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An LFJ Conversation with Wendy Chou, Founder and CEO of Dealmakers Forums

An LFJ Conversation with Wendy Chou, Founder and CEO of Dealmakers Forums

Wendy Chou is the Founder and CEO of Dealmakers Forums, operating with 20+ years of experience in marketing, communications, events, and business development. She created the first series of intellectual property monetization and finance conferences starting in the early 2000s — a number of those conferences are still being held on an annual basis. That’s what sparked her interest in the sectors where legal, finance, and tech converge. Since then, Wendy has served as CMO for a financial services firm, led a marketing agency, and in her various roles, has produced over 100 successful events in IP, litigation finance, and other complex markets. She’s become a big believer in the power of events. If designed and executed well, she believes an event experience can bring people together, build community, stimulate thinking and creativity, advance both personal and professional objectives, and even move industries and markets forward. Dealmakers Forums curates meaningful event experiences and content for senior executives in the legal, finance and technology industries, bringing together a selection of organizations and individuals who are working at the forefront of the industries we serve to facilitate deep discussions onstage and offstage, and to make valuable new connections that lead to collaborations and strengthen existing relationships. For ten years our IP Dealmakers Forum has been the “must-attend” event for decision makers driving IP transactions. Upon its debut in 2018, our inaugural LF Dealmakers event likewise became the “go-to” conference for litigation finance. In 2022 Wendy created LINE, a digital publishing platform, to share perspectives from our community year-round. Find out more at: DealmakersForums.com Below is our LFJ Conversation with Wendy Chou: This is the 6th annual LF Dealmakers Forum! Hard to believe it has been six years already. What have you noticed in terms of how the industry has evolved over the years? Absolutely, it’s remarkable to think that this marks the sixth annual LF Dealmakers Forum! During this time, we’ve witnessed significant transformations within the litigation finance industry. One of the most striking changes has been the overall growth in both size and scope of the industry. In addition to an increased acceptance of litigation finance as a legitimate and valuable tool, the industry has evolved into a multifaceted ecosystem with a diverse range of players and products. In just six years, we’ve gone from primarily talking about single-case funding to discussions involving various insurance products, co-investing partnerships, innovative deal structures, and even secondary market transactions. The industry has also become more global in scope, with cross-border partnerships and international cases becoming more prevalent. It’s truly exciting to witness the growth and evolution of this industry. Having said that, there are of course the challenges and controversies inherent in a maturing industry that benefit from having a space for continued dialogue. That’s why I believe LF Dealmakers has grown alongside the industry, as we provide a necessary forum for discussion, debate, and dealmaking. What can we expect at this year’s conference? Any speakers or agenda items you’d like to highlight? This year’s LF Dealmakers promises to be our most impactful event yet, featuring a diverse range of sessions and discussions. One of the sessions I’d like to highlight is, “The Great Debate: Trust and Transparency in Litigation Finance.” In this session, we’ll bring together leading experts who hold differing perspectives for an open dialogue and insightful exchange on critical issues such as disclosure, control, ethics, and conflicts of interest. We’re particularly excited to have the U.S. Chamber of Commerce participating in the discussion via their Institute for Legal Reform. They are not typically a participant in public debate on this topic, and I feel honored to host them at LF Dealmakers. I think you’ll be surprised to hear what they have to say. These aren’t always easy discussions, but we don’t shy away from reality and controversy, especially when it is necessary and can be productive to the advancement of industry practices. Alongside this, we’ve curated a lineup of distinguished speakers who are experts in various facets of litigation finance and the broader landscape of legal finance and risk management. Our agenda is filled with panel discussions covering topics ranging from emerging trends to navigating regulatory challenges to best practices and lessons learned. I’d say that over the years of LF Dealmakers the discussions have become much more advanced, and often provide practical takeaways for funders, funded parties, and others, including how to negotiate the best deals and address the inevitable issues that arise post-funding. So we are looking forward to hearing about those aspects of the industry and much more this year. The industry is facing some headwinds at the moment. How will issues like the recent UK Supreme Court ruling and the impact of inflationary pressure factor into this year’s conference? The recent UK Supreme Court ruling and the challenges posed by inflationary pressures are indeed significant concerns within the industry, both of which will certainly come up in discussions this year. We also have dedicated sessions specifically