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Global Law Firm announce expansion and name change

By John Freund |

Global law firm PGMBM will now be known as Pogust Goodhead after a succession of litigation victories.

Following a landmark ruling ensuring mining giant BHP will face their day of reckoning in the English courts over the Mariana dam disaster, the law firm will also be expanding their services in Brazil.

With the addition of a new office in Rio de Janeiro, Pogust Goodhead plans to continue spearheading environmental litigation in Brazil, as well as around the world through offices in the Netherlands and United States.

The expansion also includes plans for a new legal process outsourcing centre based in Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, Brazil to help process and service clients worldwide – which will bring over 300 jobs to the area.

Alongside the expansion into Brazil, the firm is growing its global securities department, with a new office in San Diego – headed up by experienced securities litigator Takeo Kellar. Enhancing this practise area aligns with Pogust Goodhead’s commitment to bringing shareholder engagement and litigation solutions to investors around the world.

The news comes after a series of historic settlements including on behalf of 15,000 claimants in the Volkswagen Group Litigation in May 2022 and 16,000 victims of the British Airways Data Breach in 2021.

A partnership and £100m funding deal with North Wall Capital was also recently announced as the largest investment in a UK claimant law firm to date.

The ongoing investment in Brazil will also see the addition of 20 new Brazilian lawyers in the coming weeks, after a series of UK hires.

Pogust Goodhead has recently seen the recruitment of C-Suite leaders Chief Operating Officer Alicia Alinia and Chief Financial Officer Jash Radia, bringing decades of experience in strategic leadership across the business.

Global Managing Partner and CEO Tom Goodhead said:

“In the past twelve months, we have successfully concluded group litigations against British Airways, Volkswagen and just last month we secured an extraordinary victory against the largest mining company in the world, BHP.

“Today we are moving to the next chapter. As the business continues to grow, it is vital that we make changes to ensure that we have a strong, reliable, and sustainable infrastructure to facilitate our ambitions to transform group litigation globally.

“Our Brazilian cases have always been the driving force of the firm and with a new office in Rio we hope to build on the great progress we have made with cases against defendants such as BHP and Tuv Sud.

“Most importantly we want to ensure our clients are given an even better experience and to ultimately ensure we represent their desire for justice, continuing to fight the good fight across all our litigations.”

Chairman Harris Pogust added:

“We are delighted to be building on the successes of recent years in what we feel is the next crucial step for our firm.  I am beyond proud to have my name standing big and bold next to my amazing partner, Tom Goodhead.  As we continue to grow the firm, brand recognition becomes an even more important item in our growth.  With this name change we believe the brand Pogust Goodhead will be one of the most recognizable in the legal landscape.

“There is no law firm out there doing the cutting edge, ground-breaking work on behalf of those who are in most need of legal representation than Pogust Goodhead, and these changes will ensure we take things to the next level.

“We are beyond proud of the talented people we have on board at the firm and the incredible work they do every day, championing justice for our clients.

“We are only just getting started.”

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John Freund

John Freund

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Announcements Commercial People Moves

ALFA Welcomes Mackay Chapman as Newest Associate Member

By Harry Moran |

In a post on LinkedIn, The Association of Litigation Funders of Australia (ALFA) announced that it is welcoming Mackay Chapman as its newest Associate Member. Mackay Chapman becomes the 12th Associate Member of ALFA, following the inclusion of Litica in April of this year.

Mackay Chapman is a boutique legal and advisory firm, specialising in high-stakes regulatory, financial services and insolvency disputes. The Melbourne-based law firm was founded in 2016 by Dan Maclay and Michael Chapman, who bring 25 years of experience in complex disputes to the business.More information about Mackay Chapman can be found on its website.

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Case Developments Commercial

Deminor Announces Settlement in Danish OW Bunker Case

By Harry Moran |

An announcement from Deminor Litigation Funding revealed that a settlement has been reached in the OW Bunker action in Demark, which Deminor funded litigation brought by a group of 20 institutional investors against the investment banks Carnegie and Morgan Stanley.

