Litigation finance is often thought of as a resource used solely by law firms, individual claimants and small companies. However, the benefits of using it to pursue strong claims also appeal to mid-sized and large companies.
Last month’s Ontario Superior Court costs decision in a personal injury-type case, Davies v. Clarington (Municipality), caught our attention. It puts into sharp relief the differences between companies who offer loans for personal injury litigation and funders like Bentham who provide funding for corporate-commercial claims and class actions.
Omni Bridgeway’s Gavin Beardsell has been interviewed for a podcast by Amanda Farmer, founder of Your Strata Property. Gavin discusses the combustible cladding class action that Omni Bridgeway is funding against the manufacturers of Alucobond polyethylene (PE) core cladding products.
When funding is used to finance litigation, legal spending is removed from the books, the company’s bottom line improves, and cases are transformed into financial assets.
Litigation finance allows law firms and companies access to a source of capital that can be far more flexible than other financing options—with stronger results for the bottom line.
Global dispute funder, IMF Bentham Limited, and Boies Schiller Flexner LLP (BSF), one of the leading litigation and arbitration firms in the world, have announced their agreement to provide up to US$30 million to fund international arbitrations globally or litigation in the US or UK for Vietnam-related cases. This is the first country-specific litigation funding deal for IMF Bentham in Asia.
Over the course of its years in the litigation finance industry, Bentham has developed funding criteria to guide its investment strategy. These criteria are tailored to each type of funding product Bentham offers, and, while they vary slightly by funding category, they are all designed with the common goal of helping to identify quality cases where the introduction of litigation funding can provide a fair, healthy return to all parties involved – claimant, lawyers, and funder.
IMF Bentham’s Chief Investment Officer (Asia), Tom Glasgow, explains developments in dispute finance in Asia (including jurisdictional nuances and funders’ investment criteria) and Managing Director and CEO of IMF Bentham’s global operations, Andrew Saker, discusses the expansion of funding products available.
IMF Bentham Executive Director and pioneer of the dispute finance industry, Hugh McLernon, shares insights into the origins of modern-day dispute finance and its global expansion.
Private Equity firms and their advisors are increasingly recognizing the value of partnering with experienced litigation funders. This blog post discusses some of the ways that litigation funding can add value to a PE manager's strategy.
The dispute finance industry is still at an early stage in India but is growing rapidly. Tom Glasgow, IMF Bentham’s Chief Investment Officer (Asia), was recently interviewed by VCCircle.com about third-party finance there.
IMF Bentham congratulates Mr John Sulan on his recent appointment as South Australia’s Reviewer of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). This role provides independent oversight of the ICAC and the Office for Public Integrity, reporting to the South Australian Attorney General and Parliament’s Crime and Public Integrity Policy Committee.
As investment bankers realize how funding serves to leverage affirmative legal claims, which are commonly overlooked assets, they are seeking opportunities to connect their distressed clients with opportunities to transform claims into vehicles for immediate income and substantial future recoveries. Such opportunities can be impactful for distressed clients because they help to improve a company’s cash position and profitability.
Disputes that arise in the energy sector are invariably complex, high value and often cross-border in nature. Common examples include disagreements about the construction or operations of oil and gas extraction projects, power production projects, commodity contract disputes and joint venture disputes. These types of commercial disputes are increasingly referred to international arbitration.
One of the most significant challenges for in-house legal teams is resource and budget limitations. Costs budgeting by both sides in litigation has the potential to enable the Courts, as well as the parties, to better manage and control the costs of the litigation and to avoid the risk of costs becoming disproportionate to the claim size.
Litigation finance provides litigants and lawyers access to capital to pursue meritorious litigation where there is a substantial chance of a positive outcome. In exchange, the funder receives a return, usually via a multiple of its investment or a percentage of the recovery. Financing is non-recourse, which means that the funder receives a return on its investment only in the event the litigation is successful .
Bentham IMF Spotlight Series: IP litigation veteran Sarah Tsou discusses how litigation finance helps companies mitigate the financial risks of protecting their IP.
