” Federal Arbitration Act enacted by Congress nearly a century ago and in U.S. treaties providing for the recognition of international arbitration awards. The U.S. likewise boasts rich jurisprudence regarding personal jurisdiction, defining when parties can be hauled into court in this country. But what happens when these two principles collide, for example, when a foreign losing party to an international arbitration merges into another entity that has property in the U.S. that can be used to satisfy an adverse award?

Litigation finance’s presence in the bankruptcy industry is in its early stages. However, given the overall size of capital that litigation funders control and how this capital is deployed across case types, its presence in the marketplace will continue to expand -- particularly as the market becomes more familiar with the process, funders grow comfortable with investing in the distressed debt market, and the pace of corporate filings increase in the next economic downturn.