This is part of a wider group of actions originating from OW Bunker’s 2014 bankruptcy, which led to significant financial losses for both company creditors and shareholders who had invested in the company. These other cases were brought against several defendants, including OW Bunker and its former management and Board of Directors, Altor Fund II, and the aforementioned investment banks.

The settlement provides compensation for plaintiffs across the four legal actions, with a total value of approximately 645 million DKK, including legal costs. The settlement agreement requires the parties to ‘waive any further claims against each other relating to OW Bunker’. Deminor’s announcement makes clear that ‘none of the defendants have acknowledged any legal responsibility in the group of linked cases in connection with the settlement.’

Charles Demoulin, Chief Investment Officer of Deminor, said that “the settlement makes it possible for our clients to benefit from a reasonable compensation for their losses”, and that they were advising the client “to accept this solution which represents a better alternative to continuing the litigation with the resulting uncertainties.” Joeri Klein, General Counsel Netherlands and Co-head Investment Recovery of Deminor, said that the settlement had demonstrated that “in Denmark it has now proven to be possible to find a balanced solution to redress investor related claims.”

Case Developments Commercial

Burford German Funding Sued Over Hausfeld Ownership Stake

By Harry Moran |

The ownership or funding of law firms by litigation funders continues to be a hot topic in the world of legal funding, with models such as alternative business structures (ABS) gaining momentum in places like Arizona. However, a complaint filed by a client in Delaware reveals a falling out due to the reverse funding model, where a law firm maintained an ownership stake in the funder.

Reporting by Bloomberg Law covers a new lawsuit brought against Burford German Funding (BGF), an affiliate of Burford Capital, by a client who claims that the funder failed to disclose the fact that BGF was partly owned by the same law firm it nominated to lead the client’s antitrust cases. Financialright Claims GMBH (FRC) alleges that when it negotiated the funding agreement with BGF for its antitrust litigation against the trucks cartel, it had no knowledge “that Hausfeld  was  also  a  part  owner  of  BGF  through  an  entity  called German Litigation Solutions LLC (“GLS”) or that one of the lead German partners at Hausfeld responsible for the firm’s representation of FRC had a personal stake.”

The complaint, filed by FRC in the Delaware Superior Court, explains that as Hausfeld is part-owner of BGF, and the funding agreement “provides for a share of FRC’s recoveries in the Trucks Litigations to flow to FRC’s lawyers”, this constitutes a contingency fee arrangement which are illegal under German law.  FRC had filed a lawsuit against Hausfeld in a German court and then applied for discovery from BGF, Burford and GLS in the Delaware District Court, which was followed by an assertion by these parties that the application for discovery “is subject to mandatory arbitration” under the terms of the funding agreement.

FRC argues that “as  a  direct  result  of  BGF’s  fraud  on  FRC,  FRC  did  agree  to  the Arbitration Agreement that—according to BGF—subsumes disputes between FRC and GLS.” However, FRC claims that it “would  never  have  agreed  to  an  arbitration  clause  requiring  it  to arbitrate claims against Hausfeld”, were it not for the concealment of Hausfeld’s ownership stake in BGF. FRC is therefore asking the Superior Court to declare that “BGF fraudulently induced  FRC  into  agreeing  to  the  Arbitration  Agreement”, and that the agreement should be declared both invalid and unenforceable.

Lisa Sharrow, spokesperson at Hausfeld LLP, provided the following statement:  “The US-based Hausfeld LLP and the UK-based Hausfeld & Co LLP hold indirect economic minority interests in Burford German Funding. These are separate legal entities from Hausfeld Rechtsanwälte LLP that do not practice law in Germany. Burford German Funding was of course developed and set up in a way that was fully compliant with all relevant regulations.”

David Helfenbein, spokesperson at Burford, also provided a response to Bloomberg via email: “There is a dispute in Germany between a client Burford has funded and its lawyers. Burford is not a party to that dispute and its outcome has no impact on us. This Delaware proceeding is a third-party discovery request to Burford for material for the German litigation, which Burford believes should be adjudicated in arbitration and not in the Delaware courts.”

The full complaint filed by FRC can be read here.

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