addressing the headwind issues including a policy briefing session covering the latest in US federal, state, and forum-specific (e.g. Delaware) treatment of litigation funding as well as the industry response. A prominent expert and lobbyist from the American Legal Finance Association will address both the consumer and commercial fronts and where pending legislation and efforts would impact both. We believe that openly discussing these challenges and exploring solutions will help attendees navigate these headwinds more effectively. How would you recommend that litigation funding stakeholders make the most of this year’s conference? First of all, I’d like to note that we’ve expanded the event this year, to include a pre-conference workshop on navigating the mass tort landscape and an opening reception the evening before, so attendees should plan on getting to NYC early to attend those events. Other than that, I would advise litigation funding stakeholders to come prepared to engage in robust discussions and networking opportunities. Take advantage of the diverse perspectives shared by our speakers and fellow attendees, attend the sessions to gain practical insights that can be applied directly to your strategies and most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask questions and participate actively in the panels. It wouldn’t be a Dealmakers event without mentioning the one-to-one meetings. As in past years, attendees will have the opportunity to book 30-minute meetings with one another to occur throughout the event, and because the audience is curated, there should be plenty of options for productive discussions with new and existing clients and partners. The conference is a prime opportunity to foster connections, share knowledge, and explore new collaborations. What is it like for you–the conference organizer–during this multi-day event? Do you have time to enjoy the discussions and networking, or are you overwhelmed with last minute hiccups? Well, as they say, it’s not my first rodeo. Seriously, as the conference organizer, these multi-day events are both exhilarating and demanding. The key is that I’ve built a fantastic team that helps manage the logistical details. This allows me to actively engage in the discussions and networking opportunities. Of course, there are always last-minute hiccups that require quick thinking and problem-solving, but I’ve come to embrace these challenges as part of the experience. Ultimately, witnessing the exchange of ideas, the forging of partnerships, and the enthusiasm of attendees makes all the hard work incredibly rewarding. Who was it that said change is the only constant in life? I believe that wholeheartedly. Once you accept that, your mind shifts from thinking “why are there waves” to “how can I best ride these waves” (and yes, I took up surfing on one of my post conference vacations)!
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An LFJ Conversation with Kris Altiere, US Head of Marketing, Moneypenny

By John Freund |
Kris Altiere is the US Head of Marketing at Moneypenny, the leading provider of customer conversation solutions for the legal sector. With more than 20 years of experience in marketing and brand development, she is an award-winning strategist who helps law firms and legal service providers enhance client experience, strengthen reputation, and drive growth.  Kris is passionate about blending creativity with data-driven insight, ensuring attorneys and their teams benefit from smarter, more efficient ways to connect with clients while maintaining the highest standards of professionalism. Below is our LFJ Conversation with Kris: Litigation funders and firms are under pressure to respond instantly to client inquiries. From your perspective, how can they meet these expectations without overburdening staff or creating burnout? Across both funding companies and law firms, clients expect clear, informed answers almost immediately. The solution isn’t to expect internal staff to be ‘always on’, that leads to fatigue and errors. Instead, the answer lies in building an intake structure that blends smart technology and AI with flexible human support. At Moneypenny, we see huge success when firms use tools like intelligent call routing or secure live chat to capture every inquiry, triage urgency, and pass only relevant conversations to specialists. By combining in-house capability with trusted outsourced teams, organizations maintain round-the-clock responsiveness without compromising staff wellbeing. Moneypenny’s model offers outsourced communication support. What role can outsourcing play in ensuring consistent, high-quality client interactions, and how do you balance personalization with scalability? Outsourced communication support should never feel outsourced. The best providers act as a seamless extension of your team. At Moneypenny, our receptionists are trained to represent the companies brand, understand escalation paths, and client sensitivities, so every caller feels known and valued. This hybrid model means law firms and funders alike can deliver a highly personalized experience, while still having the scalability to absorb surges in demand. That balance is what protects reputation in high-stakes, time-sensitive matters. What best practices have you seen for maintaining responsiveness while also protecting the wellbeing of in-house teams—especially in high-stakes, time-sensitive legal funding matters? 
  • Define clear service levels: agree internally which inquiries require immediate attention and which can wait.
