October 2016 Legal Funding News Roundup

Legal funding has been trending more in recent months than we've seen in years. They say "there's no such thing as bad publicity," but it could be a double-edged sword. Visibility and awareness of the industry is increasing, and that has in turn drawn the eye of regulators and the court system. Fascinating times...

For this week's post we're experimenting with a new format. We've rounded up all the legal funding news from the past month or so that's fit to print.  

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U.S. News:

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• Litigation Finance: What Lawyers Need To Know. Summary of the practice of litigation finance, with insight from the Association of Corporate Counsel 2016 Annual Meeting.

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• Seeking The Litigators' Perspective On Litigation Finance. Above the Law is seeking to understand the dynamics of the industry's increasing acceptance via a new survey.

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• Third-party litigation funding in US enters mainstream, leading to calls for reform. A discussion on industry trends and forecasts, with a mention of yours truly.

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• Bentham: Judge's Decision To ID Class Action Funder 'Right,' But Reaction Overblown. Discussion regarding a California federal judge ordering a plaintiff in a proposed class action against to produce his litigation funding agreement - a rare step taken in cases funded by third parties.

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• Uncertainty lingers around third-party litigation financing. Further discussion of the trends in the industry with quotes from the Association of Corporate Counsel 2016 Annual Meeting.

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• The Startup Scene: Frustrations and Futures for Venture Capitalists in Legal Technology. Early investments to legal technology start-ups have yet to reach the scale of enterprise tech in other industries like communications, finance, and healthcare, despite the fact that the legal industry is worth hundreds of billions.

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• New Rule Affects Long-Term Care Centers With Medicare, Medicaid Funds. With a new rule issued by CMS, long-term care facilities who receive federal funding from Medicare or Medicaid will no longer be able to subject their residents to mandatory arbitration clauses.

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Global News:

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• Court OKs $45m Billabong settlement (Australia). Legal funding began in Australia (supposedly), and one funder there helped finance a class action against the surfwear group.

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• US billionaire is funding Brexit legal challenge (United Kingdom). A High Court challenge to Brexit which has been fronted by several Northern Irish political parties is actually being funded with money from a philanthropic US billionaire.

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• The changing landscape of construction law in Hong Kong (Asia). Hong Kong has moved closer to allowing third party funding of arbitration, reinforcing its position as a pre-eminent global arbitration centre.