Tune in to The LFJ Podcast, an original podcast series produced by the Litigation Finance Journal editorial team, and featuring key thought leaders from throughout the global litigation finance community.

In this episode, we sat down with Luke Darkow, Principal on Victory Park Capital’s Investment Team. Luke discussed Victory Park's credit-like approach to litigation funding, why the asset class is so attractive to investors and LPs, how Victory Park can benefit law firms specifically, and the evolution of the asset class under a stricter regulatory regime. [podcast_episode episode="12778" content="title,player,details"]

Our guest today is Michael Volpe, Executive Director of the Milestone Foundation. Michael discussed the Milestone Foundation's unique structure as a nonprofit that funds litigation, and how this benefits both their clients, and the broader litigation finance industry. [podcast_episode episode="12666" content="title,player,details"]

Our guest today is Sina Toussi, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Two Seas Capital, an investment fund that focuses on litigation-driven investments arising from restructurings, bankruptcies, commercial disputes, corporate malfeasance, and regulatory events. Sina provides some specific examples of how a litigation-focused hedge fund such as Two Seas can maximize return by investing in the underlying companies that are pursuing litigation. [podcast_episode episode="12549" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sat down with Mani Walia, Manager Partner and General Counsel of Siltstone Capital. Mani discussed the 3rd annual LitFinCon conference, taking place in Houston, Texas on March 6th and 7th, 2024. Mani explains what we can expect at the conference, some of the creative agenda decisions, the networking potential, and how Siltstone Capital operates as a litigation funder in the broader market. [podcast_episode episode="12486" content="title,player,details"]

Our guest today is Stephen Kyriacou Jr., Managing Director and Senior Lawyer at Aon, in the Litigation Risk and Special Opportunities Groups. We spoke with Stephen about the range of products Aon offers, trends in the litigation insurance space, the challenges he faces as a legal insurance broker, and how he sees legal insurance and litigation funding evolving over the coming years. [podcast_episode episode="12450" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we speak with Blake Trueblood and Ed Gehres, founding partners of Invenio, LLP, a law firm specializing in legal funding transactions. Blake and Ed discuss their firm's approach and services, why claimants and law firms both benefit from having counsel with an expertise in litigation funding, the top concerns of borrowers when sourcing funders, and how Invenio works with borrowers through the full life cycle of the investment. [podcast_episode episode="12310" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sit down with Nick Rowles-Davies to discuss Lexolent, an originations platform for litigation finance transactions. Nick explains how the platform works, how funders, lawyers and claimants can benefit, how Lexolent is planning to disrupt the litigation funding sector, and what trends are happening in the litigation funding space regarding originations. [podcast_episode episode="12255" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sit down with Stewart Ackerly and Matt Blumenstein, Head of Originations and Head of Underwriting at Statera Capital, respectively. Stewart and Matt discuss Statera's approach of funding both small and large claims, their diligence and underwriting criteria, how their originations are progressing, and what their expectations are for the future of the industry. [podcast_episode episode="12081" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sat down with James Bedell, Director of Legal Finance at Yieldstreet, a platform that offers retail investors the opportunity to access alternative investments, including litigation finance. James discussed investor attitudes towards litigation finance, how the sector performs vs. other asset classes on the platform, and what the benefits are for funders who launch deals on the platform. [podcast_episode episode="11913" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we spoke with Steve Nober, President and CEO of Consumer Attorney Marketing Group, or CAMG. Steve discussed why mass torts are so popular right now, why smart money is moving into the sector, how litigation funders can structure their investments into mass torts, what ethical issues they need to be aware of, and much more. [podcast_episode episode="11840" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we spoke with Chris Garvey, member of the Board of Investments at Stonward. Chris discussed the litigation funding market in Spain, the challenges and opportunities for funders there, what cases Stonward looks to finance, implications of the Voss report, and much more! [podcast_episode episode="11733" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sat down with Reid Zeising, Founder and CEO of Atlanta-based Gain (formerly Gain Servicing and Cherokee Funding). Reid discussed Gain's new AI-powered platform that addresses the operational and communications challenges, as well as the defense risks inherent in the consumer legal funding and medical lien spaces. [podcast_episode episode="11473" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, Adam Gerchen, Co-Founder and CEO of Gerchen Capital Partners, discusses the evolving secondaries market for litigation funding. Adam explains why he chose to focus exclusively on secondaries for his GCP venture, why the secondaries market is coming to fruition at this point in time, what type of deal flow GCP is experiencing, and how the presence of a secondaries-only fund like GCP in the Litigation Finance market will influence the trajectory of the industry. [podcast_episode episode="11365" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we speak with Yoav Navon, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Nemesis Litigation Funding, a blockchain-focused litigation funding firm. Yoav discusses his background in litigation funding and why he launched a blockchain-focused fund, the opportunities and challenges that exist for funders in the blockchain sector, how he addresses the collectability concern, what we can expect from crypto litigation in the future, and much more. [podcast_episode episode="11351" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we speak with Anthony Johnson, Founder and CEO of Stellium, a legal data and technology company disrupting the Legal Services industry through innovative solutions that improve accountability and standards for investing in lawsuits globally. Anthony discusses Stellium's mission and disruptive innovations, how law firms and litigation funders can leverage Stellium's suite of products and services, how Stellium is bridging the gap between the Legal Services industry and investors in the space, and his predictions for the future of the Mass Torts sector, specifically. [podcast_episode episode="11290" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we speak with Stephen Kyriacou, Jr. about the intersection of insurance and litigation funding. Stephen discusses the benefits afforded to each industry by collaborating with the other, how funders can use judgment preservation insurance and principal protection insurance to de-risk their portfolios, the underwriting process for both funders and law firms, and what the future holds for these two industries. [podcast_episode episode="11053" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sat down with Giugi Carminatti, Vice President of Business Development for LexShares. Giugi discussed LexShares unique technological platform for sourcing claims, how they manage smaller claims, what types of cases they're seeing in the market right now, and some expectations for the year ahead. [podcast_episode episode="10961" content="title,player,details"]