  • Use shared dashboards and call logs so tasks are visible and distributed fairly.
  • Rotate responsibilities for after-hours or urgent coverage and protect genuine downtime.
  • Partner with specialists like Moneypenny for overflow support during campaigns, press interest, or large case volumes.
  • Celebrate client praise so people see the impact of their professionalism, reframing responsiveness as value, not just pressure.
As the litigation funding market becomes more competitive, pricing alone no longer sets players apart. How important is the client journey—from first inquiry through to resolution—in shaping brand reputation? As competition intensifies, fees alone won’t win loyalty. Clients are looking for reassurance and transparency from the very first call through to resolution. Whether it’s a funder evaluating a claim or an attorney guiding a litigant, the speed, clarity, and empathy of your communications define how your brand is perceived. At Moneypenny, we’ve seen firms use exceptional communication to build loyalty, generate referrals, and justify premium pricing, because a smooth, human-led journey builds trust that competitors can’t easily replicate. Many funders struggle to align their communications, marketing, and operations. What practical steps would you recommend to ensure a seamless and empathetic experience across every touchpoint? To align marketing, communications, and operations:
  1. Map the lifecycle for funded matters and legal cases, capturing every stage from inquiry to closure.
  2. Set a consistent tone and language so outreach, intake, and case updates are aligned.
  3. Adopt shared technology (CRM, case management, call notes) to prevent siloed touchpoints.
  4. Monitor & refine: listen to sample calls, gather client feedback, and adjust scripts or processes to stay aligned with brand values.
Moneypenny partners with firms at each of these steps, ensuring consistency across touchpoints and allowing legal teams to focus on the matters that really need their expertise.  
LFJ Conversation

An LFJ Conversation with Ankita Mehta, Co-founder, Lexity.ai

By John Freund |
Ankita Mehta is the co-founder of Lexity.ai, a platform that accelerates deal execution. It enables leading litigation funds to vet 3x more opportunities and expand capacity with a plug-and-play AI-powered solution tailored to how funders operate. A seasoned entrepreneur, Ankita has built and scaled technology-driven businesses to multi-million-dollar revenues across nine countries. She brings deep expertise in bridging technology with business outcomes, with a sharp focus on adoption, measurable impact, and scaling innovation in high-stakes industries. Below is our LFJ Conversation with Ankita: While AI is increasingly common in legal practice, litigation funders have been slower to adopt it. From your vantage point, what makes funders uniquely positioned to benefit from AI right now? For funders, time is capital. Every extra week in case assessment means idle capital and lost deals.  AI inverts that dynamic, trimming assessment cycles by up to 70% and standardizing evaluation criteria. This allows investment teams to vet 3-4x more opportunities with their existing headcount, directly increasing capital deployment velocity. Unlike law firms, funders don’t bill hours - they monetize disciplined throughput and risk pricing. That’s why AI isn’t peripheral here; it’s a direct lever on ROI. In a market growing quickly and attracting more competition, speed and consistency aren’t just efficiency gains - they’re competitive advantages. Larger funds are using AI to handle more deals, while new funds can build scalable systems from day one. How do you see these two paths diverging—and what does that mean for competition and efficiency in the funding market? These two paths- larger funds integrating AI into existing operations versus new funds building AI-native systems from the outset, likely lead to a more stratified and competitive funding market, ultimately driving greater efficiency across the board. Big funds are bolting AI into legacy workflows. Gains are incremental but powerful: less manual grind, faster diligence, more disciplined portfolio monitoring. Their primary advantage lies on their established market presence, larger capital pools, and existing deal flow. AI will help them process their high volume of cases more efficiently and potentially expand their capacity without a proportional increase in headcount. New funds, by contrast, have a distinct advantage-they are now able to be AI-native from day one: lean teams, tech-driven, scalable assessment without additional overhead. Their challenge will be establishing a track record and building trust in the market, but their AI-native approach will give them a significant edge in speed and cost-efficiency. The divergence will lead to increased market share: incumbents defend market share with volume and more precise investment decisions, leveraging AI, while challengers will disrupt with velocity, lower overheads and faster decision-making cycles. What’s clear is that “manual first” funds will be squeezed from both sides, leading to consolidation in the market or decline in profitability with less technologically advanced firms. In essence, AI acts as an accelerator - faster deal cycles, sharper risk calls, healthier portfolios, pushing the whole market toward higher efficiency and eventually, increased access to justice. In your experience, which areas of deal assessment, diligence, or monitoring are already seeing measurable efficiency gains from AI integration, and which areas are still more hype than reality? In our work with litigation funders, we see a clear and effective division of labor emerging. AI is delivering transformative efficiency in the early, data-intensive stages of deal assessment and diligence, while the core strategic decisions and the art of funding remain firmly in the hands of expert funders. Where AI Is Delivering Measurable Gains Now:
  • Intake & Triage: Instantly extracting and structuring key data like parties, claims, and timelines from initial documents.
