News and analysis dedicated to the commercial litigation funding sector including regulatory issues, case developments, funding activities, and more.

Litigation Capital Management (LCM) Limited (AIM:LIT), a leading international provider of litigation financing solutions, announces its reviewed interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2018.

A claim has been launched in the UK’s specialist competition court by Justin Gutmann, formerly of Citizens Advice, on behalf of millions of passengers who have paid twice for part of their journeys on Southeastern and South Western routes.  

Vannin Capital, the global expert in legal finance, has today announced that Rosie Ioannou has been appointed as UK Regional Managing Director.

 Rosie joined Vannin in 2014 as a Managing Director and has since been a driving force behind its growth and development, as well as the evolution of the litigation funding industry in the UK and around the globe. In her new role, she will have overall responsibility for Vannin’s UK business, leading the team of UK Managing Directors. Her appointment underscores Vannin’s ambitious growth objectives for the years ahead, and the role that the UK litigation market will play in realising those ambitions.

New York, NY, Feb. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — via NEWMEDIAWIRE — DealFlow Events is pleased to announce the agenda for The Litigation Funding Forum 2019 coming up April 4 in New York City.

Debenhams Ottaway LLP in association with Sparkle Capital Ltd, Sybaris Legal & IP and Acasta Europe Limited have today launched a product to fund claims brought in the Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court (“IPEC”). The product follows collaboration between the innovative law firm, who last year set up a litigation funding panel and Sparkle Capital, a litigation funder. Sybaris Legal & IP, an insurance broker operating in the intellectual property arena will operate one of the distribution channels for the product and Acasta will provide the After The Event insurance.

A group of Republican Senators has reintroduced a bill that would mandate disclosure in class action and MDL contexts. The Senators first introduced the Litigation Funding Transparency Act (LFTA) last year, but it went nowhere. Now they are making another push with the same legislation.

Augusta, the largest litigation and dispute funding institution in the UK – with £150m of capital and a team of 70 in London, today announces its expansion into the Canadian market with the opening of an office in Toronto. This complements Augusta’s existing operations in Sydney and London.

Vannin Capital, the global expert in legal finance, has today announced the appointment of Steven Taylor as a Managing Director in its Sydney office.

Steven joins Vannin from one of the pioneer companies of the global litigation funding industry, where he worked as a Litigation Manager responsible for managing funded claims to a resolution – work which entailed reviewing funding applications and negotiating funding agreements.

CHICAGO, Feb. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Keller Lenkner LLC today announced that it filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all purchasers of securities of General Electric Company (“GE” or the “Company”) (NYSE: GE) from October 12, 2018through and including October 29, 2018 (the “Class Period”). The action was filed in the Southern District of New Yorkand is captioned Birnbaum v. General Electric Company, et al., No. 1:19-cv-01013.

SYDNEY (31 January 2019):  Leading global litigation and dispute financier IMF Bentham Limited (ASX: IMF) (IMF) announced today it is approaching investment targets for two of its funding vehicles ahead of schedule and has successfully increased the capacity of these vehicles to meet strong market demand for investment funding.

Melbourne/ Jersey, 30 January 2019. Therium Capital Management, a leading global provider of litigation finance, announced today that Louise Hird has been appointed to the firm as an investment manager. Louise joins Therium from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), where she was a director leading investigations focused on consumer and competition law. Founded in 2009, Therium is one of the largest and most established litigation financing firms in the world. The firm has funded claims valued at $36 billion.

NEW YORK (January 29, 2019) – Litigation funder Validity Finance has made a notable addition to its growing investment team with the arrival of portfolio counsel William C. Marra in New York. The firm also announced a prominent addition to its governance structure, with Allen Fagin, formerly chair of Proskauer Rose LLP, joining Validity’s board of directors.  Finally, Validity has retained former New York federal Judge John Gleeson, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York, as outside counsel to advise on investment opportunities.

Ever since its arrival on the stage in the early 1990s in Australia, litigation funding has managed to impact the broader legal climate in which it participates (in early 90s Australis, that was the insolvency market, today in Australia, the UK and America, that is nearly every legal sector). Take class actions, for example. Litigation funding has been proven to increase the rate of settlements  in class actions by 21%. Professor Vince Morabito of Monash University compiled data leading up to July 2017, which showed that funded parties in class actions are 69% likely to settle, whereas unfunded parties are only 48% likely to settle.

LONDON, SINGAPORE, HONG KONG, PHILADELPHIA 30 January 2019, Woodsford Litigation Funding, the global provider of litigation financing solutions for businesses, individuals and law firms, has announced that Hong Kong based Simon Powell has joined its Investment Advisory Panel.

NEW YORK (January 29, 2019) – Leading commercial litigation funder Bentham IMF has hired Sidley Austin LLP partner, Dana MacGrath, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP partner, Sarah Tsou, as investment managers and legal counsel responsible for sourcing and evaluating arbitration and commercial litigation matters that meet Bentham’s investment criteria. The company has also hired Chief of Staff, Tina Young, from Deloitte Consulting LLP. This marks the second round of hiring at the company since it launched its most recent fund in November 2018.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — RPX Corporation today announced that it secured licensing rights for 10 companies to 595 semiconductor-related patents owned by Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 (IP Bridge).

LONDON, PHILADELPHIA, HONG KONG 23 January 2019, Woodsford Litigation Funding, the global provider of litigation financing solutions for businesses, individuals and law firms, has announced further expansion of its international executive team and IAP.

(LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM 22 January 2019): IMF Litigation Funding Services Limited (IMF LFS), a wholly owned subsidiary of IMF Bentham Limited (ASX:IMF) (IMF), one of the world’s largest and most respected litigation funders, announced today a proposed shareholder action for shareholders of Danske Bank A/S (CPSE:DANSKE) (Danske Bank), to be led by specialist Danish law firm NJORD Law Firm and leading global litigation law firm Quinn Emanuel.

It’s no secret that over the last several years, Wall Street has been pouring money into the litigation space – whether indirectly by capitalizing litigation funders, or directly via their own investments into the space. However the recent revelation of Baupost Group’s $1 billion purchase of legal claims against utility company PG&E illustrates both the scope and scale of the hedge fund world’s interest in the legal sector.