In conclusion to this 4-part series, we look at how recent decisions protecting claimant-funder communications and work product indicate the judiciary’s growing acceptance of litigation funding.
In recent weeks, large law firms have announced significant increases in associate salaries. Not surprisingly, many clients are voicing concerns over any potential rises in billable rates as firms try to pass those costs onto clients. Long before the announcements, firms were already dealing with increasing pressure from clients shifting work in-house and asking for reduced rates, discounts, and alternative fee arrangements. As Allison Chock and Matt Harrison (the heads of our Los Angeles and San Francisco offices respectively) explain in our Q&A below, litigation funding provides a great way to address these issues and also create new value for clients.
In Part 3 of this 4-part series, we will look at the Florida Bankruptcy Court’s analysis and application of the Work Product Doctrine to a document production request in In re International Trading Company, LLC (“IOTC”).]
Recent surveys of corporate counsel demonstrate that they are looking for three important things from their outside advisors. When law firms don’t respond to these demands, they may lose out on litigation opportunities.
Working with well-established litigation funders can have unexpected benefits for law firms. Among those benefits are opportunities to receive referrals for new business.
As the litigation finance industry continues its growth and expansion within the marketplace, so does the body of case law discussing whether communications made between a claimant and a funder are privileged. While there is a slight variance in how different jurisdictions apply the privilege doctrines and exceptions thereto, the overwhelming majority of case law has developed in favor of finding that certain communications made to a litigation funder are indeed protected from discovery. In Part 1 of this 4-part series, we will discuss the Court’s analysis and application of the common interest exception to the attorney-client privilege.
Peter Thiel's funding of Hulk Hogan's suit against Gawker differs from traditional commercial litigation funding in a number of ways. Bentham explains.
By enabling meritorious litigation to proceed to court, and ensuring that claims are properly resourced, Bentham has long provided access to justice to individuals and corporations. Bentham’s commitment to justice, however, extends beyond the individual cases that we fund.
The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted how Bentham's litigation portfolio funding benefits startup litigation boutiques, Big Law, and Small Law firms.
As demand for Alternative Fee Arrangements grow in popularity, learn how litigation finance works as a tool to help spread the costs and risks associated with your legal expenses.
On April 4, 2016, Canadian mining company Crystallex International Corp. won a $1.38B arbitration award for Venezuela’s unlawful expropriation of its Las Cristinas gold mine. Crystallex’s claim was advanced with the support of a third-party litigation funder.
Jim Batson, Senior Investment Manager in Bentham's New York office, gave a guest lecture at Florida State University, College of Law on Monday, April 4, 2016 about his involvement and experience in the seminal e-discovery case of Zubulake v. UBS Warburg.
Matt Harrison, Investment Manager and Legal Counsel in Bentham's San Francisco office, will participate in a panel discussion about litigation funding at the Northern District of California Judicial Conference on April 9, 2016.
Delaware Superior Court President Judge Jan R. Jurden decided yesterday in Charge Injection Technologies, Inc. v. EI du Pont de Nemours that a litigation funder's involvement in a case did NOT amount to improper meddling.
In the presentation to the College of Law, IMF Senior Investment Manager, Wayne Attrill, discusses some of the advanced issues in class actions including the role of a funder in facilitating class actions, "competing" class actions, common fund orders and the regulation and future of litigation funding in class actions.
