Burford Capital CEO Christopher Bogart and co-founder Jonathan Molot have shot back at US-based hedge fund Muddy Waters’ claims that Burford misreports its earnings, and is ‘arguably insolvent.’ In a call to investors earlier today, Bogart characterized the allegations as ‘false and misleading,’ and sought to assure investors by stating that both he and Molot had personally invested $4MM into Burford’s stock after the Muddy Waters announcement was made. 

There’s been much talk about litigation funding and legal fees, and whether the existence of funding generates an inherent conflict of interest. While there are some legitimate concerns here, the anxiety is mostly overblown. In an increasingly-commoditized industry, litigation funders aren’t likely to risk repetitional harm by directing or even influencing case management and strategy. 

All of that said, legal fees are only one side of the coin. Funders also cover case expenses, and here is an area where conflict of interest may actually arise. 

Tom Girardi, of the eponymous law firm Girardi Keese, has been ordered to deliver to his financials to the court after he failed to pay $6MM of a $16MM settlement with Law Finance Group. Law Finance sued Girardi for failure to repay a $15MM loan, and eventually settled on the $16MM figure, only to claim that Girardi skipped out on the final $6MM payment.

US-based hedge fund Muddy Waters has caused some serious ripples with its allegations against Burford Capital. In a recently released video, Muddy Waters CEO contends that Burford’s largest shareholder – Invesco – essentially bailed out Napo Pharmaceuticals, a company whose legal claim Burford was financing. 

A new survey by Validity Finance and ALM has yielded some impressive results for litigation funders to harp onto. A full 98% of attorneys surveyed who had used litigation finance at least once in the past said they would do so again, and 93% found their experience to be positive. 

London, 5th August 2019, Augusta, the UK’s largest litigation and dispute funding institution by case volume – today announces the appointment ofAnna Malek as Head of HR, based in London. Anna joins from software and services group Editec where, as Global Head of HR, she managed the full range of people related functions.

As litigation funding gains mainstream acceptance, there have been more and more headline-making allegations which are casting a shadow over the industry. Despite the funding community’s best efforts to assuage such ethical concerns, they persist and continue to plague the nascent market.