Londoners like Chief Executive Andrew Bailey are staunch adherents to the adage ‘Keep Calm and Carry On.’ With that in mind, onlookers were stunned at the outburst that occurred during Bailey’s recent appearance in front of the Treasury Select Committee. There to answer questions regarding Dame Elizabeth Gloster’s report, Bailey ended up lambasting the performance of the Financial Conduct Authority.
Neil Purslow didn’t intend to become an investment manager when he entered the legal world. Before long, however, he began a love affair with commercial litigation. This led to Purslow developing a broad knowledge base that included mastering the intricacies of the corporate and commercial fields.
This past Thursday, LFJ hosted a digital conference that featured insights from various institutional investors active in the litigation funding sector. The panel – moderated by Ed Truant (ET) of Slingshot Capital – consisted of Jonathan Rix (JR), Senior Associate at UK-based PE firm Partners Capital, Kendra Corbett (KC), Principal on the Investment team of independent asset manager Cloverlay, and David Demeter (DD), Investment Director of Davidson College’s $1Bn endowment fund.
The event also featured a keynote address from Charles Agee, founder of Westfleet Advisors, a litigation funding advisory firm. Charles discussed the key findings of his 2020 Litigation Finance Market Report–the most holistic industry survey on the market.
Omni Bridgeway is poised to grow its services for German clients. With that in mind, the firm has added Anna-Maria Quinke to its team. Quinke is an anti-trust litigation specialist who will now serve as Senior Legal Counsel as well as an Investment Manager.
Hosted by Jim Batson, the newest episode of Omni Bridgeway’s podcast features Ariana Tadler, founder of Tadler Law. Baston runs Omni’s New York office and serves as Senior Investment Manager. Tadler is an accomplished class action litigator and a global authority on e-Discovery. She is a founding member of Meta-e Discovery, which does consulting and data hosting.
An upcoming meeting of Fronterra milk suppliers promises to provide information about the developing class action. Fronterra, a major milk processor, is accused of engaging in deceptive and misleading conduct by failing to price match another major milk processor—Murray Goulburn.
In the past year, COVID has wreaked financial havoc, business interruption, and court delays. It has also led to spikes in specific types of litigation. With that in mind, Litigation Funding is enjoying a resurgence that appears to be here to stay. A legal firm that typically relies on fees from clients may find itself in dire financial straits. Even a firm that’s meeting its goals for billable hours may find that clients are less able to pay.
In this post-Brexit world, London has long positioned itself as a global destination for disputes. A new Court of Appeal judgment clarifying laws relating to Damages Based Agreements helps support that goal. The recent ruling affirms the importance of DBAs, allowing greater access to justice.
Now that Litigation Finance has established itself as a viable industry, laws are being written to clarify finer points and add consistency to laws across jurisdictions. One area of focus is how costs are handled, both in terms of the UK adverse costs regime, and in possible new requirements for third-party funders wishing to obtain securities for cost.
Omni Bridgeway has been a leader in Litigation Finance for over 30 years. In that time, they’ve made a name for themselves in the US, Canada, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. Now, the company is making a move to Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Argentina with the formation of the Omni Bridgeway Latin America Group.
There’s no apparent end in sight to the legal battles between insurers and policyholders with regard to business interruption and COVID. At least five law firms are looking at potential class actions against insurers denying that their business interruption policies do not cover pandemics.
Most business owners are feeling the pressures of COVID. Startups and established brands alike are finding new challenges to overcome as they negotiate lower sales figures, supply chain hassles, and budget shortfalls. But solutions are available if you know where to look.
With remote work now mainstream, it’s become the norm for Legal Tech firms to hire well outside their physical location. While this opens up new opportunities to recruit talent, it also increases competition for job seekers, and companies looking to hire. What might this mean for Litigation Finance?
Millberg London has stated that, along with the assistance of third-party litigation funders, they will assume all upfront charges in order to begin legal action against Vauxhall. This will ensure that class participants will not bear any costs associated with the case, minimizing their personal liability.
Senior Investment Manager and Head of Omni Bridgeway’s offices in New York, Jim Batson, recently hosted Omni’s Beyond Hourly podcast. Batson is a former commercial litigator and law firm partner. The podcast features Ariana Tadler, founder of Tadler Law.
Even though much of the world has abandoned outdated maintenance and champerty laws, the Cayman Islands is reticent to let these common-law standards go. This is about to change, with the introduction of the 2020 Private Funding of Legal Services Act.
What is the best way to address fraud once it’s been discovered? Many professionals would say that a civil action is the most effective way to recoup losses and bring fraudsters to justice. Litigation funding can play a pivotal role in this process.
Thomas Girardi was a famous trial lawyer when he assured devastated clients that he would help them. One such client, Kathy Ruigomez, took the celebrity attorney at his word based on his affectation, and his reputation as illustrated in the film Erin Brockovich.
Woolworths Group Limited is being accused of breaching disclosure obligations, including the 2001 Corporations Act, and engaging in deceptive or misleading conduct. That’s according to a recently filed class-action suit set in motion by Maurice Blackburn. The action has been slated for a hearing in February.
What’s being described as the biggest energy action in Australia’s history is now underway. A class action against two Queensland energy generators was filed in Federal Court on Wednesday. Allegations include manipulating the wholesale pricing system and artificially inflating energy bills for thousands of customers.
The Cayman Islands is the latest territory to signal its embrace of Litigation Finance. Until 2017, champerty laws were still in force, and legal funding by third-parties was disallowed except in insolvency cases. That year, Harneys, a Cayman Islands law firm, received court approval for the practice.
The German legislature is in the midst of groundbreaking decisions surrounding legal tech. They recently validated the business model of LexFox, a legal tech company. By ruling that LexFox did not violate the German Legal Services Act, the court validated similar companies like myRight and Flightright.
What happens when you take every precaution only to be let down by your insurer? That’s what Josephine Woodberry is asking. She purchased a business interruption insurance policy for her dance studio in Preston, near Melbourne, only to discover she wasn’t actually covered.
Last year, the world was thrown into upheaval thanks to COVID, and most industries are still reeling. Hospitality, entertainment, travel—so many once-thriving businesses are either closed down or hanging on by a thread. What can be done to ensure that your business isn’t one of those lost to the pandemic?
It’s been asserted that lawyer and reality-show-husband Tom Girardi is currently incapable of active participation in his current legal situation. Documents recently filed assert that the firm Girardi Keese owes Virage SPV more than $10 million. Yet Girardi’s brother maintains that the founder of the firm is suffering from memory loss and requires a guardian ad litem for himself and his firm.
A recently filed case in the US Court of Appeals 8th Circuit regarding Timothy Parker and Parker Law Firm has been forced into arbitration. Seeking leave to litigate, the appeals court determined that the dispute in question was addressed by the arbitration clause in the formal agreement between parties.
