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Pretium Raises $500 Million for its Inaugural Legal Opportunities Fund

By Harry Moran |

Pretium Raises $500 Million for its Inaugural Legal Opportunities Fund

Pretium, a specialized investment firm with more than $57 billion in assets under management, has closed its inaugural Legal Opportunities Fund, securing approximately $500 million in equity capital commitments from a group of new and existing investors.

The Fund will provide liquidity to plaintiffs, entitlement holders and law firms pursuing a broad range of corporate claims, including patent infringement, anti-trust, and general commercial and contract litigation. For investors, the Fund offers the potential for attractive risk-adjusted returns that are minimally correlated to traditional markets.

“The demand for this Fund underscores not only the evergreen opportunities in legal finance, but the strength of Pretium’s investment approach,” said Don Mullen, Founder and CEO of Pretium. “We are specialists in unlocking value in complex investments with high barriers to entry. Having developed that expertise through our work in residential real estate, we are applying it to legal opportunities, which we believe will create significant benefits for our investors.”

Matthew Cantor, Senior Managing Director leading Pretium’s Legal Opportunities strategy, added, “Intellectual property is the capital driving the growth of the digital economy and the development of legal finance. By providing bespoke capital solutions to fund the monetization of legal entitlements, we’re supporting law firms, corporations, and other sophisticated parties to help more efficiently and effectively manage their legal risks.”

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal counsel to the Pretium Legal Opportunities Fund.

About PretiumPretium is a specialized investment firm focused on U.S. residential real estate, residential credit, and corporate credit. Pretium was founded in 2012 to capitalize on investment and lending opportunities arising as a result of structural changes, disruptions, and inefficiencies within the economy. Pretium has built an integrated analytical and operational ecosystem within the U.S. housing, residential credit, and corporate credit markets, and believes that its insight and experience within these markets create a strategic advantage over other investment managers. Pretium’s platform has more than $57 billion of assets, comprising real estate investments across nearly 90 markets in the U.S., and employs approximately 7,000 people across 50 offices, including its New York headquarters, Miami, London, Seoul, and Sydney. Please visit www.pretium.com for additional information.

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Harry Moran

Harry Moran

Commercial

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Yield Bridge Asset Management Launches into Litigation Finance

By John Freund |

The London‑based asset manager Yield Bridge Asset Management (Yield Bridge) has announced its entry into the litigation financing arena, marking a strategic shift into the private‑credit sector of the legal‑funding landscape.

According to a press release in OpenPR, Yield Bridge has entered into several strategic partnerships in the international arbitration space, granting the firm ongoing access to “vetted, insurance‑wrapped Litigation and Private Credit asset programs.”

In detailing the strategy, Yield Bridge highlights litigation finance as a rapidly growing asset class. The release states that high costs in international arbitration often create an uneven battlefield—where financial strength outweighs merits. Litigation funding, the firm argues, offers a counterbalance. It points to “Litigation Finance Bonds” as their preferred investment vehicle—emphasizing 100% capital protection, attractive yields, and short-duration liquidity windows for accredited investors. The firm claims to target structured portfolios of multiple claims (versus single-case investments) to diversify risk and leverage economies of scale. Cases “displaying pre‑determined characteristics and a potential 8–10× multiple” are cited as typical targets.

Yield Bridge positions itself as a “leading international financial services intermediary … bringing together multi‑asset expertise with targeted investment propositions.” While the announcement is light on detailed track record or specific claim‑portfolios, the firm is formally signalling its ambitions in the litigation finance space.

Yield Bridge’s pivot underscores a broader trend: litigation finance moving deeper into structured, institutional‑grade private‑credit models. By packaging multiple claims and targeting returns familiar in alternative‑credit strategies, firms like Yield Bridge are raising the bar—and potentially the competition—for players in the legal‑funding ecosystem. This development raises questions about how deal flow will scale, how returns will be verified, and how risk will be managed in portfolio‑based litigation funding.

Home Office-Funded Class Action Against Motorola Gets Green Light

By John Freund |

In a significant development for UK collective actions, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has granted a Collective Proceedings Order (CPO) in the landmark case Spottiswoode v Airwave Solutions & Motorola. The case—brought by Clare Spottiswoode CBE—accuses Motorola of abusing its dominant position in the UK's emergency services network by charging excessive prices through its Airwave network, which the Home Office claims resulted in £1.1 billion in overcharges to UK taxpayers.

According to iclg, the class action is being funded by the UK Home Office itself, which is also the complainant in an associated CMA enforcement action. In its judgment, the CAT concluded that Spottiswoode is an appropriate class representative, and that the claim—which covers a proposed class of over 100,000 public service bodies—is suitable for collective proceedings. The case will proceed on an opt-out basis for UK entities, with opt-in available for overseas claimants.

The Tribunal emphasized that funding by a government department does not compromise the independence of the class representative, and that the Home Office’s funding arrangement complies with legal and procedural requirements. Notably, the judgment paves the way for governmental entities to play a dual role—as both complainant and funder—in future competition-based collective actions.

This case raises fascinating implications for the legal funding industry. It challenges traditional notions of third-party funders and opens the door to more creative and strategic funding models initiated by government entities themselves, particularly in cases with broad public interest and regulatory overlap.

Investors Eye Equity Stakes in Law Firms via Arizona ABS Model

By John Freund |

A notable shift is underway in the legal‑services world as institutional investors increasingly direct capital toward law‑firm ownership—particularly via the alternative business structure (ABS) model in Arizona.

According to a recent article in Bloomberg, large asset managers and venture‑capital firms are positioning themselves to participate in legal‑services revenues in a way that diverges from traditional contingent‑fee funding of lawsuits. The piece identifies heavy hitters such as Benefit Street Partners and Crossbeam Venture Partners as recent entrants into the ABS‑enabled law‑firm ownership space. Benefit Street’s application for a new Arizona law‑firm entity lists tort litigation, IP claims and bankruptcy matters as focal areas.

The ABS pathway in Arizona has grown rapidly. In 2021, the state approved 15 ABS licences; by 2024, that number rose to 51, bringing the overall total to approximately 153. The regulatory flexibility in Arizona contrasts with the majority of U.S. jurisdictions, where non‑lawyer ownership of law firms remains prohibited or severely constrained. Meanwhile, states such as California have reacted by imposing restrictions—e.g., California's recent ban on contingency‑fee sharing with out‑of‑state ABS models.

For the legal‑funding and law‑firm investment ecosystem, this development carries multiple implications. First, it signals that investors view law‑firm ownership as a viable risk‑adjusted investment category beyond pure litigation funding. Second, it raises governance and regulatory questions around outside ownership of law firms, especially as the lines blur between funders, back‑office providers and equity owners. Finally, firms, funders and law‑firm owners may need to reassess their strategies and compliance frameworks in light of the shifting landscape of capital entry and structural innovation.