2018 | Issue No. 1

The Winter 2018 Quarterly highlights new focuses in North America, the UK, and the Asia-Pacific region, provides updates in key practice areas and features an interview with Guy Harvey, Head of Commercial and International Disputes at Shepherd and Wedderburn, where he discusses the firm’s multi-million-pound portfolio arrangement with Burford—the first of its kind to be arranged by a leading UK firm.

The Winter 2018 issue of the Quarterly includes: 

• Research: The year in review
  Burford utilizes its extensive database of current and historical data to shed light on the legal finance industry, a field that often suffers from a dearth of available data.

• Market focuses:
  1. North America: Burford expects the pattern of growth in litigation finance to continue throughout 2018 as companies and firms use external capital in even more contexts.
     
     
  2. UK: External financing will likely play an important role in class action claims in the coming months and years as law firms consider better ways of running their businesses.
     
     
  3. Asia-Pacific: Legislative reforms and increased interest are encouraging legal finance as an accepted reality of the business of law.
     
     
• Practice updates:
  1. Bankruptcy and restructuring: Burford anticipates that the use of outside finance in the restructuring industry will become widespread in 2018 given its clear benefits to estates, debtors and creditors.
     
     
  2. International arbitration: Mainstream acceptance and use of arbitration finance has risen alongside the number and costs of international arbitration filings.
     
     
  3. Intellectual property: Outside finance will continue to lend much-needed security to the risky landscape of IP litigation.
     
     
  4. Antitrust and competition: Continued expansion in competition collective actions and follow-on activities in Europe and the UK offers many opportunities for finance providers.
     
     
• Navigating the changing global enforcement landscape
  As the tools available for judgment creditors improve, Burford expects litigation finance to play a larger role in expensive enforcement proceedings.
  
  
• The continuing evolution of law firm finance
  Expect acceleration and monetization finance to be better utilized by law firms seeking to mitigate falling collection rates.

• Q&A: An interview with Guy Harvey
  Shepherd and Wedderburn’s Head of Commercial and International Disputes, Guy Harvey, discusses the advantages of a portfolio financing arrangement and the best way to select a finance provider.

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