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Community Spotlight: Viren Mascarenhas, Partner, Milbank

By John Freund |

Community Spotlight: Viren Mascarenhas, Partner, Milbank

Viren is a Partner in Milbank’s New York office where he leads the international arbitration practice in the US.  He specializes in international arbitration (construction, commercial, and investment arbitration) as well as enforcement of awards and judgments in U.S. courts. 

He has nearly two decades of experience acting as counsel for parties in a broad range of industries, with a particular focus on energy and mining disputes. His investment treaty experience includes representing investors in disputes against Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bolivia, Ecuador, India, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Timor-Leste, Uruguay, and Venezuela.  He has advised litigation funders on whether to underwrite prospective matters and also obtained litigation funding for his clients.  He sits as arbitrator in commercial arbitrations and teaches international arbitration at Columbia Law School. 

Viren has been recognized for his accomplishments in international arbitration by Chambers GlobalChambers USALegal 500Who’s Who Legal: ArbitrationThe Best Lawyers in America:  International ArbitrationEuromoney (commercial arbitration), Latinvex (disputes in Latin America), Law360 (energy disputes), Lawdragon (500 Leading Global Litigators, 2021, 2023, 2024), The New York Law JournalCrain’s Business New York,The LGBT Bar Association, the South Asian Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.  His client reviews in Chambers include, “Viren is talented, smart, and quick on his feet.  He is a lawyer you want in your corner”; “His attention to detail and commitment made him stand out – he was always thinking of next steps and briefing us often”; “Viren is bright, capable and a really strong advocate.”  Legal 500 identified Milbank as one of three firms to watch in the international arbitration space, noting, “Milbank continues to grow its profile in international arbitration since the late 2022 arrival of Viren Mascarenhas.  The team is particularly noted for its activity in the energy and infrastructure areas.”

Company Name and Description:  Milbank LLP is an international law firm headquartered in New York with offices in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Beijing, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo, Seoul, and Singapore.  Chambers USA ranks Milbank in Band 1 for a range of practices, including Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Capital Markets, Metals & Mining, Projects, and Transportation.

Company Website: www.milbank.com

Year Founded:  1866.  Company rebranded to Milbank in 2019.

Headquarters:  New York

Area of Focus: Milbank is a full services international law firm.  Viren is a member of the Litigation & Arbitration Practice Group.

Member Quote:  “Litigation funders want lawyers who can chart a course of action from filing a claim to collecting on the award/judgment, and then engage with the wide variety of players involved (client, opposing counsel, co-counsel, witnesses, experts, investigators, the adjudicators, and the funders themselves!) to make it happen.”

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John Freund

John Freund

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Burford Covers Antitrust in Legal Funding

By John Freund |

Burford Capital has contributed a chapter to Concurrences Competition Law Review focused on how legal finance is accelerating corporate opt-out antitrust claims.

The piece—authored by Charles Griffin and Alyx Pattison—frames the cost and complexity of high-stakes competition litigation as a persistent deterrent for in-house teams, then walks through financing structures (fees & expenses financing, monetizations) that convert legal assets into budgetable corporate tools. Burford also cites fresh survey work from 2025 indicating that cost, risk and timing remain the chief barriers for corporates contemplating affirmative recoveries.

The chapter’s themes include: the rise of corporate opt-outs, the appeal of portfolio approaches, and case studies on unlocking capital from pending claims to support broader corporate objectives. While the article is thought-leadership rather than a deal announcement, it lands amid a surge in private enforcement activity and a more sophisticated debate over governance around funder influence, disclosure and control rights.

The upshot for the market: if corporate opt-outs continue to professionalize—and if boards start treating claims more like assets—expect a deeper bench of financing structures (including hybrid monetizations) and more direct engagement between funders and CFOs. That could widen the funnel of antitrust recoveries in both the U.S. and EU, even as regulators and courts refine the rules of the road.

Almaden Arbitration Backed by $9.5m Funding

By John Freund |

Almaden Minerals has locked in the procedural calendar for its CPTPP arbitration against Mexico and reiterated that the case is supported by up to $9.5 million in non-recourse litigation funding. The Vancouver-based miner is seeking more than $1.06 billion in damages tied to the cancellation of mineral concessions for the Ixtaca project and related regulatory actions. Hearings are penciled in for December 14–18, 2026 in Washington, D.C., after Mexico’s counter-memorial deadline of November 24, 2025 and subsequent briefing milestones.

An announcement via GlobeNewswire confirms the non-recourse funding arrangement—first disclosed in 2024—remains in place with a “leading legal finance counterparty.” The company says the financing enables it to prosecute the ICSID claim without burdening its balance sheet while pursuing a negotiated settlement in parallel. The update follows the tribunal’s rejection of Mexico’s bifurcation request earlier this summer, a step that keeps merits issues moving on a consolidated track.

For the funding market, the case exemplifies how non-recourse capital continues to bridge resource-intensive investor-state disputes, where damages models are sensitive to commodity prices and sovereign-risk dynamics. The disclosed budget level—$9.5 million—sits squarely within the range seen for multi-year ISDS matters and underscores the need for careful duration underwriting, including fee/expense waterfalls that can accommodate extended calendars.

Should metals pricing remain supportive and the tribunal ultimately accept Almaden’s valuation theory, the claim could deliver a meaningful multiple on invested capital. More broadly, the update highlights steady demand for funding in the ISDS channel—even as governments scrutinize mining concessions and environmental permitting—suggesting that cross-border resource disputes will remain a durable pipeline for commercial funders and specialty arbitrations desks alike.

Legalist Expands into Government Contractor Lending

By John Freund |

Litigation funder Legalist is moving beyond its core offering of case-based finance and launching a new product aimed at helping government contractors manage cash flow. The San Francisco-based firm, which made its name advancing capital to plaintiffs and law firms in exchange for a share of litigation proceeds, is now offering loans backed by government receivables.

An article in Considerable outlines how Legalist’s latest product is designed to serve small and midsize contractors facing long payment delays—often 30 to 120 days—from federal agencies. These businesses frequently struggle to cover payroll, purchase materials, or bid on new work while waiting for disbursements, and traditional lenders are often unwilling to bridge the gap due to regulatory complexities and slow timelines.

Unlike litigation finance, where returns are tied to legal outcomes, these loans are secured by awarded contracts or accounts receivable from government entities. Legalist sees overlap in risk profiling, having already built underwriting systems around uncertain and delayed payouts in the legal space.

For Legalist, the move marks a significant expansion of its alternative credit offerings, applying its expertise in delayed-cashflow environments to a broader market segment. And for the legal funding industry, it signals the potential for funders to diversify their revenue models by repurposing their infrastructure for adjacent verticals. As more players explore government receivables or non-litigation-based financing, the definition of “litigation finance” may continue to evolve.