Already popular in Australia, third-party litigation funds are raising money in the U.K. as a play on commercial lawsuits. Under such arrangements, litigation funds pay the legal fees associated with commercial disputes, and in return receive a percentage (15% - 45%) of the award or settlement. A portion of these returns are then passed on to shareholders in the form of dividends. Such arrangements can benefit companies who understand the risk-reward structure of contingency fees, but some question whether the search costs for promising cases and the companies willing to enter into such arrangements can create and sustain a viable market long-term.
Third-Party Litigation Funders Offer Alternative to Hedge Funds
Count UBS among the growing number of banks completing legal panel reviews to help identify top-performing firms and reduce legal expenses.
UBS pushes down on rates after completion of global panel review
It seems that doing the right thing is getting more and more difficult these days, and the software industry is no exception. The folks at CIO Magazine have put together a list of things to watch out for when choosing a software or ERP package. They get no argument from us. We applaud their efforts to educate customers on what they should and should not expect when deciding to commit to a software solution. After all, we emphasize LegalEye’sTM ability to help our corporate counsel customers to manage expectations when controlling legal costs. They should expect the same from us.
How did it come to this? Managing your legal department and controlling legal costs has all of the excitement of the new NFL season, but with all of the satisfaction of filing your taxes with an amount due. (Read More)
Paul Lippe, Founder of Legal OnRamp, writes that despite the recent shift from hourly billing to fixed fees, neither will go away. He argues that changing from one method to the other is not transformational in and of itself, but a simply change in measure. It’s what attorneys and clients do under each measurement structure that determines whether value is created.
The August 24th Wall Street Journal article, ‘Billable Hour’ Under Attack, discusses how some large corporations, including Pfizer, Cisco Systems, and American Express, have forced their outside counsel to eschew the billable hour in favor of fixed fees. While these companies are expected to save between 15%-20% on fees and expenses, trust me when I say that the billable hour isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. (Read More)