  • Diligence Support: Automating timeline creation, document clustering, and red-flag analysis in minutes, not days.
  • Portfolio Monitoring: Delivering automated docket alerts and portfolio-wide signals without consuming analyst hours.
Where Expert Judgment Remains Paramount:
  • Predicting Final Outcomes: No algorithm can accurately price in the nuance of judicial temperament, witness credibility, or complex negotiation dynamics. AI can surface the data, but the final risk assessment is a human judgment call.
  • Automating Core Legal Strategy: The core elements of persuasion and legal argument require a human touch. AI serves as a powerful tool for the strategist, not a replacement of the strategist.
In short, AI is proving invaluable for automating the routine, data-intensive tasks that precede an investment decision. This frees up funders to focus their expertise on the strategic, judgment-heavy calls where they create the most value. Lexity is not a fund, but you work directly with funders to process more opportunities consistently. Can you share a concrete example of how Lexity has improved throughput or accuracy for a fund without requiring additional headcount One fund put it simply: “95% of an investment manager’s day is reviewing cases we’ll never fund. Can Lexity solve that?” Lexity Clickflows do exactly that. In practice, analysts upload documents, and within minutes Lexity outputs structured summaries: parties, jurisdictions, claims, damages, timelines, and red flags. The impact for their team was immediate: Review times were cut by 70%, from hours to minutes. As a result, they can now vet 3-4x more cases with the same team, applying consistent criteria to every opportunity. This increased capacity significantly for the fund. Instead, their existing team could focus on the 5% of cases that truly mattered. That’s technology acting as a force multiplier. Litigation funders often ask about tangible returns before adopting new tools. What real-world ROI have you seen from funds already using Lexity’s platform, whether in terms of faster decision cycles, better risk assessment, or portfolio monitoring? The ROI from integrating AI is immediate and manifests in several key areas of the funding operation:
  • Accelerated Decision Cycles: The 'time to a yes/no' is a critical metric. We've seen funds cut this down by weeks, allowing them to pursue more opportunities and deploy capital faster.
  • Early Loss Prevention: The system automatically flags fatal flaws like expired statutes of limitation or critical missing documents during intake. This saves enormous costs in wasted diligence and external counsel fees on deals that were never viable.
  • Increased Operational Leverage: Funds can significantly increase their deal vetting capacity without a proportional increase in headcount or overhead costs.
Ultimately, the goal is to use an outcome-focused, plug-and-play solution that’s so simple and intuitive, users don’t even realize they’re working with AI. Lexity delivers funder-focused automation that is structured, auditable, and tied to outcomes. It is a practical capacity expansion that makes funders faster, sharper allocators of capital. In litigation finance, that is the difference between keeping pace and leading.
