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Community Spotlight: Dean Gresham, Managing Director, Certum Group

March 31, 2025

Community Spotlight: Dean Gresham, Managing Director, Certum Group

Dean Gresham is a Managing Director who oversees the evaluation, underwriting, and risk management of all the company’s risk transfer solutions, including litigation finance and contingent risk insurance. With 25 years of experience in complex litigation and legal risk analysis, Dean ensures rigorous underwriting standards and strategic risk mitigation across the company’s risk transfer solutions.

Before joining Certum Group, Dean was a trial lawyer for more than 21 years handling complex commercial, catastrophic injury, qui tam, and class action litigation across the country. While practicing, Dean litigated on both sides of the docket and developed a keen ability to analyze and assess risk from both the plaintiff’s and defendant’s unique perspectives.

In 2020, Dean was awarded the Elite Trial Lawyer of the Year award by the National Law Journal for his trailblazing work on a complicated wrongful adoption case. Dean is consistently chosen by his peers as a Texas Super Lawyer (2009-2024); one of the Best Lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine (2009-2024), one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Texas by the National Association of Trial Lawyers (2011-2024), and in the Nation’s Top One Percent by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel (2019-2024).

Dean is the 2025 Chair of the Dallas Bar Association’s prestigious Business Litigation Section and sits on the DBA’s Judiciary Committee.

Company Name and Description: Certum Group offers a next-generation litigation risk transfer platform that provides bespoke solutions for companies, law firms, and funders facing the uncertainty of litigation. Latin for “certainty,” Certum represents the core benefit the company delivers to its clients across its entire suite of risk transfer solutions.  Certum is the full-service funding and insurance partner for law firms and their business clients.

Company Website: www.certumgroup.com

Year Founded: 2014 

Headquarters:  Plano, Texas

Area of Focus: Member: Head of Underwriting and Chair of the Investment Committee.

Member Quote: “Litigation funding doesn’t just fuel cases—it fuels justice. Power should never trump merit.”

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Commercial

Flashlight Capital Backing Social Media Victims Law Center in Landmark Addiction Trial

By John Freund |

One of the most closely watched trials in recent memory now has a confirmed litigation funder behind it, adding a new dimension to a case some observers are calling a potential "Big Tobacco moment" for the technology industry.

As reported by Bloomberg Law, the Social Media Victims Law Center, a lead firm in litigation alleging that social media platforms have caused widespread addiction among young users, has secured backing from Flashlight Capital. Public records indicate the funding arrangement dates back to June 2024.

The case carries enormous financial stakes. Billions of dollars in potential liability are on the table for major technology companies, with testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg regarding the company's youth-oriented strategies forming a centerpiece of the proceedings. The involvement of a litigation funder underscores the scale and complexity of the claims, which span multiple jurisdictions and plaintiffs.

For the litigation finance industry, the case represents a high-profile test of how third-party funding can support sprawling, resource-intensive consumer protection litigation. The outcome could shape both the future of platform liability and the appetite of funders to back similarly ambitious cases against deep-pocketed defendants.

The trial is being closely monitored across the legal and technology sectors as a potential bellwether for how courts evaluate the role social media companies play in youth mental health outcomes.

Commercial Legal Innovation

Edenreach Report Makes the Case for AI and Ethical Capital to Bridge the Global Justice Gap

By John Freund |

A new white paper argues that artificial intelligence and mission-aligned investment capital could help close a justice gap that currently affects roughly 5.1 billion people worldwide.

As reported by Edenreach, the female-founded justice fintech company's report identifies three primary barriers preventing vulnerable populations from accessing legal assistance: economic hardship and geographic distance, the complexity of legal matters requiring expert knowledge, and systemic discrimination targeting marginalized communities. These obstacles are compounded by shrinking legal aid budgets and insufficient resources for pro bono and nonprofit legal organizations.

The report proposes a "justice finance" model that treats legal cases aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as investable impact assets. This framework aims to combine measurable financial returns with accountability for governance failures, drawing from a largely untapped $3.33 trillion global market of capital that seeks both social outcomes and competitive returns.

On the technology side, the report cites research from the British Institute of International and Comparative Law showing that AI-powered tools — including real-time translation, simplified legal explanations, and automated resource matching — can significantly expand the reach of legal professionals to underserved populations.

For the litigation finance industry, the report represents a growing effort to position legal funding not just as a commercial opportunity but as a vehicle for social impact, potentially attracting a new class of ESG-focused investors to the sector.

Commercial

MAGA Backers Reflect Rare Split on Regulating Litigation Funders

By John Freund |

An unusual political coalition has emerged in opposition to proposed legislation that would regulate or tax litigation funders, revealing deep divisions even among close allies of the Trump administration.

As reported by Bloomberg Law, the split pits MAGA-aligned figures, progressive Democrats, and trial lawyers against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and corporate-backed Republicans. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina has proposed taxing litigation funder profits, while Representative Darrell Issa of California introduced disclosure requirements for civil cases. Both efforts have drawn pushback from unexpected quarters.

Laura Loomer, a Trump-aligned commentator, publicly criticized the Tillis bill as empowering "woke corporations," while America First Legal, the organization founded by Stephen Miller, warned that disclosure mandates could create privacy threats. Conservative nonprofits have argued that funder transparency requirements could reveal donors on politically sensitive issues including religious liberty and abortion. On the other side of the aisle, Representative Jamie Raskin, a progressive Democrat, found himself aligned with the Alliance Defending Freedom in opposing the proposals.

The article also highlights financial interests that may be shaping the debate. Donald Trump Jr. has invested in patent litigation companies, and Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo has connections to Vallecito Capital, which backs conservative legal cases.

Both the Tillis tax proposal and the Issa disclosure bill have stalled in Congress, with momentum fading after the initial pushback from this bipartisan — and often ideologically contradictory — coalition.