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New Research Shows Businesses Increasingly Open to Reframing Legal Department from Overhead to Capital Source

Burford Capital, the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law, today releases new independent research demonstrating that an increasing number of businesses are recognizing litigation portfolios as value sources and are becoming more open to tools that help them reframe the legal department from overhead to capital source.

In the nearly 15 years since Burford’s inception and in the wake of the last great recession, how businesses view their litigation and arbitration portfolios has drastically changed. Pressures on cost management have been persistent through turbulent economic times, Covid, supply chain constraints, geopolitical tensions and slow economic growth in major economies. To better understand how in-house lawyers and finance professionals expect these dual issues of cost management and value generation to evolve in the years ahead, Burford commissioned independent research with 400 GCs, heads of litigation, senior in-house lawyers, CFOs and other leaders responsible for litigation decision-making in their companies.

Highlights from the research include:

  • Businesses’ already significant investment in litigation is growing: 43% of GCs say litigation spend will grow at least 25% in the next five years.                 
  • GCs and CFOs are aligned in seeking innovation for the legal department: More than half of businesses (55%) either have an affirmative recovery program (18%) or intend to build one (37%)—making it all the more important that best practices are in place to manage costs and optimize outcomes.
  • GCs and CFOs agree that collaboration is needed but differ on its extent: 70% of GCs and CFOs say it is important that the legal department find new ways to recover value—signaling a shared desire to reframe the legal department as a capital source. However, three times as many in-house lawyers as finance professionals say the decision to pursue potential claims is generally left to legal with little input from finance.
  • Legal finance is a key tool and finance has an important role in leveraging it: Almost three quarters (73%) of all respondents say their organizations have used legal finance (39%) or would consider doing so (34%), and more than two thirds (67%) of finance professionals feel that legal can increase its value to the business by using tools like legal finance.

Christopher Bogart, Chief Executive Officer of Burford Capital said: “The trend of ‘corporate finance for law’ is growing, as confirmed by this research and our own business, given that more than 50% of our commitments are now with corporates. That’s due to the impact legal finance can have on reducing the impact of litigation on the P&L and business leaders’ desire to use their capital to maximize shareholder value, not pay lawyers. This marks our 15th year in business – and while the legal field is generally slow to change, this research reinforces that CFOs and GCs are thinking about their legal departments differently, and Burford is laser-focused on helping companies reframe the legal department more as capital source than overhead.”

The Litigation Economics: CFOs and GCs weigh in on best practices in optimizing legal department value survey can be downloaded on Burford’s website. The research was conducted by GLG from December 2023 – January 2024.

About Burford Capital

Burford Capital is the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law. Its businesses include litigation finance and risk management, asset recovery and a wide range of legal finance and advisory activities. Burford is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUR) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: BUR), and it works with companies and law firms around the world from its offices in New York, London, Chicago, Washington, DC, Singapore, Dubai, Sydney and Hong Kong.

For more information, please visit www.burfordcapital.com.

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Announcements Commercial Legal Innovation

Sentry Expands Free Funding Market Search for Litigators

By John Freund |

Sentry Funding’s free tool enabling litigators to instantly search the funding market on behalf of clients has been expanded.

Sentry’s free ‘decision in principle’ feature enables lawyers to evidence to clients that they have conducted a broad market search, even if funding is not ultimately taken out.

Having deployed £125m in funding across a range of case types, Sentry now has access to an even broader funding marketplace, covering 34 global jurisdictions. Finance is provided by 13 funders, five of which are members of the Association of Litigation Funders.

With the recent addition of Sentry’s first US-based funder, the US offering will now be expanding over the next few months. 

A faster process

Sentry has deployed the latest technology to make the search for funding even easier. 

  • The intuitive application process now only asks questions relevant to previous answers, saving lawyers time.
  • The commercial marketplace has been redeveloped with 63 new data points added to the funder criteria matrix - improving the accuracy of case / funder matching
  • Sentry has also begun building out its AI capabilities, starting with an automated auditing tool for live case progression audits. 

