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  • Sigma Funding Secures $35,000,000 Credit Facility, Bryant Park Capital Serves as Financial Advisor
Commercial People Moves

How Qian Julie Wang’s Upbringing as an Undocumented Immigrant Informed Her Legal Career

September 28, 2022

How Qian Julie Wang’s Upbringing as an Undocumented Immigrant Informed Her Legal Career

For the keynote address of the LF Dealmakers conference, Validity Finance Founder and CEO Ralph Sutton, introduced NY Times Best-Selling Author and Civil Rights Litigator, Qian Julie Wang. Her memoir, Beautiful Country, was ranked a best book of 2021 by the New York Times, and has been well-reviewed by many distinguished outlets. Ms. Wang began by sharing her ‘most humiliating story’ from Big Law. She began her carer at a top-5 firm as a hungry summer associate eager to prove herself at this white-shoe law firm. She noticed that partners and associates kept coming to her asking her to take on various assignments, and didn’t realize that she should select which ones to work on, so she said yes to each offer, so quickly found herself working on 10 major litigation cases. For the next month, Ms. Wang skipped all of the orientation, lunches, outings, and buried her head in WestLaw doing research. It turns out, one of the training sessions she missed was quite important–because a senior partner at the firm called her into his office and asked her what the hell she had been doing for five weeks? Ms. Wang hadn’t been billing any of her research time, because she had missed the training session that explained that part of the process. So the vast majority of her work went un-billed. Through some self reflection, Ms. Wang realized that her problem stemmed from her belief that she didn’t belong. Her very first job was age 7 at a sweatshop in Chinatown, as an undocumented immigrant, and here she was in a fancy white-shoe law firm. She had spent her life afraid of anyone in a uniform, afraid they might be out to deport her. And so when she got her summer associate job at the law firm, she brought that insecurity in the door with her. Ms Wang described her family’s suffering under the Communist takeover of China, how they were imprisoned and tortured for reading banned books. She came to admire two Americans she read about–Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Thurgood Marshall. That was when she decided to become a lawyer, when she eventually came to America. However, like many lawyers, she fell into the trap of focusing just on the compensation. She billed and billed so many hours that she lost her sense of purpose. It wasn’t until she started writing her memoir, Beautiful Country, that she re-discovered the reason she became a lawyer in the first place. She realized that the little girl who had grown up working in a sweatshop dreamed of being a lawyer so she could help people, and here years later she had achieved that dream, but the allure of those billable hours had caused her to lose the plot. Ms. Wang took a sharp turn and decided to focus her efforts on helping marginalized communities. Her work now helps her find her way back to the child she was, and provides a sense of fulfillment about her career that she never previously experienced.

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Announcements Commercial Fundraising

Sigma Funding Secures $35,000,000 Credit Facility, Bryant Park Capital Serves as Financial Advisor

By John Freund |

Bryant Park Capital (“BPC”) announced today that Sigma Funding has recently closed a $35 million senior credit facility with a bank lender. Sigma Funding is a rapidly growing litigation finance company focused on providing capital solutions across the legal ecosystem.

Sigma’s experienced executive team oversees a portfolio of businesses spanning insurance-linked litigation and other sectors, bringing a proven track record of successful growth and meaningful exits.

Bryant Park Capital, a leading middle-market investment bank, served as financial advisor to Sigma Funding in connection with the transaction.

“Bryant Park Capital was an indispensable advisor to Sigma and worked closely with our management team throughout the process,” said Charlit Bonilla, CEO of Sigma Funding. “BPC’s experience in the litigation finance space was critical in identifying potential banking partners and ultimately structuring our credit facility. Their extensive industry knowledge helped bring this deal to a successful close, and we are grateful for their support. We look forward to doing more business with the BPC team.”

About Sigma Funding

Founded in 2021, Sigma Funding is a leading New York–based litigation funding platform that provides pre- and post-settlement advances to plaintiffs involved in contingency lawsuits, as well as financing solutions for healthcare providers and attorneys. The company is the successor to the founders’ prior venture, Anchor Fundings, a pre-settlement litigation funder that was acquired by a competitor. 

For more information about Sigma Funding, please visit www.sigmafunding.com.

About Bryant Park Capital

Bryant Park Capital is an investment bank providing M&A and corporate finance advisory services to emerging growth and middle-market public and private companies. BPC has deep expertise across several sectors, including specialty finance and financial services. The firm has raised various forms of credit and growth equity and has advised on mergers and acquisitions for its clients. BPC professionals have completed more than 400 engagements representing an aggregate transaction value exceeding $30 billion.

For more information about Bryant Park Capital, please visit www.bryantparkcapital.com.

Commercial People Moves

Invenio Adds Litigation Finance Veteran John J. Hanley as Partner

By John Freund |

Invenio has announced the addition of John J. Hanley as a partner, bolstering the firm’s bench in litigation finance, claim monetization, and structured finance. Hanley joins Invenio with a practice that sits squarely at the intersection of complex commercial litigation and sophisticated financial structuring, advising a wide spectrum of market participants including litigation funders, claimholders, law firms, hedge funds, investment funds, and specialty finance providers.

According to Invenio's website, Hanley brings a particular focus on structuring, negotiating, and executing advanced funding arrangements across the full litigation finance lifecycle. His experience spans single-case funding, portfolio transactions, and bespoke claim monetization structures, with a notable specialization in prepaid forward purchase agreements. In addition, Hanley has advised extensively on secured lending transactions involving banks, commercial lenders, and alternative capital providers—experience that aligns closely with the hybrid legal-financial nature of modern litigation funding deals.

A post on LinkedIn announcing the move highlights that Hanley’s practice is designed to support both the capital side and the legal side of funded disputes, an increasingly important capability as funding arrangements grow more complex and interconnected with broader capital markets. His background enables him to navigate not only the legal risks inherent in funding structures, but also the financial and regulatory considerations that sophisticated investors expect to see addressed at the outset of a transaction.

Commercial Regulatory Issues

Malaysia Launches Modern Third-Party Funding Regime for Arbitration

By John Freund |

Malaysia has officially overhauled its legal framework for third-party funding in arbitration, marking a significant development in the country’s dispute finance landscape. Effective 1 January 2026, two key instruments, the Arbitration (Amendment) Act 2024 (Act A1737) and the Code of Practice for Third Party Funding 2026, came into force with the aim of modernising regulation and improving access to justice.

An article in ICLG explains that the amended Arbitration Act introduces a dedicated chapter on third-party funding, creating Malaysia’s first comprehensive statutory foundation for funding arrangements in arbitration. The reforms abolish the long-standing common law doctrines of maintenance and champerty in the arbitration context, removing a historical barrier that could render funding agreements unenforceable on public policy grounds.

The legislation also introduces mandatory disclosure requirements, obliging parties to reveal the existence of funding arrangements and the identity of funders in both domestic and international arbitrations seated in Malaysia. These changes bring Malaysia closer to established regional arbitration hubs that already recognise and regulate third-party funding.

Alongside the legislative amendments, the Code of Practice for Third Party Funding sets out ethical standards and best practices for funders operating in Malaysia. The Code addresses issues such as marketing conduct, the need for funded parties to receive independent legal advice, capital adequacy expectations, the management of conflicts of interest, and rules around termination of funding arrangements. While the Code is not directly enforceable, arbitral tribunals and courts may take a funder’s compliance into account when relevant issues arise during proceedings.

The Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department has indicated that this combined framework is intended to strike a balance between encouraging responsible third-party funding and improving transparency in arbitration. The reforms also respond to concerns raised by high-profile disputes where funding arrangements were not disclosed, highlighting the perceived need for clearer rules.