Litigation funding firm Bentham IMF's announcement on Monday that it will throw its money behind the launching of new practice groups and attorney recruiting at law firms represents another breakdown in the traditional wall between third-party investors and firms, Law360 reported. Along with portfolio investments in related cases and closer partnerships with plaintiffs firms, the New York-based Bentham said the assembled investments and business model “could signal a new model for litigation risk-sharing.” Following the recent partnership between Burford Capital LLC and antitrust plaintiffs firm Hausfeld LLP in a Germany venture, Washington and Lee University assistant law professor Victoria Sahani said the litigation finance industry is moving in the “inevitable” direction of investing in entire law firms in return for a cut of verdicts or settlements. “This looks like one step closer to one of these groups being a full investor,” said Sahani, an adviser to the Alliance for Responsible Consumer Legal Funding, an advocacy group promoting “sensible” regulation for the emerging litigation funding industry.
