Litigation poses a unique challenge for insolvent, distressed or cash-poor claimants—but high-value claims can be among their most valuable assets. Legal claims require significant investment to pursue, and as a result, potentially valuable causes of action are often not pursued at all—or else they’re settled for a value below the amount that could be realized with proper resources. But neither of these outcomes maximizes value for stakeholders.
What we do
Legal finance from Burford allows stakeholders to pursue valuable claims that otherwise may have to be abandoned or settled—thus maximizing recoveries for debtors and for creditors. Legal finance comes in a variety of forms:
Monetizing claims for companies in reorganization
Companies going through reorganization often have an outstanding high-value claim or basket of claims. Burford can provide non-recourse legal financing that enables companies to limit litigation risk or generate additional operating cash through the outright monetization of a claim.
Funding liquidations or litigation trusts
Burford can provide non-recourse capital to cash-strapped estates and trusts that have litigation assets, potentially allowing for a faster and larger recovery to the estate and creditors. If a trustee has a basket of claims that include claims or counterclaims against the estate, litigation finance can also help finance the legal fees on both affirmative and defensive claims.
Providing capital to law firms to pursue matters taken on risk
Burford can provide non-recourse capital to law firms that litigate bankruptcy matters on contingency. The direct injection of capital helps smooth cash flow for the firm and lower its risk exposure. This funding enables the firm to capitalize the expansion of its contingency business or take on litigation expense risk when a cash-poor estate cannot pay litigation expenses.
Financing inter-creditor disputes
If a bankruptcy estate involves senior and subordinated creditors, disagreements may arise over their respective priorities. Burford can provide creditor groups non-recourse capital to challenge a lien or seek to remove priority, without assuming additional risk.
Why Burford
Our award-winning global insolvency financing practice offers both capital and multi-jurisdictional expertise. As the largest provider of legal finance in the world, we have the capacity and track record to finance the largest insolvencies and to help our clients maximize their claim value at any scale.
