In Part 1 of this article, I introduced the concept of Event Driven Litigation Centric (EDLC) investing and started exploring some of the ways in which it differs from Commercial Litigation Finance (CLF) investing. In this article we will dive deeper into some case studies and discuss some of the relative benefits and the return attributes of the asset class.

As I interface with investors and fund managers in the legal finance market, I am constantly on the lookout for new investing strategies that can either provide a better risk-reward outcome than traditional legal finance investments, or add an element of ‘edge’.

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.

In the first part of this two-part series, the relatively nascent asset class of Intellectual Property Private Credit (“IP Credit”) was introduced. That article explored the basic premise of the asset class, discussed some of the financiers in the space and reviewed some of the nuances inherent in the asset class. In this part, we take all of the knowledge gained in part one and apply it to a specific example by exploring a publicly traded company, which used IP Credit on a couple of different occasions with great success.

One of the areas in which I am intrigued, is the application of credit to intellectual property (“IP”) and using the value of patents (amongst other forms of intellectual property) as security for the loan, the so-called Intellectual Property Private Credit (“IP Credit”) asset class. While this is strictly speaking a credit asset class as you will see from this article, it sits adjacent to and sometimes crosses over with commercial litigation finance.

In the past, I have written about the importance of diversification, the applicability of portfolio theory (articles one, two & three), and the perils of fund concentration; but I also believe that investors in the asset class should understand the perils of relying on outliers to drive fund performance.

I recently moderated Litigation Finance Journal’s digital conference entitled Investor Insights into Litigation Funding, and the panelists delivered a clear message that the asset class needs to be more transparent.  Accordingly, I decided to pen this article to explore the more opaque aspects of the asset class and the reasons underlying that opacity, and what this means for investors, as well as provide some “watch-outs” for those looking to invest in the industry.