Nick Wood has been involved in structuring and financing numerous litigation strategies over many years. After a long career in wealth management and many allied business ventures, he established Audley Capital in late 2022. Audley has grown rapidly to be a leading light in the litigation funding industry, bringing together investment capital, legal excellence and case origination.
Legal Intelligence – formed by Audley Capital and AXai – empowers the legal industry to navigate the future with confidence. Nick believes that by harnessing the transformative power of AI and digital innovation, Legal Intelligence can equip legal firms and litigation funders with the tools and insights they need to make informed decisions, reduce risks, and offer unparalleled service and efficiency gains. LI’s goal is to create a world where legal practices can thrive on the certainty of their actions, driving positive outcomes for their clients.
The utilisation of technology has always been a key ingredient in the Audley service proposition. As with many great opportunities, Audley and AXai came together by chance but swiftly worked out that collaboration was essential-maximising the impact of knowledge, connectivity and technology to create the art of the possible. Away from work, Nick’s interests include golf, rugby, cycling, food and wine.
Below is our LFJ Conversation with Nick Wood.
1) There is a lot happening at the intersection of litigation funding and technology. Where do you currently see the most intriguing opportunities at the moment? The litigation funding industry has grown massively in recent years as demand has created intriguing investment opportunities for those seeking uncorrelated returns. However, it is fair to say that the legal profession has lagged behind other sectors in implementing technology and this has meant that accurate assimilation of risk/return ratios have been difficult for investors to ascertain. Indeed, in some cases money has been poorly allocated to firms that quite frankly do not have the required skill sets, and in others it has proved impossible to raise the required investment to take a case forwards. Neither of the above serves plaintiffs properly and they are the most important stakeholder in this. We see technology as an enabler. It helps great cases, great law firms and intelligent capital to stand out and be heard. It enables funders to risk assess potential cases quickly, accurately and effectively. It enable law firms to demonstrate historical performance, current case work and future opportunity.
2) You recently launched Legal Intelligence, an AI platform for the Legal Services industry. What is the key differentiator here – why should legal professionals consider Legal Intelligence? Legal Intelligence Ltd (LI) is the coming together of like minded individuals. Audley brings a weight of experience in terms of litigation funding, law firm consulting and case development and management. AXai is an AI/technology powerhouse with long term experience of implementing technology to create bespoke solutions to complex problems. Together, LI is demonstrating the art of the possible.
3) Walk us through how a litigation funder might use your platform. From bookbuilding to client onboarding, how would Legal Intelligence provide efficiencies along the way? Wow, that could take a while! In brief, LI has several ready made modules to enable claim verification, quantum calculation, case management, data trawling and risk analysis both at inception and at each milestone. For law firms, LI can provide onboarding tools, data scraping to maximise the value of each client, data trawling to reduce paralegal costs, client facing chatbots, case management tools and financial management assistance. Basically, LI makes investment capital more intelligent and it makes investable law firms stand out. We are also working on a number of bespoke projects with both funders and law firms.
4) What are the chief concerns prospective clients have about your platform – or about AI platforms in general? And how do you allay those concerns? It is really interesting to discuss technology generally, and AI in particular with prospective clients. Losing control is the probably the biggest fear, but those at the forefront of our industry realise that it has to be the way forward. Costs will always be under pressure, either through competition or regulation. Funders spend much of their time on cases that will not be funded and law firms spend massive resources on trying to access funding without success. LI seeks to short circuit much of this, making funding more swift, more accessible and more efficient. If we can work more effectively as a collective, access to justice will become quicker, cheaper and more successful, enabling those that need a voice to be heard. Enabling social justice is the beating heart of Audley, AXai and LI.
5) Where do you see the evolution of litigation funding and legal technology moving from here? What advancements should we be keeping an eye on, and how do you see those impacting the sector? There is massive interest from institutions, endowment funds and private capital in legal finance. Returns can be impressive and impactful. Many of those investing see that social responsibility and justice is served best by enabling those that need representation to be able to access it. We see the implementation of ‘intelligent’ technology as being vital to the further development of the litigation finance sector, ensuring that capital is invested wisely and effectively. Claim verification, case management, data trawling, client facing chatbots, settlement calculation, performance monitoring and active communication are becoming ever more embedded in litigation management. Legal Intelligence is, and will continue to be at the forefront of this transformational and exciting new world!