Our guests today are Mani Walia and Robert Le of Silstone Capital. Siltstone is an alternative asset investor that hosts an annual conference in Houston, Texas called LitFinCon. The 2nd annual LitFinCon will take place March 1st and 2nd, 2023, and will bring together stakeholders from across the litigation funding sector to network and share ideas and best practices. More information can be found here. [podcast_episode episode="10817" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sit down with Joe Siprut, Founder, CEO and CIO of Kerberos Capital Management. Joe discusses his firm's approach to law firm funding, his underwriting and structuring criteria, what it's like to be a capital provider in the current economic climate, and some developments he foresees for the industry in the coming years. [podcast_episode episode="10573" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sit down with Alexander Garnier, Founding Partner and Portfolio Manager of North Wall Capital. Alex discusses the firm's background, how it came to be involved in the legal assets space, the risks and challenges for investors in the space, how North Wall differentiates itself from the competition, and the firm's ESG initiatives. [podcast_episode episode="10549" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sit down with Wendy Chou, Founder and CEO of Dealmakers Forums. On September 28th and 29th, 2022, Dealmakers is producing its 5th annual LF Dealmakers event, where industry stakeholders will discuss the latest trends and developments in the sector, and enjoy unparalleled networking opportunities. [podcast_episode episode="10433" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we spoke with Jason Bertoldi, Head of Contingent Risk Solutions for WTW, one of the world’s largest insurance brokers. Jason discussed the marketplace for contingent risk insurance and the various uses cases for contingent risk insurance products, why claimants and funders would want to insure a case that has a high probability of success, how insurance carriers weight the different underwriting factors, and how he sees the contingent risk insurance sector evolving from here. [podcast_episode episode="10179" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sat down with Erik Bomans, CEO and Executive Board Member of Deminor. Erik discussed recent developments and trends in litigation funding in continental Europe, including what the total addressable market looks like and how that is expected to grow over time, how country-specific jurisdictions are differentiated, some of the main barriers to investing in litigation funding in Europe, and how the regulatory environment there can actually be a benefit to funders. [podcast_episode episode="9934" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we spoke with Tony Webster, CEO of UK-based litigation funding and ATE insurance portal Sentry Funding. Tony described his personal access-to-justice story which led him to the litigation funding industry, and illustrated how Sentry's portal works, and the advantages it provides both funders and solicitors in need of funding. He also explained why Sentry is choosing to focus on the smaller end of the claims market--GBP 500,000 and below. [podcast_episode episode="9625" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we speak with Mani Walia, Managing Director, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer and Siltstone Capital. Siltstone is a Houston-based alternative investment firm that invests in litigation finance claims, focusing on $500,000 to $5 million funding requests. Siltstone is also producing LitFinCon, the inaugural litigation finance conference in the Houston area, set to take place on March 2nd and 3rd of 2022. [podcast_episode episode="9316" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sat down with Steven Shinn, Founder and CEO of FinLegal. FinLegal offers a third-party tech solution to litigation funders, law firms, and others in the Legal Services market. Steven discussed his company's points of differentiation, how his technology background supported FinLegal's launch, and what the future looks like for FinLegal and the Legal Tech space in general. [podcast_episode episode="9028" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sat down with Cesar Bello, Partner and Deputy General Counsel of Corbin Capital. Cesar described how he evaluates litigation finance investments, what his ROI expectations are, and how funders can mitigate risk. He also discussed funding as an ESG investment, and highlighted the growth of a secondaries market as a harbinger of the funding industry's future growth and maturation. [podcast_episode episode="8647" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we sat down with Robert Hanna, co-founder of Augusta Ventures, the largest litigation funder in the UK by case volume. Robert discussed Augusta's recent GBP 250 million fundraise, including how the company plans to invest its capital, how he envisions the global market for litigation funding will evolve post-COVID, and what the large funding round says about the viability of the litigation funding industry. [podcast_episode episode="8266" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we spoke with Ben Phi of Australian class action law firm Phi Finney McDonald. Ben recently penned this LinkedIn post which outlines his comments to the Senate Economics Committee on the proposed regulatory changes to the class action landscape in Australia. Ben joined us on the podcast to further explain his position, including his response to the 'rising D&O insurance' and 'social inflation' arguments being made by Big Insurance, and the negative consequences that could emerge if large class actions are over-regulated. [podcast_episode episode="8148" content="title,player,details"]

In this episode, we speak to Ben Moss about Orchard Group's foray into litigation funding. We learn what benefits the asset manager model offers in the commercial litigation funding sphere, how Orchard is approaching the market, the types of claims it is looking to fund, and what Ben's predictions are for the industry as the global legal landscape emerges from COVID-induced lockdowns. [podcast_episode episode="7824" content="title,player,details"]