Tom Webster, chief executive officer at Sentry Funding, said:

‘By broadening our reach and speeding up the process, we’re making it even easier for lawyers to raise funding. We’re also giving litigators an easy way to show clients they have fully researched the market, rather than just approaching one or two funders. 

‘The service is free to use, so even if clients decide they do not ultimately want funding or if none is available for that case, for the lawyer, it makes sense to use our “decision in principle” feature, so they can put evidence on file that they did check the market.’

Sentry Funding is an SaaS (software as a service) technology provider that gives solicitors access to a diverse marketplace of litigation funders. It works with solicitors, funders and third-party providers to ensure claimants are getting the most efficient service for their funding needs. 

The Sentry Portal also acts as a case management system that runs a transparent digital case file for solicitors, funders, after-the-event insurance providers, barristers, cost lawyers and other relevant third parties.

Announcements Commercial

NorthWall Capital Hits €2.9 B AUM on Private Credit Momentum

By John Freund |

NorthWall Capital has rocketed past €2.9 billion in assets under management after pulling in an additional €1.6 billion of institutional capital in 2025 alone. The London-based alternative credit manager says the surge reflects allocators’ intensifying hunt for scaled, multi-strategy platforms as Europe’s banks retrench and borrowers seek bespoke sources of credit.

A press release from NorthWall Capital details first-close totals across four distinct strategies. The flagship Credit Opportunities fund secured €731 million—already eclipsing its prior vintage—while the newly launched Senior Lending vehicle raised $503 million, translating to roughly $750 million of deployable firepower once leverage is applied. Asset-Backed Opportunities collected €252 million for collateral-rich loans in sectors underserved by traditional lenders, and the specialist Legal Assets platform locked down $169 million to extend the firm’s law-firm lending programme.

Founder and CIO Fabian Chrobog said the fundraising validates “the consistency of our approach” and NorthWall’s ability to craft solutions that resonate with investors and counterparties alike. With headcount slated to hit 40 by year-end, the firm plans to lean further into complex, situational credit born of bank deleveraging, regulatory shifts and sponsors’ need for certainty of execution.

Announcements Commercial People Moves

Victory Park Expands Legal Credit Leadership with Maleson Promotion

By John Freund |

Victory Park Capital (VPC), a global alternative asset manager specializing in private credit, has announced that Justin Maleson will expand his role to Managing Director, co-heading the firm’s legal credit investment strategy. The promotion underscores VPC’s ongoing investment in its legal finance capabilities and follows Maleson’s initial appointment in 2024 as Assistant General Counsel.

An announcement from Victory Park Capital details Maleson’s new responsibilities, which include sourcing, analyzing, and managing investments across legal assets, while maintaining oversight of the firm’s legal operations. He joins Chad Clamage in co-leading the strategy, working alongside team members Hugo Lestiboudois and Andrew Pascal, under the continued oversight of VPC CEO and founder Richard Levy.

Maleson brings a strong background in litigation finance and commercial law to the position. Before joining VPC, he served as a director at Longford Capital, where he specialized in originating and managing litigation funding transactions. His earlier tenure as a litigation partner at Jenner & Block further deepened his exposure to complex legal matters, equipping him with the expertise needed to navigate the nuanced legal credit space.

VPC’s legal credit team emphasizes an asset-backed lending model, prioritizing downside protection and predictable income streams. The firm aims to capitalize on inefficiencies within the legal funding market by leveraging its internal expertise and broad network of relationships. With Maleson’s appointment, VPC signals its intent to further scale its legal credit strategy, positioning itself as a key player in the evolving legal finance sector.

Maleson’s elevation comes at a time of increasing sophistication in litigation finance, where experienced legal minds are playing a pivotal role in portfolio construction and risk management. As VPC bolsters its leadership, the move may foreshadow further institutionalization of legal asset investing and heightened competition in a maturing market segment.