Legal Finance in Practice: Expert Perspectives on Managing Legal Risk, Cost and Uncertainty

Rhea-AI Summary

Burford Capital has released its latest Burford Quarterly, focusing on trends in legal finance and asset management. The Q2 2025 edition features expert insights on managing litigation costs and risks through financial tools.

Key articles examine:

• Evolution of US contingency fee practices and their intersection with legal tech and AI
• First-year data analysis from the United Patent Court (UPC)
• Enforcement outcomes in sovereign arbitration cases
• Strategic partnership between private equity and legal finance
• Five-year review of Dutch WAMCA mass claims system

The publication combines data analysis with expert commentary to showcase how legal finance is transforming both corporate and law firm operations. Vice Chair David Perla emphasizes the journal's role in demonstrating how legal finance serves as a strategic tool for cash flow optimization and risk management.

Positive

• Burford demonstrates market leadership as the leading global finance firm in legal sector
• Company expanding service offerings across multiple legal finance areas including contingency fees, patent litigation, and sovereign arbitrations
• Strategic expansion into private equity partnerships creates new revenue opportunities
• Growing geographical presence with operations in US and Netherlands (WAMCA) markets

Negative

• No specific financial metrics or growth figures provided
• Heavy reliance on legal sector performance which can be cyclical
• Sovereign arbitration enforcement challenges could affect recovery rates

New edition of The Burford Quarterly explores how GCs, law firm leaders and private equity professionals are using finance tools to manage high-stakes litigation

NEW YORK, April 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Burford Capital, the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law, today releases its latest Burford Quarterly, a journal of legal finance that explores the top trends at the nexus of law and finance. As legal finance continues to be used as a transformative resource for both corporations and law firms, this edition provides data, analysis and expert commentary on industry developments.

In this edition, leading law firm attorneys explain how legal finance is reshaping traditional contingency fee models, patent lawyers discuss the first year of data from the United Patent Court (UPC) and Burford experts present new data-driven findings on the enforcement of judgments, as well as a timely analysis of the synergies between private equity and legal finance.

Articles in the Burford Quarterly No.2 2025 include:

• Contingency fee practices in the US: Insights from top litigators
  A discussion among US trial lawyers on the evolving use of contingency fee arrangements. The roundtable explores the advantages and challenges of contingency models, the impact of AI and legal tech and how legal finance increasingly complements traditional contingency structures.
  
  
• The UPC in focus: Patent lawyers on the first year of data
  Leading patent lawyers dissect the first year of data from the UPC, analyzing the most impactful rulings to date, lessons learned and future expected trends.
  
  
• Enforcement in arbitrations against sovereigns: What the data tell us
  Sovereign arbitration awards often face unique enforcement challenges. This article examines empirical data on enforcement outcomes and the role legal finance plays in helping claimants enforce and monetize awards.
  
  
• Private equity and legal finance: A strategic partnership
  Portfolio companies may have significant value locked in disputes that could generate cash and enhance equity value when an exit strategy is sought. 
  
  
• Five years of WAMCA (Dutch Act on the Resolution of Mass Damages in Collective Action) claims: Trends and takeaways
  A look at the first five years of the Netherlands' WAMCA regime, analyzing key trends in collective actions and the role of legal finance in supporting large-scale claims.

"With every edition, the Burford Quarterly aims to provide a lens into how legal finance is shaping the business of law," said David Perla, Vice Chair of Burford Capital. "This issue combines robust data with real-world outcomes to illustrate how legal finance has become a sophisticated financial strategy for optimizing cash flow, managing legal risk and unlocking capital across geographies and sectors. By combining data with expert commentary and case-specific insights, we demonstrate the tangible impact legal finance has on today's most sophisticated legal and business decisions."

About Burford Capital

Burford Capital is the leading global finance and asset management firm focused on law. Its businesses include litigation finance and risk management, asset recovery, and a wide range of legal finance and advisory activities. Burford is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUR) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: BUR), and works with companies and law firms around the world from its global network of offices.

For more information, please visit www.burfordcapital.com.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any ordinary shares or other securities of Burford.

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SOURCE Burford Capital

FAQ

What topics does Burford Capital's (BUR) Q2 2025 Quarterly report cover?

The Q2 2025 Burford Quarterly covers contingency fee practices in the US, first-year data from the United Patent Court, enforcement in sovereign arbitrations, private equity partnerships, and five years of Dutch WAMCA claims analysis.

How is Burford Capital (BUR) reshaping contingency fee models in 2025?

Burford Capital is complementing traditional contingency structures with legal finance tools, while exploring the impact of AI and legal tech on contingency fee arrangements, as discussed by top US trial lawyers.

What are the key findings from the United Patent Court's first year data in Burford's (BUR) report?

The report features leading patent lawyers analyzing the UPC's most impactful rulings, lessons learned, and future trends from its first year of operations.

How does Burford Capital (BUR) support private equity portfolio companies?

Burford helps portfolio companies unlock value from disputes that could generate cash and enhance equity value during exit strategies through legal finance solutions.

What insights does Burford's (BUR) 2025 report provide on sovereign arbitration enforcement?

The report presents empirical data on enforcement outcomes in sovereign arbitration cases and explains how legal finance helps claimants enforce and monetize awards.