LFJ Conversation

An LFJ Conversation with Elena Rey, Partner, Brown Rudnick

By John Freund |
Elena Rey heads the firm’s Litigation Funding group and is a co-head of the European Special Situations team. Elena represents funders, private equity funds, family offices, law firms and claimants on complex cross border litigation funding, investment & special situations transactions, and is recognised by The Legal 500 as a leader in the litigation funding space. Elena is a founder of the Firm’s annual European Litigation Funding conference held in London, as well as the Litigation Funding industry working group, which was created with the aim of preparing model documentation for the litigation funding market. Elena is also a co-author of the Loan Market Association book on real estate finance. Elena is admitted to practice in England & Wales. She holds a master's degree from Harvard Law School and is fluent in French and Russian. Below is our LFJ Conversation with Elena Rey: What was the driving vision behind launching the European Litigation Funding Conference, and how does this year’s agenda reflect the most pressing issues for funders and practitioners in 2025?  At the time there was no forum in Europe for funders and those connected to the litigation funding industry to come together and share ideas. Given our relationships and experienceon both sides of the Atlantic, it felt like a natural step for Brown Rudnick to launch a European conference dedicated to this nascent but growing industry. Our conference is an opportunity to bring together leading players across the litigation funding industry from around the world to discuss trends and developments in different jurisdictions, focus on deals in this space and their origination as well as share knowledge and develop networks. As an advisor to investors, funders and claimants on all matters litigation funding related, we have reflected the issues, opportunities, trends and strategies that we see day to day in the panels. From your perspective, what are the most significant developments in litigation funding across the UK and continental Europe over the past year, and how are those shaping the conversations you expect at the conference?  In the UK,  funders have had to contend with PACCAR and the risk of that decision to historic funding agreements. However, it is anticipated that the CJC recommendations will pave the way for a fix to be enacted that will provide reassurance and certainty for users of funding as well as funders themselves,  which has been lacking and an unnecessary distraction for an industry that is still nascent. Continental Europe is discovering the benefits of funding, slowly but surely, and there is a lot of focus on countries such as Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and the Nordics. There are several promising developments in jurisdictions including in Spain which is looking to introduce opt out collective redress regime for consumers that won’t be possible without funding.  We are also continuing to see strong demand for funding in the Netherlands where the regime is more established. Regulatory reform continues to be a key topic in the sector—how will the conference address differing approaches in the UK, EU, and U.S., and what takeaways do you hope attendees will gain from that dialogue? We have thought leaders from the UK, EU and US who will be sharing their insights on the regulatory developments and potential headwinds facing funders, investors, law firms and claimants who are also impacted. The industry is evolving, and our conference has been successful because attendees gain fresh insights and perspectives from their peers and users of funding as well as investors. The panel discussions cover a broad range of topics. Which are you most excited about, and why?  This is an impossible question to answer for me and it’s our fantastic panelists that make the sessions compelling and very relevant every year. Panels on Group Actions, Law Firm Funding, and European Developments address the key structures and legal issues that are central to the industry and to advancing funded cases. The Private Credit Panel is also consistently one of the most engaging, given the strong interest we are seeing from private equity and distressed debt funds, family offices, and other sources of capital. It is particularly valuable to hear how multi-strategy investment funds view the litigation funding space and how they weigh its risk and return profile against other alternative asset classes Each year we try to include a more light-hearted panel. Last year it focused on the funding of cryptocurrency cases. This year we’ve added a panel called “Trouble” — looking at what happens when a hostile action is taken by one of the parties to a funding arrangement, when a dispute arises, or when some other unusual challenge puts both the funder’s experience and the robustness of the funding documentation to the test. Several recent high-profile deals that went through restructurings have brought these issues into the spotlight, so I expect this will be a particularly engaging panel For many attendees, conferences are as much about relationships as content. What unique opportunities will this event offer for funders, lawyers, and investors to connect and potentially initiate deals? It’s rare for a conference to bring together industry leaders from around the worldconsistently,  and that is the secret of this conference’s success and what is has a strong reputation for. Funders, investors and users of funding know this and that is why they attend, so yes, I expect a lot of deals will be originated at the conference. And because we are not a commercial conference organisation, we are completely focused on the quality of our content and all of our panels are carefully curated to tackle important subjects and panelists are invited because they have something important and relevant to say on that topic. We expect that like in previous years, it will be a standing room only event. -- Click here for more information on the European Litigation Funding Conference 2025.  The event will take place on Thursday, October 9th, and panel discussions will include: 1. State of the Market and Managing Regulatory Uncertainty 2. Private Credit Investment Interest in Litigation Funding 3. Portfolio Diversification and Law Firm Funding Strategies, Risks and Returns 4. Co-funding and Secondary Syndication Strategies 5. Group Actions Landscape - Recent and Upcoming Decisions that Impact Funding 6. Developments in the European Litigation Funding Market 7. Trouble - What Happens When Things Go Wrong & Value Loss Mitigation