The following is a contributed piece by Ed Truant, founder of Slingshot Capital, and Andrew Langhoff, founder of Red Bridges Advisors.

When we write about litigation finance, we often assume it is easily accessible and that plaintiffs undertake most of the ‘leg work’ to secure financing.  In practice, litigation finance is often difficult to obtain, and plaintiffs typically rely quite heavily on their law firms to obtain it.  This is a very different dynamic than one sees in other areas of financial services. And because law firms may not have the expertise and bandwidth to properly broker a litigation funding transaction, their involvement in the process may be unintentionally short-changing their clients. With some law firms now entering contractual “tie-up” or “best friends” arrangements with favored funders, we thought this an opportune time to consider the law firm’s proper role in the litigation funding process.

This article will explore common but unexamined efforts by law firms to deal with funders, the practical challenges posed and suggest a preferred approach for law firms and their clients.